FORGET the Mini, Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 500. When it comes to making retro cars, Jaguar is the daddy of them all. For the longest time, it has stuck to the rolling good times of the 1960s and 1950s - as far as styling was concerned anyway.
While the modern remakes of campy cars have been warmly received by the cool and hip, 'retro' Jags never quite clicked with its target audience which tends to gravitate towards BMW and Mercedes-Benz. While Jags were hiding behind a woolly veil of tradition, the German offerings were luxurious, modern and high-tech.

Jaguar finally woke up to the reality with the XK coupe it launched two years ago. It was a car that gave Jaguar's rich sporting tradition the polish and modernity it so deserves.

The XF is the next big step for the British marque. Seriously challenging established Jaguar conventions, it definitely looks very different from the familiar Jaguar saloon. The lines are chiselled and distinct. The tail is abbreviated and set high.

Standing low and broad, its stance communicates raw power.

The interior is where the biggest revolution has taken place. Previously, the cabin always looked and felt the same. There was always the J-shaped transmission gate and the buttons were finished in shiny black and were often crusty to use. On the few bits that had any illumination, it was the same shade of green seen on old computer monitors.

In contrast, the XF's cabin feels special. The car welcomes the driver with an engine start button that pulsates until the engine has been fired up.

At the same time, louvres that conceal the air-con vents will unroll themselves in unison, mimicking an animal rousing itself from sleep. And to show just how excited it is to have the driver come onboard, a round metallic knob rises from the centre console on ignition. This is the new way to select gears and does away with the old shifter altogether. Paddles mounted on the steering offer manual sequential selection.

As an answer to the fancy interfaces on BMW and Mercedes cars, the XF carries a touch-screen display that offers access to every possible facet of the car. Interestingly, the map-reading lights and glove compartment release are also activated via touch-screen.

Even though the sexy skin is all new, the XF's mechanical bits are actually inherited from the S-Type, albeit reworked to interface with bits from the XK coupe. The S-Type, despite its contentious old-fashioned looks, was always a wonderful handling car and the XF seems to have only upped the ante.

The suspension setting is marginally firmer than on the S-Type but the ride with the 19-inch tyres is no less cosseting than the old car.

The steering is light and pleasingly accurate. Only the 3-litre V6 proves to be a bit wanting as it doesn't have the grunt to fully exploit the car's capabilities. Against even the strong showing of the BMW 5-series, the XF manages to be more eager and accurate, yet more supple than the Teutons.

Maybe years from now, the XF will even be regarded alongside its iconic predecessors as a genuinely forward moving product. But the key challenge now is for all the kingdom to know that the Cat is moving forward - in a hurry.

The writer is Editor of Torque, published by SPH Magazines.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Mar 15, 2008.