It can't have been an easy task to apply butchness to a car whose design is as amiable as that of the S-Type, and with what I suppose must be characteristic British understatement Jaguar has not tried too hard. A mesh radiator grille, rounder fog lights, a very discreet bootlid spoiler and five-spoke alloy wheels are just about the only visual clues. The effect is that of a car which is purposeful but not intimidating.The S-Type R is a book which can be judged by its cover, because the same description can easily be applied to the way the car behaves. Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I reckon a high-performance car should go quickly if I want it to go quickly and slowly if I want it to go slowly. Also, with a respectful nod to Jackie Stewart's claim that a good racing car should be a bitch to drive, I reckon a good road car should be easy to drive. If you have to struggle with it, it's not "involving", it's not "demanding", it's not any of those other things that hyperactive motoring writers say when they should be switching to decaffeinated; it's just badly set-up.A few technical details first. The R uses the supercharged version of Jaguar's 4.2-litre V8 engine, which produces 400bhp at 6100rpm and 408lb/ft at 3500rpm (in a car costing £47,400 - bags of bang per buck). It's available only with the new six-speed ZF automatic transmission, complete with the J-gate manual override function which has not received particularly enthusiastic critical acclaim. The suspension is tuned specially for this car and uses the computer-controlled CATS system. The wheels are 18" in diameter - 8" wide at the front and 9.5" at the rear - and they carry a lot of rubber - 245/40 fore, 275/35 aft.So much for the numbers. There are two key areas which help to make the S-Type R such a fine multi-purpose machine. To begin with, there's the fact that the engine is not naturally aspirated. If it were (for the same power output), the car would feel like it was straining at the leash all the time. In fact, as long as you're not using the throttle enough to wake up the supercharger to any great extent, you can dawdle along perfectly happily and in almost luxury-car silence - only the rumbling of those low-profile tyres gives any audible hint that you are driving something with vastly more potential than you are currently using.Bring the supercharger into play, though, and a new sound takes over. Not an attractive sound, to be honest. It reminds me of a premature baby I once heard objecting to having its nappy changed. But you quickly get to like it, because you learn to associate it with absolutely storming acceleration. From being a relaxed cruiser the Jaguar turns into a very fast car indeed. (At this point you might consider switching the automatic transmission to Sport mode, but then it becomes too eager to change down a gear, and frankly the car performs well enough without this.)The other thing which contributes to the dual character is the suspension. Forget for a moment the fact that most racing cars are very stiff (it's not relevant to road conditions anyway.) Soft suspension equals both good grip and good ride quality, as long as it is also well controlled. "Soft and well controlled" describes the set-up on the Jaguar, and your first confirmation of this is the fact that the low-speed ride quality is excellent. The ride remains smooth as you start to go more quickly, by which time you're more concerned about the handling. Here the combination of huge grip (from the tyres) and a disinclination to use up that grip (from the soft suspension) means that the car seems almost glued to the road.Of course, there are limits. But I don't know what they are. And that's the point - I shouldn't have been able to find out. Driving energetically along a challenging road I did not experience anything approaching either understeer or oversteer, and without taking the car on to a race circuit I have no intention of going fast enough to enter regions where one or the other might become apparent. Anyone who gets out of shape driving an R on public roads has no business having a driving licence in the first place.What else do you need to know? The car is exceptionally comfortable, the interior is lovely (basically standard S-Type Sport issue with unique seats and gearknob), fuel economy and emissions are reasonable considering the power output, which is the highest of any production Jaguar in history. It's an extraordinary car, one of the best matches of luxury and performance I have ever come across, and - if money is in any way an issue here - possibly the best value in a rarefied and wonderful class of cars.Second opinion: An amazing car for the money, and a superior high-performance saloon even if money's no object. The latest fascia design is a big improvement on the original S-Type, and Jaguar's wood-and-leather approach certainly beats its Continental rivals. The way the R performs seems effortless, and there's no feeling, on the public road, that the power overwhelms everything else. Some other cars with 400bhp to play with seem muscle-bound, whereas the Jaguar has a very well engineered balance between handling and ride. The new ZF transmission is a subtle affair. Calling it "adaptive", as Jaguar does, is a massive understatement. While it can get too fussy, at its best it doesn't second-guess the driver, but is often ready with the move a good driver would make with a manual transmission, immediately before it's needed. I'm still not a great fan of the J-gate, either. Ross Finlay. Engine 4196cc, 8 cylinders Power 400bhp Transmission 6-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 22.5mpg / 314g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.3 seconds Top speed 155mph Price £47,400 Details correct at publication date
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