gI’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Jag XJ; it was the first car that gave me a proper James Bond moment. Traction control off, pull out of junction, glance in rear view mirror. I don’t think that there were any cars behind me, but I could never have known anyway – it looked like a forest fire had swept Cambridgeshire, and all the smoke seemed to have concentrated at my 6 o’clock in a pukka smokescreen.

Of course, that was the R version with a supercharged 4.2 litre V8, which was always going to be a bit of a hooligan. At the other end of the spectrum, the sensible choice was, and still is, the V6 diesel. Both of these models are still in the line up, along with a middle of the road normally aspirated 4.2 litre V8 petrol – I don’t know what the market is for this engine, I would want either fast or frugal, not a compromise. But I digress; a recent facelift has added some possibly dubious new pieces of bodywork, most noticeably at the front, where there is a much deeper bumper. So much deeper in fact, that it has necessitated a rear spoiler to balance the extra downforce (or reduction of lift at any rate) at the front. Apparently these styling tweaks are mainly aimed at creating more road presence, which will help in the US where supposedly bigger always means better. The fundamentals of the car remain largely unchanged – which means that the above average ride, handling and performance are still there, no doubt aided by an aluminium construction that significantly reduces weight. Only the Audi A8 has a similar structure, all the other rivals are conventional steel.

On a quick test drive around the Bedfordshire countryside, the diesel engine showed a more than adequate amount of torque and performance, without any of the tell tale signs that would make you think that you were driving an oil-burner. I always think that diesel engines suit this sort of car very well, specifically their ability to produce good amounts of torque at low revs – making cruising and overtaking a painless task. As expected, the XJR still has its trademark supercharger whine, just to let you know it’s there, and the performance is as invigorating as you might expect with over 400bhp on tap. The long wheelbase version of the car is only fractionally more expensive, but adds 125mm of length. If you are going to be driven rather than drive, this has to be the way to go.

Now, all this talk of XJs is very well and good when thinking about day to day transport, but what about on the weekends? On a track, with no speed cameras and no oncoming vehicles, even the relatively light XJ won’t cut it. What we need is a Jaguar XKR GT3. Or maybe even a JP1…