Jeremy I’ve taken to parking the XJ front-end on to my office window. The white paint job doesn’t offend me any more – even if the bling grille looks as ostentatious as a Breitling Superocean watch. Parking it nose first also means I can ignore the back-end – the only blemish on an otherwise sublime executive saloon.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the high, box-like bottom of the XJ makes me wince each time it peeps into view. It reminds me a lot of the brilliant BMW 6 Series – a car only flawed by a rear-end of equally disproportionate proportions. I love the rear lights of the XJ but the metal bits inbetween are a letdown.

The XJ cockpit is near faultless. A heady mix of high quality leather, discreet chrome and a low-slung dashboard, it has buttons and dials in all the right places too. The massaging front seats are the height of opulence but once you’ve used them for a week, you wonder how you are going to survive a long journey ever again.

It’s just as luxurious in the rear and every bit as upmarket as the best of Mercedes or Audi. The boot space is a little lacking – perhaps another reason why they should redesign that rear-end asap.

XJ is a fantastic, high quality machine that in 3.0 V6 guise is as good to drive as anything on the market. Sort out that heavyweight bottom and it would be difficult to match.