We think of the luxury-sedan class as being rear-wheel drive, but it’s increasingly becoming all-wheel drive. According to Jaguar, cars with four driven wheels currently account for 40 percent of large-luxury-sedan sales. Already, the Audi A8, the BMW 7-series, the Lexus LS, and the Mercedes-Benz S-class offer AWD. Now, the Jaguar XJ does, too.

We might have picked somewhere warmer than northern Wales for the Jaguar F-Type's first meeting with its sports car rivals, but despite the chill of a winter that had overstayed its welcome, this frigid clime did offer some benefits: barren rolling hills; traffic consisting of little more than the postman in the morning and a farmer or two in the afternoon; and mother nature's own special driving stages laid out long before man invented the automobile. Here, three high-performance driving machines gathered for the young season's first roadster shoot-out. In one corner, we have the Audi R8 with the 430-hp V-8 engine and an S tronic automatic transmission. In the other corner is the 400-hp Porsche 911 Carrera S with a seven-speed manual. At center stage is the top-of-the-line, 495-hp Jaguar F-Type V8 S with an eight-speed automatic.

We drove the 2014 Jaguar F-Type last Thursday and Friday in the Navarra region of northeastern Spain. By Friday evening, we were sitting at a dinner table in Normandy at the home of a couple of friends who split their time between Paris and France's northern coast. They know that media previews of new cars often bring us to Europe but don't have the details of this particular trip.

The idea that the Jaguar XF is a sexy, evocative car was cemented for me when I drove to lunch with two friends. They stroked the suede headliner, reposed on the leather seats, and joked about having me as their chauffeur for the day. This is a car that indulges almost all senses: sight, with gracious curves and beautiful sheetmetal; smell, with the faint whiff of soft leather; touch, with the aforementioned suede; hearing, with unbelievably crisp and powerful music from the 825-watt sound system.

Jaguar has been at a competitive disadvantage recently - while its cars may be some of the best-driving, best-looking, and best-priced in their categories, they were all only available with rear-wheel drive with a big V-8. Enter the 3.0 - essentially Jag's 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 with two cylinders lopped off. The new forced-induction V-6 is just as fantastic as the eight. Still intact from the powertrain's downsizing is the deep well of power at any speed--even if, unlike the V-8, the V-6 doesn't feel like it has the power of a freight train. Neither does it have the V-8's sonorous and addicting exhaust note, but it still sounds sweet, and appropriate for an $84,000 luxury sedan.

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Would you try climbing a tall hill of soft, moist sand in your brand-new Jaguar XJ luxury sedan? Of course you wouldn't. But now that Jaguar finally offers all-wheel drive, you actually have a chance of making it to the top without damaging the car and/or getting it seriously stuck.

The color scheme on this XKR S is spot-on: British racing green with a black convertible top and shiny black wheels over saddle brown leather seats with charcoal trim. It's modern yet traditional -- an aesthetic that Jaguar manages to create in every one of its vehicles. And as good as it looks, it sounds even better. The engine produces pure music and the exhaust bark is totally addictive. After I heard it the first time pulling away from a stop, I began timing the lights to experience it as many times as possible. Stop, accelerate, bark, repeat.

Jaguar already produces the bonkers XKR-S Coupe and Convertible, and we love them for it. However, not all Anglophile enthusiasts want to give up the utility of a sedan, and the XFR just isn't ludicrous enough. Enter the 2014 Jaguar XFR-S - the 550-hp XKR-S wrapped in a sultry and sensible sedan body.

Jaguar, much like the rest of Great Britain, has spent the last half century adjusting to, and sometimes denying, a new reality. A leader and innovator in the days of the iconic E-type, Jaguar is now a tiny challenger to the luxury car establishment. “Audi, BMW, and Mercedes are the dominant global premium brands,” admits Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark. “Whatever we do, we’re going to be neutralized by the competition.”

Jaguar representatives insist it was dumb luck that landed the brand a starring role on the latest season of Mad Men, the hit cable television drama that's re-popularized everything from narrow ties to Lucky Strike cigarettes. Even if it is mere coincidence, we credit the latest Jaguar products for creating a lot of their own luck. Don Draper, Mad Men's central character, would never want a cheap X-Type or a fusty S-Type, but one can certainly picture him working through some deep inner turmoil from behind the wheel of a new XJ or a 510-hp XF-R.

The color scheme on this XKR S is spot-on: British racing green with a black convertible top and shiny black wheels over saddle brown leather seats with charcoal trim. It's modern yet traditional -- an aesthetic that Jaguar manages to create in every one of its vehicles. And as good as it looks, it sounds even better. The engine produces pure music and the exhaust bark is totally addictive. After I heard it the first time pulling away from a stop, I began timing the lights to experience it as many times as possible. Stop, accelerate, bark, repeat.

"Nothing on the road was more dramatic," design editor Robert Cumberford wrote of the Jaguar XK120 in his 2004 book Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design. A young Cumberford, having ridden Los Angeles public transportation for two hours just to catch a glimpse of an XK120 at a dealership, was graciously allowed to sit in actor Clark Gable's brand-new Jaguar by the man himself. "Imagine the impression that made on a boy too young to drive -- but realize that the car itself was even more impressive."

Earlier in the year, I was happy to read that Jaguar made some improvements to its infotainment interface for 2012. According to Jaguar's web site, one of the changes was the addition of dedicated buttons on the console to make it quicker and easier to access a few functions that previously required several screen selections or were totally buried in the system. It shortens the distraction time for some but unfortunately, it's still a bit wonky. For example, if you choose to use the touch-screen to navigate to adjust the seat heaters, you will also be able to turn on the heated steering wheel from the same screen. If you push the new button on the dash instead, an entirely different screen comes up that only allows you to adjust the heated seats. Very frustrating. The changes definitely are a step in the right direction but they also create problems of their own.

