Don’t think I’m looking down on this design experiment---I’m not. It is somewhat impressive, though I think it’s the rally-inspired striping on the all white paint that is softening our impression of all those new foreign ports and vents.
But I am surprised by how much modding (customization from owners, and performance experiments from the designers) the “XE” relentlessly attracts!! When I saw the first unveiling back in 2014 (2012?) I thought that body design is almost dead on the target. When I finally bought the 2017 one, and walked towards it all alone in a parking lot, I said “dang—what a perfect body---what a shape—there is NOTHING about my car that is wrong or even needs tweaking.”
My instant reaction to the idea of blacking-out a trim piece, or adding a cupholder cover or aluminum tips somewhere, is… how can I bring myself to do that, and complicate what is a perfect thing?
You don’t see Mazeratti Giblis modded-up in the press, or on racing circuit publications. Nor the Alfa Guilia, the Telslas, etc… The makers build them, and wait until next year to tweak the body for further sales.
But the XE?!! This thing is such a MAGNET even after it’s been finalized. Magazines LOVE the danged thing, the racing circuit seems regularly visited by these cool experimentals like this white beauty in your photo, and Jaguar themselves can’t stop looking at this creature they classify as a “sport sedan” that seems to just have too much sportscar potential for them to leave it alone and stop drooling.
…Incidentally, that’s what I hear inside my head when I walk past mine in my garage---“Lester, LEAVE IT alone, and stop drooling.”
But I am surprised by how much modding (customization from owners, and performance experiments from the designers) the “XE” relentlessly attracts!! When I saw the first unveiling back in 2014 (2012?) I thought that body design is almost dead on the target. When I finally bought the 2017 one, and walked towards it all alone in a parking lot, I said “dang—what a perfect body---what a shape—there is NOTHING about my car that is wrong or even needs tweaking.”
My instant reaction to the idea of blacking-out a trim piece, or adding a cupholder cover or aluminum tips somewhere, is… how can I bring myself to do that, and complicate what is a perfect thing?
You don’t see Mazeratti Giblis modded-up in the press, or on racing circuit publications. Nor the Alfa Guilia, the Telslas, etc… The makers build them, and wait until next year to tweak the body for further sales.
But the XE?!! This thing is such a MAGNET even after it’s been finalized. Magazines LOVE the danged thing, the racing circuit seems regularly visited by these cool experimentals like this white beauty in your photo, and Jaguar themselves can’t stop looking at this creature they classify as a “sport sedan” that seems to just have too much sportscar potential for them to leave it alone and stop drooling.
…Incidentally, that’s what I hear inside my head when I walk past mine in my garage---“Lester, LEAVE IT alone, and stop drooling.”
