An ex girlfriend’s mother loved the fact that I turned up in a different car every week to whisk her daughter away. There was only one make that made her shriek in horror – and that was Jaguar.

When she was growing up in London in the 1960s – the mum, not the daughter – Jaguar’s were apparently ‘only’ driven by gangsters and Arthur Daley-types. You remember him? The secondhand car dealer played by George Cole, in the TV series Minder. Must-see viewing for any family in the 1970s.

The old Jaguar XJ had such a distinctive shape that even if I taped over the name badge, I wouldn’t have got away with it. Of course, it’s a different story now. The XFR on the driveway today has a streamlined shape that could make it anything from a Maserati to an Aston Martin when viewed from a distance.

I miss the shape of the old XJ. You can pick up a mint example of the very last versions on Autotrader for less than £20,000. What a bargain! The XFR may be one of the finest saloons on the road but it does lack that classy style that only comes in an old Jaguar.