The Jaguar XJ has the 内部の of a stately home, but a strangely unsexy exterior

Updated: 22:00 BST, 31 July 2010

Funny, isn't it, how having a chauffeur is the ultimate status symbol. If you love cars like I do, the idea of slaving your guts out for 30 years to earn the money to buy an amazing モーター, and then letting someone else behind the wheel makes no sense at all. If I've paid for a car, I want to 運動 the flipping thing.

Maybe it's an age thing. As men get older, they understandably become more 利益／興味d in how comfortable a car is than how it 扱うs at the 限界. But I think we should fight against that. As long as you can whoop with delight as you flick the 支援する end out, there's a little bit of you that stays young.

The Jaguar XJ's steering is beautifully light and the 力／強力にする comes on so 滑らかに that you can go from 残り／休憩（する） to 60mph in six seconds without 緊張したing a muscle

I was reminded of this the other week when I took my 年次の trip to the 小島 of Man TT. There I saw kids who looked about six, getting on bikes four times their size and wringing the necks out of them.

I know a lot of parents would rather their little ones were sitting inside 安全に playing computer games than 危険ing their lives on the road, but you must 収容する／認める there's something 奮起させるing about young boys and their 欠如（する） of 恐れる. It's like breathing pure oxygen. If you don't believe me, go on YouTube and check out the ビデオs of 15-time TT 勝利者 John McGuinness or 26-time 勝利者 Joey Dunlop - 130-加える mph, they 普通の／平均（する）d. You try doing that on a 跡をつける, let alone public roads lined with 元気づける idiots like me. 絶対 amazing.?

The Jaguar XJ's driver console

So anyway, the new Jaguar XJ. It starts at over £50,000, so you'll need to have saved up some serious cash to afford one. You may be getting on a bit, to be honest. But is it a car to 運動, or to be driven in?

I've got the long-wheelbase 見解／翻訳／版 here, so the obvious choice is to let the bloke in the 頂点（に達する）d cap do the work while you stretch your 脚s in the 支援する. As I drove past Harrods on my way to work, I'm sure that's what the onlookers thought was happening. They thought I was a chauffeur for some unseen 実業家 in the 支援する who couldn't やめる afford a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

But although it looks it, the XJ is very far from 存在 a 実業家's 船. Get behind the wheel and you discover a true driver's car. Because it's made from lightweight aluminium, with a bit of magnesium and some 合成物 alloys thrown in, its bodyshell 重さを計るs no more than a 小型の's. Into that Jaguar has stuck one of its brilliant new engines, in this 事例／患者 a three-litre ディーゼル V6 with twin turbos.?

The Jaguar XJ's 後部 seats

Finally, the XJ has been given all the perfor mance-enhancers Jaguar perfected on the XK and XF, such as active damping and active differential. The result is a limo that 運動s like a sports car.?

Don't get me wrong: it's 静かな when it needs to be. It doesn't 燃やす too much 燃料 for something this size, doing about 40mpg, and it's relaxing to 運動 around city streets. But flick the Dynamic 方式 on and get busy with the flappy paddles (I only realised they were there after three days) and it's 広大な／多数の／重要な fun on open roads.?

The Jaguar XJ's chrome-辛勝する／優位d 器具 パネル盤

Take a 急速な／放蕩な left-権利-left and you can feel the 中断 強化するing itself up to keep a flat line. If you do have Sir Alan Sugar in the 支援する, he won't 流出／こぼす his Slush Puppie. The steering is beautifully light and the 力／強力にする comes on so 滑らかに that you can go from 残り／休憩（する） to 60mph in six seconds without 緊張したing a muscle. 確信して, that's the word.?

The Jaguar XJ badge

If you 現実に are a chauffeur, you won't be doing any of this stuff, of course. You'll want it to 巡航する nicely on the motorway (it does), have a big boot (it does) and be 平易な to park (it's got parking 援助（する）s and cameras as 基準). You'll be needing a pretty 大規模な space, though - who wants to take any chances with the paintwork?

By the way, the driver's 数字表示式の 器具 パネル盤 is excellent: little 3D 活気／アニメーションs pop up to show you what to do, such as '圧力（をかける） ブレーキ when starting', so you can't make an idiot of yourself in 前線 of the boss.

And if you are the boss?

