When it comes to performance, stately vehicle brands don't need to be boring in order to maintain their elegance.
Those that can blister the pavement when required, and remain poised have managed to strike just the right balance.
Jaguar is just such a marque.
Much of that has to do with the big cat from Coventry's proud racing history - something you'll readily notice from the large, vintage photos printed on the showroom walls of Jaguar Richmond. You will also see four royal warrants on another showroom wall, denoting Jaguar as the choice of four British Royals.
There you have it - evidence of Jaguar's power and majesty.
Take a spin in the new Jaguar XF, like I did for a short time this week, and you get to experience it first-hand.
While I have to admit the new styling still has to grow on me - I am child of the U.K.'s late 60s and have Jag's old school styling cues imprinted on me - once I slipped behind the steering wheel I could feel this was all Jag.
The smell of and feel of the butter soft leather, the immaculate fit and finish of the coach work, high-tech wizardry just about everywhere I looked, and the promise of a beast under the bonnet made me forget any misgivings about the exterior.
Getting out on the road drove the point home as I started to explore the seamless shifting, eightspeed, automatic transmission which allows you to select P, N or D from a rotary dial that rises from the centre console when you depress the engine start button.
And when you do that, it brings to life, in a classically understated way, the XF's 2.0 litre turbocharged, in line fourcylinder engine that provides 240 horsepower and 251 pound feet of torque.
Delivering such power from so meagre displacement is a truly remarkable feat, but is topped by the silky way it rises to your command.
Give the accelerator a decent push and the XF doesn't provide drama - it just seems to make the scenery move past the windows at an increasing rate almost without effort.
And this, from the smallest engine in the XF lineup. I can only imagine what the 3.0 and 5.0 litre versions can accomplish.
Jaguar posts the XF's zero to 100 km/h time at 7.9 seconds, and it's top speed at 209 km/h. Fuel consumption is pegged at a combined city/highway rate of 9.1 litres per 100 km - not bad for a mid-size luxury sedan in today's increasingly fossil fuel conscious world.
Comfort-wise, this Jaguar lives up to it predecessors with all manner of items to cosset its occupants.
Much of that is owed to some nifty high tech touches that included a heated steering wheel and video touch screen that controlled most everything from the entertainment system to a navigation map.
Base price of the XF is $53,5000. The as-tested price of my Stratus Grey XF was $63,949.
