Now it's been face-lifted. So first, the good news: the engine's not bad. It's a 2.2-litre diesel with 143bhp and 270lb ft, and has been pinched out of the Ford stable. It's fast enough and quiet when you're just cruising around. Press on, though, and refinement begins to suffer.

Equally, it's hardly the last word in environmental specs, as it produces 184g/km of CO2. The Germans are far better when it comes all things eco. Still, at least it's got an automatic for the first time, so you can waft OK. The auto has been matched with Jaguar Sequential Shift for the first time, which allows a manual one-touch mode - something that Audi has been doing for years. In reality, you rarely use it.

The exterior's been altered as well, with the usual changes to bumpers, wing mirrors and a new grille, but not to the point where some of the XF/XK magic is rubbing off. The interior revisions are limited to some new trims and bits of chrome - in other words, not enough to match what Mercedes has done with the C-Class, for example. The X-Type is still noticeably old-school Jag, and the cosmetic changes don't change that.

But the X-Type's biggest problem is the fact that cars like the Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3-Series exist at all. It's simply incomprehensible that these are rivals. The BMW 330d (with a paltry 152g/km of CO2, let's not forget) feels like it was designed by a some future species, let alone another company.