Faults:

Passenger side window regulator £90.

Rear passenger door lock mechanism £45.

Exhaust flexi pipe £150.

Coolant housing pipe £90.

General Comments:

It's an amazing car, best interior by far, wood and leather everywhere. Driving it never gets boring and it is very well built. For a 2008 car, the nav system is fantastic.

And for a 1700 Kg car, fuel consumption is very good. I get 25 – 28 MPG city (very short drives), and 46-48 MPG on motorway. And it's not underpowered at all.

One of the big “not faults” issues is the DPF for diesel models. When only driving in city, it will become full very fast (300-400 miles), at which point you need to take it for a drive above 30 MPH for about 20 minutes. This is a game changer if you are planning to only use it on inner city roads with no access to a motorway. However, if you make a single 20 minute journey at least once within the 300 miles, then you should be fine.

If you are buying one, make sure the timing belt is done.

Will I buy another one? Yes, but this time it must be under warranty as repairs can get expensive.

Don’t take it to Jaguar dealers at all.

Faults:

No faults so far.

General Comments:

Bought to replace a 2006 535d M Sport, which I was really happy with.

The interior is in a different league to the BMW's. No more bland grey plastic, lovely materials, first class comfort, and lots of lovely toys to play with. Novelty items such as the rollback vents, heartbeat start button and pop up gear selector are the initial attractors, but the deeper qualities of the seats, driving position, equipment levels and sheer refinement go deeper. A lovely place to be. The Bowers and Wilkins sound system is breathtaking, too.

If BMW need to understand in a nutshell why they should ditch those ridiculous runflat tyres, they should sample the Jag's much more supple ride, and greater resistance to tramlining, particularly under heavy braking. The XF is no soggy limo, make no mistake. The ride is on the firm side, but it never thumps or crashes like the BMW used to, and there is much less road noise. I daresay on the outer limits of handling on a circuit, the BMW is probably a tad more agile, but on the road, there's nothing in it.

The twin turbo V6 diesel seems to lack the BMW engine's sheer muscle in terms of feel, but on paper is 6/10 of a second quicker to 60. I'm not sure I actually believe that given the power to weight ratio is actually inferior to the BMW's, but I can say it never feels underpowered. Jaguar have built a corker of an engine. It's all but silent when cruising, but has a lovely V6 growl when revved. The autobox is well matched, and changes are smooth and seamless. It gives me around 37 mpg in mixed driving, compared with the slightly more efficient 39 mpg from the BMW.

As you can probably gather, I am smitten with this car. It's been a long time coming, but at last a car which competes on equal terms with the best Germany can produce. The 5 is long in the tooth now, and its replacement is bound to be better, but comparing like for like, today, and purely on merit, I can't see anyone other than a die hard BMW fan walking away from the Jag.