The premium sports sedan market has been dominated by the three German manufacturers: BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. For years these three have tussled for top-dog honours and it has been the BMW 3-Series which has emerged as the most dynamic of the three. Fast forward to 2015 and British carmaker Jaguar is trying to muscle in on this segment. The Jaguar XE has been tested by Cars.co.za previously in 2.0-litre diesel guise and while we were impressed with what it offered, it's pricing was fatal.

With the launch of the BMW 3-Series LCI highlighting the top of the range 340i, we thought it would make for a perfect comparison to put the flagship German against the top-of-the-range Jaguar XE S. Upon closer inspection and you'll see in the table below, both of these cars are exceptionally close in terms of engine outputs, performance and size.

The test consisted of two parts: a dynamic driving test through one of South Africa's finest roads as well as an interior/space comparison as both of these cars still have to cater for passengers. We learnt a lot about both cars and why they're both well balanced and entertaining, but at the end of the day there could only be one winner.

0:00 Intro
0:35 Changes made on the BMW 340i
1:09 BMW 340i vs Jaguar XE S Driving
1:22 Ride Quality
1:57 BMW 340i Engine and Torque
3:15 Jaguar XE S Engine
4:05 Boot space
4:41 Jaguar XE S Interior
5:07 Boot space
5:38 BMW 340i Interior
6:07 Boot space
6:33 Results
7:30 Closing

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