But it wouldn’t be practical round here because the roads are so busy, this needs to stretch its legs on motorways or country roads. It’s wonderful isn’t it?”Krishna Patel, 37, housewife, from New Malden, Kingston upon Thames. Currently drives a Mercedes C180″It’s absolutely lovely to drive,” said Krishna “It handles so smoothly. “It’s absolutely gorgeous too, but I think knowing Jaguar is owned by Ford doesn’t give the name quite the ring it had. This would be practical for me because I travel long distances and like a powerful car – I could get quite carried away in this It feels fantastic, the steering is nice and light I would feel extremely good driving this around. Currently drives a VW Polo”It really is lovely to handle, I could be tempted to sell my house to buy one of these,” beamed Sharan.

If I could get a chauffeur’s job driving one of these I’d give up medicine tomorrow.”Sharan Norman, 51, dental practice manager, from Leicester. It’s very stable and quiet.”"I think if I saw one of these I’d think the owner was an arrogant so and so,” commented Chris, but that didn’t stop him from completely falling in love with the Jag “Jesus! This is impressive, so effortless What a fantastic car. It is lovely to drive though, very manoeuvrable, fast and responsive. “And I often have to visit quite rough areas for house calls and this is a bit showy – I’d feel I had to dress up to go out in it. It’s very quiet even at 70mph, I don’t think it would be very wise me having a car that can go fast – how much would it cost if you damaged it? If I parked it outside my house there’d be nothing left in the morning, and I’m not too sure about the plasticky veneer.”Rachel Clarke, 33, GP and Chris Rollason, 33, medical student, both from Thrussington, Leicestershire.Rachel drives a VW Golf, Chris drives a Citroen AX”I have a large boxer dog so I don’t think the white leather would be so great,” said Rachel. Currently drives a Nissan Micra”This is really for middle-aged wealthy types isn’t it, not scratty proles like me,” was Ian’s initial judgement.

“This is a totally different class from anything I’ve driven before, it’s ridiculously nice to drive and it feels much smaller than I’d expected, very solid and safe. You easily find yourself doing 70mph, but it’s totally comfortable, terrifically easy to drive – I thought it would be quite frightening but it’s not.”Ian Ward, 28, web-page designer, from Loughborough, Leicestershire. This is real fun to play in though I’m not sure you desperately need all this power, but it’s nice to have it for overtaking safely. And if my brief dalliance is anything to go by, driving it every day will be hard to resistNicola Cunnane, 37, housewife, from Cutthorpe, Derbyshire. Currently drives a Subaru 1-SeriesAlthough initially Nicola found the lack of a gearstick disconcerting, she soon settled in behind the wheel of the Jag: “Oh, this is very good! I always thought Jaguars were old men’s cars. The older six-cylinder cars are purer of design, less cosseting and generally, thanks to their age, more fragile, which makes the V12 the car to plump for if you want to drive your E-Type every day. Around pounds 20,000 will buy you a less original fixed-head V12; around pounds 12,000 is the entry level for an MOT’d six-cylinder car (convertibles command roughly a 50 per cent premium).

And what nightmares await owners in 10 years’ time when the electric seats, air conditioning and CD all begin to fail? As for fuel economy, both cars will struggle to top 20mpg, and both cost around pounds 40 to fill up.Our immaculate E-Type, which had done 25,000 miles, was leant to us by The E-Type Centre (01827 373247) and is currently on offer for pounds 28,950. The XKR’s terrifying complexity means DIY maintenance is out of the question – I couldn’t even find the battery to give a stranded motorist a jump-start, which was most embarrassing. Insurance will be cheaper, so will most spares, and if it goes wrong (which admittedly will happen more often than with a new car) any competent mechanic will be able to fix it. The XKR is gorgeous from almost every angle (except for the long boot, designed to accommodate two sets of golf clubs). The humpbacked 4+4 E-Type, being a development of a two-seater, is more of a compromise But it’s the older car that has the presence.