Then there’s the issue of possibly the worst traction control system I have ever encountered. Leave it engaged and it will stamp down on the use of anything in excess of 30 per cent throttle like a small child gleefully crushing an ant. This completely intrusive sapping of power infuriates you, especially when you have a 197bhp Clio Cup jammed up your chuff because the big Jag’s electronic Stasi is refusing to permit what you demand. I can’t stand cars which think they know better than you, and although I am far from the world’s most polished driver, I know there were many occasions where I could’ve been allowed the power I wanted on the exit of the curve but was having a digital finger wagged at me by the bloody nannying on-board computer.

    And it is this fact alone that holes the XFR-as-supersaloon argument below the waterline. Because, if – as advocates say – the type of people who will buy the XFR are never going to take it on track or drive it above six-tenths on a B-road, then they are also never going to disengage that awful traction control, are they? And so they will be dealing with this horrendous system every single time they dare to utilise any sort of meaningful throttle application.

    I have also long been an advocate of damping being at just the right level of firmness for the ideal road car – too hard, and it only works on surfaces as smooth as polished glass, too soft and the car wallows too much. The BMW M5 might lean a gnat’s toward the former. The Jag is definitely a touch too soft. You can feel the body rising up on the springs in the approach to corners, an odd sensation of detachment that doesn’t make you want to commit to the apex with every last fibre of your being. This couples with a general feeling of the car hovering slightly above the road surface – an absolute boon for masking its bulk and blessing it with a cushioned ride, but not the sensation you want for precision placement of the vehicle. The steering is also painfully obviously US-spec, too, meaning it has less feel than a fingerless leper. Again, it’s not the worst set-up in the world, but by this point I am hardly working out ways to rob a bank so I can buy my own XFR.

The XF resurrects a radiator grille that hasn't graced a Jag since the SI XJ6 and XJ12 were replaced by the high-bumpered SII cars. If this was lurking in your rear-view, wouldn't you get out of the way...?

The R brings greater muscularity and presence to the XF's styling. Replacing Jaguar's familiar retro styling was always going to be tough, but Callum and his team have succeeded. The XF is ageing well.

    Whereas, in an M5, you have a taut feel to everything. The engine, the steering, the brakes, the way the SMG snaps gears in on its hardest setting; it may not be perfect, the E60, and it may be due for replacement soon, but I would still have one over this new Jag every single day of the week. And, I suspect, so would a lot of keen drivers who may be in the market for this type of car.

    Sorry to keep banging on about the Munich motor, but when you drive an E60 M5, it feels like so much more than just a 550i with 130bhp more. When you drive the XFR… it feels like a slightly faster version of the 5-litre non-supercharged XF. It actually feels a lot like the now-discontinued SV8 model. How can anyone claim this is a new benchmark for the supersaloon fraternity?

    To us, it’s a missed opportunity, because the new XJ has just been launched, bizarre looks and all, and there will undoubtedly be an R version in the pipeline. Now that is the car that should have the dynamics that the XFR possesses – soft, massive flexibility, distance-crushing pace. As a result, the XFR could have, and should have, been much harder, a much more driver-focused machine to take on the M5s and Quattroportes of this world at their own game. As it is, we cannot possibly call this the best supersaloon on the market, because, in our eyes, it isn’t even a bona fide supersaloon.

    So there you are. If your idea of a supersaloon is a four-door car that covers ground with minimal effort put in by the driver, then the XFR is the weapon of choice. However, if you think a supersaloon should engage its pilot and stand head and shoulders above the seething mass of big-engined executive barges, you’d be better off looking elsewhere.