Meow Meow, Wet Wet

Two generations of mid-size Jag cats meet on a drizzly day, play with rainwater and fight a little.

- Dr Kong Yongyao

THE first XF saved the company. The new XF takes the fight to the Germans

It’s easy to understate the importance of the first generation XF to Jaguar’s fortunes. Think of the British marque today and a picture of modernity comes to mind. Some of us, however, will remember the S-Type, a saloon that elevated frumpiness to the level of performance art.

Back in 2007, even the company’s flagship XJ was a luxury barge that, despite being underpinned by an advanced aluminium structure, looked scarcely different than it did back in 1968.

Having the Queen as Jaguar’s only remaining customer after she has outlived all current buyers was a real danger.

Something had to be done. Enter the XF, introduced in 2007 as a 2008 model. Crucially, it looked like nothing Jaguar had been stubbornly doing for the past four decades.

And what a stunner it is. All voluptuous curves and graceful lines, it makes every other midsize rival, even those pretending to be coupes like the Mercedes CLS, look dowdy by comparison.

Stand a few paces back as a setting sun cascades silken gold over the XF’s sultry shape and it’s hard not to be enthralled.

The visual theatre continues with a cabin full of surprise and-delight touches. Taking centre stage are rotating air vents and a pulsating engine start button that, when pressed, makes a gear selector rise up out of the centre console. Make of that what you will.

Gone are the heavy wood panelling, stuffy leather and obsession with olde worlde English ness. This was Jaguar finally leaving the red telephone box for an iPhone.

Peel back the prettiness, though, and you’ll find the steel-heavy platform from the old S-Type underpinning the car. That was a handicap, but hardly a lethal one. Plucky British engineering came into play, and a genuinely excellent vehicle still emerged from the engineering efforts.