USED Jaguar XF Saloon (07 - )

The XF was a radical departure for Jaguar when it arrived in late ‘07. Traditional styling was gone and in its place was a sleek, suave modern look. It's surprisingly nimble for such a large car and supremely refined. You can hear the engine but it's a pleasure rather than pain, and you're almost totally insulated from both wind and road noise.

Once inside you're confronted with an Aladdin's cave of contemporary design and futuristic materials. It's not style over substance though, because everything has a solid and well-built feel.

There's plenty of space in the front, but the sloping roofline means that the back is not for tall passengers. Storage-wise, the boot should be big enough, but the rear seats fold down for extra space.

Of the four engines available, the 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel is the best all-round choice. There's more than enough power for the Jaguar to be entertaining, but you'll benefit from lower running costs and better residual values. They're also the most common on the used market, but their popularity keeps prices high.

The 3.0-litre V6 petrol version is fine, but a little underpowered for the size of car, while the 4.2 V8 petrol model is silkily smooth but thirsty. The supercharged SV8 has 400bhp, making it rapid but expensive to fuel.

Jaguar went to town when deciding what should be fitted to the XF as standard. Sat-nav, climate control, electrically adjustable seats, a leather interior and parking sensors are all included on the lower-spec Luxury model, while the Premium Luxury gets higher-quality seats, upgraded cabin trim, larger alloys, keyless entry and powered folding mirrors. The SV8 model gets additions such as active suspension, metallic paint and up-rated headlights.

Designed as an executive car, you might need an executive's salary to keep the XF on the road. The diesel models emit 199g C02/km, while the petrol models range between 249g CO2/km and 264g CO2/km, so road tax isn't going to be cheap. The diesel gives much better average fuel economy, at 35mpg, compared with 26.8mpg - 22.4mpg from the petrol versions.

You should stick to franchised dealers for servicing cars that are under the manufacturer's warranty. While this will cost noticeably more than at an independent, it will help residual value. It will also help to ensure that maintenance work is carried out correctly.

Jaguar has been improving its cars' reliability over the past few years, while also performing well in the JD Power customer satisfaction survey and What Car?'s reliability reports.

Although it's a little early to know how well the XF will fare in the long term, there have been no serious issues reported. However, a small number of intermittent faults and gremlins have cropped up.

The electrics can suffer, with warning lights staying on, and the touch-screen sat-nav causing problems. Doors can stick, as can the fuel filler flap, while the door trim can work itself loose. The air-conditioning system can also let you down.