2010 Jaguar XF

The XF may be a little slower but Will Fox is happy to behind the wheel of a Jag.

The XF lacks the grille of its higher powered sisters.

Sometimes car companies play it way too safe. They hold back on great models and avoid taking what they view as a potential risk. For many years Jaguar has taken the easy route. When things got tough they simply hid behind their old nostalgia and kept their ageing customer base happy with reruns of old models. The cars were good, but hardly groundbreaking. You had to be a fan. Then a little ray of light appeared in the form of the stunning XK coupé. But once the hullabaloo had died down and Aston Martin stopped complaining about Jag stealing its Vantage sales, Jaguar faced a serious challenge: what do you follow up with? The answer came in the form of something completely left field, a total departure from anything the company had done before: the Jaguar XF.

The new car didn't just shake the company's rule book; It ripped it up and threw it away. In an instant, Jag was cool again, in spite of still retaining a little bit of the old-school panache that made it an "it" brand from the start. The press loved it, the public wanted it and so far the XF has proved to be the brilliant revival tool the company needed it to be. It was really "it". The interior proved you could still do something different without sacrificing luxury and functionality.

The XF looks fantastic and has an incredible interior, and those are not adjectives I use lightly. The early SV8 model and the newer XFR, with its supercharger nestled neatly below a bulging bonnet, were, and are, both brilliant. But the big test is whether the car's abilities translate right down to the base model. The XF range starts with the base model XF 3.0L V6, which is hardly budget. You still get the lovely revolving air vents and the drive selector dial. What you lose is the air-conditioned seats, a sunroof and a few other niceties, but nothing that'll leave you feeling too shortchanged. You even still get the electric rear blind. It's hardly B-for-basic territory here.

Walking around the car, it still appears at the higher end of the motoring spectrum. Everything is colour-coded with a few hints of chrome at both the front and rear to keep that luxury feel. The alloys look great and the car has the same purposeful stance as the other range-topping models. You even get the chrome-tipped oval exhausts, poking out of the back of the rear valance. My only real dislike with the entire range is the leaping Jaguar badge on the rear, which always looks slightly lopsided to me. A round Jaguar crest would have been better in my book, but then again, I'm not a car designer and it doesn't seem to bother anyone else.

To the untrained eye, the lesser model only lacks the bonnet grille of its higher powered sisters. Everything else is just as it should be. Interestingly, the XF, regardless of engine size, always appears much bigger than it actually is. Despite being no bigger or smaller than its class rivals, the high window line and large rear give it the look of a far bigger car. On the road, the 3.0L engine certainly isn't as urgent as the V8, and of course lacks the drama of the R model. Rather than the V6 being underpowered, you could argue that the V8 is a little overpowered for all but the most speed-obsessed drivers. Pulling away in the V6 instantly reveals that the XF is quite a heavy car. But once it gets into its stride the six rolls along with a fair bit of poke.

On the open road, the V6 can't quite waft along as easily as the V8 models, but it certainly tries. Overtaking requires a little more planning, but then that's to be expected. It can also get quite thirsty when you start pushing it to emulate its bigger siblings. But the main downside to the smaller engine model is the exhaust sound. It's nondescript at best, lacking that bellow the V8 does so well. I knew there was a downside to losing those two cylinders.

Everyone wants the top of the range car of any brand, but there's a good reason manufacturers build lower spec models. The best thing about the V6 XF is that it still feels very much a Jaguar. Driving it still gives you that great feeling good cars give you. OK, you might get where you're going a fraction slower, but you'll still be part of the "it" crowd. [e-mail]