KEY POINTS:
What a strange world Jaguar lives in. Consider the old-school XJ sedan -it's supposed to represent everything that has been wrong with the marque over the past few years, yet underneath that self-consciously retro styling it's an amazingly high-tech machine.
With all-aluminium construction it's amazingly light and, as a consequence, fast and brilliantly nimble to drive.
Now consider the new XF sedan. It's supposed to represent a bold new future for Jaguar. It looks slick and is crammed with gadgets.
But it sticks with cost-saving steel construction (it's a whopping 183kg heavier than the much larger XJ) and under the bonnet of our flagship XF test car, the SV8, lies a very familiar supercharged engine.
None of this makes the XF a bad car. In fact, it's rather magnificent, but it's not the futuristic ground-breaker you might have been expecting.
Not that you'll probably care when you look this cool. The XF is a real traffic stopper, especially in SV8 specification with 20-inch alloy wheels.
The shape is concept-car gorgeous, if not quite as distinctive as the C-XF show car that preceded it, and there's a nice sense of detail, with that mesh grille and chrome window surrounds.
It looks like $170k worth of car - the BMW 550i or Mercedes-Benz E500 look ordinary in comparison.
The sense of occasion continues inside, although the XF treads a fine line between feeling special and being a bit gimmicky. Open the door (it has keyless entry) and the starter button glows like a heartbeat. Press it and the gearlever - a large rotary dial - rises up out of the dash to greet you.
Want to open the glovebox? There's a touch-sensitive pad for that, although it won't work if your attractive passenger (surely you would have one in this car) has moisturised hands.
Want to turn an interior light on? They are motion sensitive but activate by accident every time you adjust the rear-vision mirror.
But in terms of styling and materials, the XF cabin is still a cool place to be and it's fully loaded, even considering the massive price tag.
The Bowers & Wilkins audio, configured especially for this car, is superb and allows you to control your iPod through the large touch screen, which is another work of genius.
The same screen is used for all major cabin functions and is intuitive - you'll be able to dock your Bluetooth cellphone with the car in two minutes and not feel confused once.
And so to the driving. The XF feels like a big, heavy car. It also feels like a really fast one, with terrific steering and the chassis to tame all that weight into an entertaining drive.
It really is fantastic, and imagine what it could have been if Jaguar had found the money to make this car aluminium as well, as originally planned.
Jaguar's V8 engine is awesome. But with a supercharger, which is running all the time and creating much drag, it's also hilariously inefficient.
I'd say the Combined economy figure of 12.6 litres per 100km is a miracle. In gentle running you'll do 16l and if you enjoy the car like you're supposed to, expect to climb into the 20l pretty easily.
The Jaguar brand never made a cent under Ford's ownership, but it made some wonderful cars and the XF - the last new model signed off before the company was sold to Indian giant Tata - is certainly one of them.
Jaguar's new proprietors have the money to keep things going - let's hope the retain the passion to make and improve on machines such as this.
