The S-Type isn’t the cheapest executive saloon to run. There’s only one diesel engine in the line-up and it wasn’t introduced until 2004 – the petrol V6 and V8 units struggle to achieve 30mpg. Jaguar servicing and customer service is excellent, but it should be given the prices they charge. Insurance ratings are group 14 and 15 for the standard models rising to 19 for the high performance R.

Average running costs for the sector. Choose the new diesel if you want to keep running costs down – it will have the strongest residuals, too.

With a range of V6 and V8 petrol engines, it is little surprise that the S-Type is fairly polluting model. The greenest model is the 2.7-litre V6 diesel which emits 179g/km of CO2 and returns 41mpg.

Early model suffered plenty of problems – these appear to have been largely remedied and a higher standard of reliability is now the rule. Jaguar frequently scores well in customer satisfaction surveys both in the UK and in the US.