Can the XF handle 500bhp? It was a question I couldn’t help but ask myself. On the basis of our long-termer I’d say it might struggle for drive, and also that it doesn’t really need it – the XF is effortlessly quick with 410bhp, thank you. But the M5 has 500 and thus so must the sportiest Jaguar saloon.

Oh, and I apologise for claiming last month that the XF is built in aluminium, which came about through a mixture of skill and forgetfulness – the skill of Jaguar’s engineers in making it feel so light on its feet and my forgetting that it’s based on the steel S-type. Doh.