I had 12 years of BMWs before getting the XE, first a 320D coupe, then a 430i Gran Coupe. I had multiple reasons for changing to the XE. The BMWs, especially the coupe which was on 19" rims had abominable ride, the 4 series was a lot better because I kept it on 18" rims and got the adaptive suspension but I still wanted an improvement. I went for cream/beige leather interior on both BMWs which frankly looked more up market and tasteful than the black Dakota leather but, although very very hard wearing, the dakota leather was a very poor quality and, close up, not great to look at or touch. I wanted that fixed.
The dash top plastic and door tops etc. were not great. Any time I looked at it in either car, I just turned my eyes away, it was so dull and cheap looking. I wanted that fixed. Composure, steering feel, handling, the overall performance of the BMWs was not particularly what I wanted. To be fixed.
BMW penny pinching: the first one had sun visors which were covered in the same material as the headlining, the 2nd one, like every other BMW had plastic covering matching the colour only of the headlining and not remotely the same material. The first one had grab handles for the front seats only, the 2nd one had no grab handles anywhere in the car. And has been said above, the interiors were not that interesting.
To fix things like that and still stay in a BMW would have cost me thousands more on a car whose price was already dearer than the XE which answered all these problems.
Drawbacks: the boot is bigger than the XE's but I will only notice it the day I have to shove large suitcases into it. The 4 series Gran Coupe had the same boot size as the 3 series coupe but the hatch made a huge difference. There was more back room space in both BMWs but I rarely carry back seat passengers and I won't be sitting there anyway. Big deal. Comparing the 430i with the XE particularly, the 430i is faster accelerating and has much better fuel consumption but with the amount of driving nowadays, who will notice. (On the same commute over many months, the 430i returned 38mpg and the XE, barely 30) but with the short journeys I do now, both cars would return mid twenties at best.
I genuinely do not understand the people who say that the BMW interior is of higher quality and praise the fit and finish and tightness of the interior (see all my comments above). I have no complaints about fit and finish in the XE and, after 19 months, like the BMWs, I have no rattles. Just about everyone on the BMW forums considers the Dakota leather to be "cheap" and although some of the new ones use Vernasca (I think) leather instead of Dakota, it's still not as good as the mid-range and best leather offered by Jaguar. ("Merino individual leather, another £3,500 thank you very much Sir")
I still do like the 4 series Gran Coupe but in comparison with the 3 series, the XE is still a better looking car, it's more refined, more tastefully finished, sweeter to drive, isn't as common as muck, and doesn't cost thousands and thousands more. (Mind you, I wish I had a BMW's servicing costs; way less than Jaguar).
Rant over.