Well here I am at last driving a Jaguar XJ, the kind of car that when I was growing up signified that you'd 'made it'. As I was going through my teens and Twenties, big Jag saloons had a torrid time but now they're back. Our Road Test team rate the current XJ series as the pick of the crop of current luxury saloons: I've been finding out why.

In truth, there isn't much more space in an XJ than there is in the supposedly smaller S-Type saloon - which probably makes it well worth considering one of the long wheelbase versions that I tried. Here, you can really stretch out, especially in the back and enjoy lovely little touches like the shagpile rugs fitted to my Sovereign test car. Yes, I know shagpile sounds a bit Seventies but for some reason in this car, it really works. If luxury is a great priority, there's an optional voice activated control system which enables you to given spoken commands to the climate control system, the stereo and the 'phone (which now has an integrated keypad). It also works on the satellite navigation system, which can respond to traffic congestion when calculating your route. I also liked the little touches like the headlights which turn on automatically. Or the Smart Locking system which made it impossible to lock my keys in the car.

A range of four engines are available, the two 4.2-litre engines carried over from the previous generation XJ mark the apex of the range and are the only engines available in long-wheelbase form. In normally aspirated form, the first of these V8s generates 300bhp, whilst the supercharged version fitted to the XJR models is good for a monster 400bhp. When coupled with the lightweight body, expect some astonishing performance figures. Other than that, you have the 2.7-litre V6 diesel. I particularly liked the entry-level 6-cylinder version powered by the 240bhp AJ-V6 engine as seen in the X and S-TYPE models. All four petrol engines are coupled to six speed transmissions designed by ZF. Traditionalists will be hugely heartened by the sight of that Jaguar staple, the J-gated gear shifter, this time marshalling a gearbox of redoubtable artificial intelligence.

If I was at boardroom level, I'd have to consider this car. It would be folly not to. Buying British never felt so good.