Used test: BMW 5 Series Touring vs Jaguar XF Sportbrake costs

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety

New, these two were pretty much the same price – around £44,000. After five years, the BMW 5 Series Touring has become £23,000 and the Jaguar XF Sportbrake £20,000. 

The 5 Series Touring is more economical, though, so it'll cost you less in fuel. According to the NEDC fuel figures that were current at the time these two cars were new, the 5 Series averages 54.3mpg while the XF Sportbrake achieves 48.7mpg.

The XF, in insurance group 32, will cost around £849 a year in insurance. The 5 Series, in group 31, will cost slightly less at around £835. For a single service of the 5 Series through BMW we were quoted £418. Jaguar quoted us £787 for a service of the XF.

Both cars come with comparable standard equipment, but if you’re a high-mileage motorway driver, you might want to look for a used car that’s been specced from new with some active safety systems.

In the 5 Series, the Driving Assistant Plus package brought adaptive cruise control, and steering and lane-control assist. It was a pricey £2250, but really improves motorway journeys. Semi-autonomous steering wasn’t available on the XF, but you could get adaptive cruise control for £1460.

In our latest What Car? Reliability Survey the diesel 5 Series finished seventh out of 10 cars in the luxury car class, while the XF ranked eighth. As brands, BMW came 16th out of 32 manufacturers featured, while Jaguar placed 26th. 

These cars should be very safe, with the saloons on which they're based scoring full five-star safety ratings from Euro NCAP with almost identical results. Thatcham rates both cars equally highly for their resistance to being stolen or broken into.

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