You've got the best of it, mate. This is probably Jaguar's best 内部の to date. You've got leather, chrome and veneer everywhere, four-zone 空気／公表する-反対／詐欺, 倍の-out 令状ing trays, heated and 冷静な／正味のd seats all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, a superb Bowers & Wilkins stereo and a 二重の-見解（をとる） 審査する up 前線 so the 乗客 can watch a DVD while the driver uses the sat-nav? -? and 審査するs in the 支援する, for an extra £1,500.

My favourite touches are the old-fashioned chrome 空気／公表する vents in aerodynamically contoured cowls. There's no 推論する／理由 for them to be aerodynamic since they're inside, but it's still 冷静な／正味の.

At about this point the Jaguar PR will be breathing a sigh of 救済 because I 港／避難所't について言及するd the さまざまな problems I had with it? -? a broken bonnet catch, a stuck filler cap and a window that wouldn't 勝利，勝つd up. But those are all small things. What he should be worried about is the design. Because this is the first new Jaguar in five years that I 港／避難所't liked.

When designer Ian Callum （機の）カム on board from Aston ツバメ and created the new XK, then the brilliant XF, he turned me from someone who equated Jags with ゴルフ-playing bores to someone who loved them.

Sadly, with this I'm starting to turn 支援する. It's all 権利 from the f ront, but the 支援する end looks like a dog's kennel. It's unsexy? -? a mortal sin for a company that created the E-type. Maybe the 的 market is too old to care any more. I'm glad to say I'm not. Not yet.

The Jaguar XJ's 後部

TECH SPEC

£67,400, jaguar.co.uk

Engine 3.0-litre V6, twin sequential turbochargers

力／強力にする 271hp

Max torque 600Nm at 2,000rpm

最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる） 155mph (限られた／立憲的な)

伝達／伝染 Six-速度(を上げる） (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃, 後部-wheel 運動

燃料 消費 39mpg

< span style="font-weight: bold;">CO2 放出／発行s189g/km (£235/year 税金 禁止（する）d)

基準 features 20in alloys, 14in ventilated ブレーキ レコードs with EBA, Dynamic 安定 支配（する）／統制する with three settings, JaguarDrive 支配（する）／統制する with Normal/Winter/ Dynamic 方式s, Adaptive Dynamics variable damping, 巡航する 支配（する）／統制する, 自動車 lights and wipers, adaptive 前線 lighting, 力／強力にする boot lid, panoramic roof, four-zone 気候 支配（する）／統制する with 湿度 sensing, soft-穀物 leather upholstery, suede headlining, heated and ventilated 前線 and 後部 seats, 20-way adjustable 前線 seats with massage 機能（する）／行事

Optional extras ポーランドの（人）d alloys, Driver 援助 Pack with adaptive 巡航する 支配（する）／統制する and blind-位置／汚点／見つけ出す 監視するing, DAB 無線で通信する, 数字表示式の/analogue TV, heated steering wheel, 後部-seat entertainment

DRIVE TALKING

What's hot on the road this week

GOOD SPORTS

BMW has 発表するd that the new 5-series will be 利用できる with the M Sport 一括 from September. 利用できる on most saloon and 小旅行するing models from the £31,270 520d to the £53,615 550i, it 含むs M Sport 中断, 改善するd aerodynamics and sportier seats. You'll have to wait - probably until next year - for the 十分な-団体／死体d M5, however.

...AND ON TO INFINITI

More 'M' news: Infiniti, Nissan's 高級な marque, is going 長，率いる-to-長，率いる with Europe's (n)役員／(a)執行力のある saloons by 開始する，打ち上げるing the M37 (below). Starting at £35,150, the 3.7-litre 316bhp saloon will go from 0-60 in 6.2 seconds and has a 限られた／立憲的な 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる） of 155mph. 基準 features 含む xenon headlights, a hard-disk sound system and a rearview camera. A ディーゼル 見解／翻訳／版 will be 利用できる in October, followed by a hybrid in 2011.?

LATEST EDITION

Kia's new SUV crossover goes on sale today in a 限られた／立憲的な 解放（する） of 800 'First 版' models. The Sportage comes with a 2-litre CRDi engine that 約束s 156g/km CO2 and 47.1mpg, 同様に as 二重の-zone 気候 支配（する）／統制する, (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 rain-sensing wipers and 18in alloy wheels. The 十分な 範囲, 含むing other ディーゼル, 石油 and two-wheel-運動 見解／翻訳／版s, will be 利用できる in November.

By Chris Hall