It would be hard to over-emphasise the significance of the S-Type range to Jaguar's current fortunes. Launched just last year, it is almost single-handedly responsible for a huge increase in the company's global sales. Clearly Jaguar's planners guessed that there was a market for a smaller car than the XJ series, and equally clearly they were absolutely right.When you drive a different car every week you're acutely conscious of how people react. In this case, the test car - a middle-of-the-range three-litre SE (standing for Special Equipment) - attracted more admiring glances than anything I've been in for a very long time. I suspect that the light gold colour scheme, which sits very well with the body shape, may have had something to do with this, but it can't have been the only reason. It seems that most people simply consider the S-Type to be a pleasingly elegant new design.Except it's not new at all, of course. When the XJ series was being planned, Jaguar realised that it had not made a saloon that looked any better than the Series 3 range introduced in the early 1970s, so it simply copied that, with very few significant changes.For the S-Type, the designers went another generation back for inspiration to the Mk2. Visually, the two cars are related in a similar way to the old and new Volkswagen Beetles. Place two cars next to each other, one of each type, and the differences will be immediately obvious, but look at the newer cars in isolation and the shapes of the older ones will come immediately to mind.With 240bhp, the six-cylinder engine pushes the S-Type from 0-60mph in about eight seconds, assuming it has the 5-speed automatic transmission which is standard for the car in SE spec (the manual box brings this time down to an official 6.9s). Exact figures aren't that important for a luxury saloon, of course, so let's just say the performance is quite adequate. More important is the fact that the car feels unfussed even when being pushed along, which is exactly the way it should be.Inside it's comfortable (the SE has multi-adjustable leather seats with memory adjustment), tasteful and restrained, though there are a couple of oddities. The less serious one is that the gauges are extremely ordinary, and quite out of keeping with the rest of the interior; it's almost as if Jaguar had simply forgotten to design them.Slightly more significantly, there is no footrest, and with this being an automatic the result is that you are at a loss as to where your left foot is meant to go. On a very long trip - surely the ideal use for such a car - I imagine this would become rather tedious.I did like the rear distance warning buzzer, though, basically because it made me look like a much better reverser-into-parking-spaces than I actually am. Could be a bit embarrassing the day the fuse blows, though.The test car was fitted with the CATS adaptive damping suspension, first seen on the XK sports cars. One of the things I remember most about the launch of that range (apart from a disastrous snooker match with the PR Director, which we abandoned in disgust when I had the highest break of minus eight) was the almost apologetic way in which Jaguar admitted that some of these cars were not fitted with CATS. We could drive those if we liked, they said, but the CATS cars were the really important ones because the ride and handling were so much better.That day I tried out both versions, and found that the most noticeable difference was that the CATS cars had disastrously inferior ride quality. I would be careful not to buy an XK with the system fitted, and the same applies with the S-Type.With CATS you also get 18" wheels and super-low profile 40-series tyres, which look fabulous but make the ride problem even worse. If I had an S-Type I would want to waft around in luxurious splendour without being jiggled every time the car came across the slightest bump, having paid several thousand pounds extra for the privilege.No CATS for me, then, but otherwise the S-Type is a pleasant and refined way of getting to B from A. But could we possibly have a footrest? And maybe some more interesting dials to look at?Second opinion: It's the looks and, with the leather trim option, the appearance of the interior which appeal here. But, before he went to the F1 operation, Trevor Crisp's engine team made a fine job of modifying a power unit which, like the S-Type platform, is shared with Lincoln. Jaguar's version has far better mid-range torque. In fact, it's close to being the three-litre class leader there. I liked the sporting noises the S-Type made when pressing on, and I didn't think the ride quality deteriorated with the CATS system as much as has been suggested. This is a real sports saloon, it has an air about it, and I'm not surprised that Continentals still look round as a Zhag-warr whisks by. Ross Finlay. Engine 2967cc, 6 cylinders Power 240bhp Transmission 5-speed automatic Fuel 23.8mpg Acceleration 0-60mph: 8.0 seconds Top speed 141mph Price £33,150 Details correct at publication date