Jaguar XK

The Jaguar XK is the car that began the turnaround of Jaguar’s fortunes. Fabulous to drive, has great street presence and the quality to match more expensive rivals. A Jaguar XKR in the same breath as an Aston Martin Vantage V8? Actually yes.

• Comfort

  The XK instantly feels more forgiving than its rivals no matter what arena you pick for it. Strangely, even the 20-inch wheels don't destroy the ride, so we'd always advise going big. The convertible was created alongside the coupe, so it suffers from virtually no scuttle shake.

  

• Performance

  The XK is relatively light at under 1700kg (coupe), so motivation from either the normally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 or the supercharged XKR 5.0 is more than adequate. You lose tenths for the convertible, but with the stock 5.0 hitting 100kph in just 5.5 seconds and on to 250kph and the ‘R' sprinting to 100kph in 4.8, you won't lose any face at the traffic lights.

  

• Cool

  Overwhelms the previous XK decisively. All of a sudden an XK isn't a golf-course staple - this is a cool car again.

  

• Quality

  Jaguar has tried hard with the XK, and the quality is way, way up even though it's treading a fine line with the wood and tech interior. Early cars had an awful electric post aerial, but that's a distant memory...

  

• Handling

  Slightly more comfort-orientated than a Porsche 911, the XK is still one of the most exciting cars to drive that Jaguar has ever made. Poised, comfortable, alive - it has the big GT game pretty much wrapped up, especially in XKR form. It can't stay with the Germans at the absolute limit, but the compromises for daily life are infinitely better judged. The convertible is equally at home.

  

• Practicality

  Technically this is a 2+2, but you'd have to be really sadistic to want to put anyone in the back - leave the hitchhikers on the hard shoulder. Given that the old XK was a lesson in ‘big car, small interior' packaging, the new version is a joy - great room for tallies in the front and a hatchback in the rear, making for a really quite practical sports GT.

  

• Running costs

  Not cheap, but residuals are good.