I can’t say my family has ever owned a Jaguar. Well, apart from my own E-Type but that was hardly an everyday sort of car and spent most of its life being cossetted in an inflatable bubble. Shameful.

In fact, the closest my father ever came to a Jaguar was when he had ‘a coming together’ with the newspaper proprietor, Eddie Shah.

We were pulling out of a junction when Shah’s Jag, indicating left, decided to drive straight on. I was about ten at the time and I just remember that Shah stepped out of the Sovereign wearing yeti boots. They obviously made quite an impression.

I think my father would have cringed driving the XFR. Not because it isn’t a good car but he was the sort of chap who kept a notebook in the glovebox and wrote down every drop of fuel he ever bought.

The XFR is only returning around 20mpg and I swear I’m driving it slowly. It’s only been in ‘Sport’ mode twice and we’ve not even been sideways, yet…