Jaguar’s engineers are rather busy these days, but some of them are luckier than others. To stick with the first category, we are bringing you the clip below, which shows the guys who got to take the “more than regular” Jaguar XE prototype around the Nurburgring.
While their colleagues lap the ‘Ring in XE prototypes powered by Jaguar’s upcoming Ingenium four-cylinder engines, these engineers received the task to test two XE test vehicles borrowing the supercharged V6 engine from the F-Type. Listen to that exhaust and you’ll understand.
Jaguar has previously confirmed the XE would receive the F-Type’s V6 mill, even though the carmaker hasn’t offered any specs. One way for the supercharged V6 would be to receive a power bump over the current 380 hp output and thus become the heart of the future range-topping XE version - it has been officially confirmed that the XE line-up will stretch up to a model capable of hitting 186 mph (300 km/h).
The output upgrade would be necessary in order for the vehicle, which should wear the XER moniker, to battle rivals such as the 431 hp BMW M3.
The beefed-up V6 makes much more sense than a version where the XE is gifted with Jaguar’s five-liter supercharged V8 - at least in its smallest current output, the engine delivers 510 horses, which would be a tad too much for the XE’s league.
In case any of you was wondering just how far these prototypes are pushed, we can expect things to be dialed up to eleven out of then. According to the crew over at TouriClips, who captured the footage, one of the XE V6 test vehicles was missing a door mirror and had a damaged camouflage after a day of testing.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News