Jaguar's 335bhp XE S Will Set You Back £44,870

When news of the new ‘baby Jag’ landed, the version we were most interested in was the S, which is powered by the same fruity supercharged V6 found in the F-Type. With all prices and specs now announced, we’re able to find out how much our dream XE costs: £44,870.

That is rather pricey, making the range-topping XE about £5000-6000 more expensive than the equivalant BMW 335i or Audi S4 (which are admittedly slightly less powerful), but the models lower down the XE range are a little more competitively priced.

A 2.0-litre petrol four-pot kicks things off with a £26,995 sticker price and a 197bhp, 206lb ft output, while a pokier 237bhp, 250lb ft version of the same lump will set you back £29,745 and up. The latter is decently quick, dispatching the 0-62mph benchmark in 6.8 seconds. The claimed combined economy figure for both is 37.7mpg, which isn’t great considering the equivalant Beemer or Audi will do well over 40, but Jag’s new ‘Ingenium’ oil-burners fare much better.

Go for the base 161bhp, 280lb ft 2.0-litre diesel (£29,775 and up) in manual form, and you get a frankly silly figure of 75mpg. Fancy more poke? The 178bhp, 316lb ft version starts at £30,275, will do 0-62mph in 7.8 seconds, and has a claimed combined economy figure of 67.3mpg. The two diesels are available with either a six-speed manual box or an eight-speed ZF automatic, but if you want a petrol, it’ll have to be an auto. Boo.

Want to splash the cash? The new XE goes on sale tomorrow.