It’s fair I say now that I’ve been a fan of the XF since it launched, so the combination of increased fleet investment and activity, a new business-friendly 129g/km diesel, and the arrival of the R-sport trim level all came together to justify adding the XF Sportbrake to our group of long-term test vehicles.

When launched early last year, the  R-sport trim fitted between the Luxury and now-deleted Premium Luxury trim levels, and is designed to compete against the successful M-sport and S-line trims from BMW and Audi by adding a sport front bumper, side sills, rear spoiler and R-sport badging on the steering wheel and tread plates, as well as attractive 17-inch wheels in gloss anthracite finish.  

At the trim level’s launch, Jaguar global brand director Steven De Ploey said “business users and fleet managers will be able to enjoy the seductive design from the high-performance ‘R’ models, while benefitting from the low emissions and high fuel efficiency of the powertrain”.

The 163hp diesel emits 129g/km of CO2 that, while not quite at the level of Jaguar’s German rivals, is importantly under 130g/km and at least puts the car in the same ball-park as some very established and accomplished competition.

It was a shame that over the 11,205 miles it covered while in our care – it was on 628 when it rolled into the BusinessCar car park – we didn’t quite crack a 40mpg average, falling an agonising 0.2mpg short. However, it was interesting to see how urban use hammered the economy.

The XF was subjected to a lot of longer runs, which are its forte, but around town the damage is clear. Over one 170-mile trip that was mainly urban, we hit just 31.6mpg, compared with a best of 45.0mpg. By throttling back a little, the motorway trips would have yielded better figures, but in general we achieved a lot of tanks in the low-40s for economy, hovering around 500 miles per tank. When feeling brave with the distance-to-empty I did once get 570 miles out of a tank, though.

This much time and distance with a car will show up a few foibles, and on the Jag these include keyless start but not keyless entry; a clumsy luggage cover that too often gets left blocking the rear view; and a touchscreen system that isn’t quite as clever as it could be, and sometimes refused to properly connect to my iPod via the USB.

At least the rear seats fold easily, creating a cavernous space to house my two-wheeled January sale purchase ahead of this year’s London-Brighton bike ride (in aid of the British Heart Foundation – all sponsorship gratefully received!), and the boot got plenty of work-outs, particularly over Christmas, mainly carrying enough Frozen-related merchandise to keep Disney in business for another year.

But over six months the XF Sportbrake has managed to prove it’s as classy, attractive, comfortable, good to drive (with special mention to the excellent eight-speed auto transmission) and appealing to both the head and heart level to merit its position as the only serious challenger to the premium German trio of Audi, BMW and Mercedes, while Jaguar’s decision to take the fleet market more seriously in resourcing and attention bode well for the arrival of the crucial new XE, the XF’s little brother in around three months.