We have previously seen leaked photos, Twitter images, and Christmas-themed teasers, but now it's time to see the Jaguar XF Sportbrake in all its glory. The British automaker revealed these photos of its newest station wagon, which will make its official debut next week at the Geneva Motor Show.

From the carbon-fiber splitter at its chin to the carbon wing insert perched atop its tail, the 2012 Jaguar XKR-S convertible unmistakably declares itself special and desirable. Then it goes out of its way to back up that statement with levels of performance never known from a Jaguar convertible.

"All politics is local." So Congressman Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, the late Democratic power broker, once famously observed. Although the legendary New England buttonholer's succinct aphorism originally concerned an election he'd lost in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 1930s, his words continue to resonate. As they did recently when I set off by Jaguar XJ from a rock-music festival in Latvia to catch up with Toomas Hendrik Ilves, president of Estonia, the smallest, most northern, and most thriving of the three former Soviet republics on the Baltic Sea. Ilves and I once had a political connection, and while it had been some time ago, it was very local. How's that?

From previous experience, I know the Jaguar XJ to be dynamically astounding, but unfortunately I wasn't able to fully enjoy its performance prowess due to the buckets of rain that fell during my time with the car. These conditions, however, did not prevent me from appreciating the big Jag's lovely interior and abundance of luxury features.

If the only thing that kept you from placing an order for the hot 2012 Jaguar XKR-S was the fact it was offered only in hardtop form, you now have reason to fire a thank-you note off to the folks in Coventry. The automaker announced it will build a handful of 2012 XKR-S Convertibles, the first of which will be shown this week at the 2011 Los Angeles auto show.

The XF may be the most engaging offering in a segment overflowing with excellent choices. It starts with a throaty V-8, which comes in three basic flavors best summed up as fast (385 hp), faster (470 hp), and "ohmigosh" fast (510 hp). Even in its brawniest R guise, however, the XF remains refined and luxurious thanks to its sublime ride as well as its plush, modern interior. In any form, it steers and handles like a much smaller car, and yet it rides better than many of its competitors. But as enthralling as this car is to drive, the XF falls short in some areas. Finicky controls, a frustrating infotainment system, and less-than-perfect quality marred our yearlong test of an XF back in 2009. Jaguar says it has since fixed the car's early teething issues, namely, by strengthening the failure-prone rear differential. A 2012 update addresses some of our other complaints. We've not yet had a chance to see if the revised touch-screen interface is quicker, but the additional physical buttons mean you no longer have to sift through several on-screen menus to turn on your seat heater. The exterior, which had looked a bit timid and generic, now wears a face similar to that of the larger XJ, and the racy XFR enjoys more visual distinction.

The XJ broke with its staid tradition last year and rocked the luxury sedan establishment with its first radical redesign in more than four decades. Jaguar design chief Ian Callum banished virtually all traces of familiarity, including the iconic four round headlights, in favor of unusual cues like blacked-out C-pillars and a blunt snout for a grille. The new styling turns off some but makes a much stronger statement than the old design. The spirit of Sir William Lyons survives inside, where warm leather and generous wood trim soften futuristic bits like the rotary shifter and color screens that replace traditional gauges. The navigation and infotainment system includes HD Radio and satellite radio and features two USB ports. However, it lacks cutting-edge features such as Google Maps and in-car internet. The XJ shares its line of 5.0-liter V-8 engines with the XF. The Supersport tops the range with the supercharged 510-hp V-8 as well as a leather headliner and laser-engraved veneers. It can be purchased only by custom order. The long-wheelbase version adds an extra five inches of legroom and can be had in any trim level. Even with the base engine, the XJ bursts away from stoplights and threads through corners with the agility of a sports car. Much of the credit goes to the relatively light aluminum structure that, Jaguar claims, saves 300 pounds versus conventional steel. But the car has also been tuned in a way that borders on magical, from its precise, almost delicate steering to the perfect ride-and-handling balance achieved by its active dampers.

Amid dramatic changes in the Jaguar lineup, the traditional-looking XK offers the clearest link to the brand's past. Its sonorous 5.0-liter V-8 engine, available with power outputs ranging from 385 to a mind-blowing 550 hp, responds instantly to the tap of the gas pedal, with much of the credit going to the six-speed automatic transmission, which reacts almost as if it could read the driver's mind. Although the XK's styling harks back to the 1998 XK8, the car has benefited from several recent updates. Last year it received a line of direct-injection V-8 engines. At that time the interior was restyled to more closely match the newer XF and XJ, replacing the controversial J-gate shifter with the new, also controversial, rotary shifter. The front and rear fascias, updated last year, evolve further this year with a more aggressive lower grille and slimmer headlights that resemble Jaguar's recent sports car concepts. The new-for-2012 XJR-S is the most powerful Jaguar you can buy, and it handily outguns the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo S. But the XK, regardless of trim, is not as sharp as the best sports cars and, in convertible form, doesn't always feel rigid enough. Like the sporting Jags of old, though, the XK expertly blends brutal performance with a helping of refinement. Pretty soon it will lose its monopoly on Jaguar sports car enthusiasts. A less expensive two-door based on the 2011 Frankfurt motor show's C-X16 will arrive sometime in 2013, and a production version of the wild C-X75 -- sans turbine power -- is on the way.

Jaguar will use the Los Angeles auto show to unveil two new options packages for the XJ luxury sedan: the Sport appearance package, and the Speed performance package.