Sector: Executive Price (August 2013): £35,445 Fuel: 55.4mpg CO2: 135g/km

Jaguar arrived fashionably late to the executive estate party with the XF Sportbrake. Not only against rivals, but in the lifecycle of the XF which until now has only been sold as a saloon. However, the brand’s only load-carrier has made up for it by arriving as the style benchmark in its class.

The XF has lived through a turbulent few years for Jaguar, so perhaps it’s no surprise that an estate is such a long time coming. It means whereas its competitors were developed from the ground up with two body styles in mind, the Sportbrake is essentially a modified XF saloon.

Of course, the saloon is a good place to start. It always has been, but adopting the front end from the C-XF concept car which previewed it in 2007, and adding a 2.2-litre diesel means the car it’s based on has never had more corporate appeal. The XF Sportbrake, firmly moulded into the lifestyle estate end of the market rather than the dutiful load-carrier, is expected to account for a third of the car’s UK sales.

Like the C-XF, the production XF has the silhouette of a four-door coupe rather than the more common three-box saloon shape adopted by its German rivals. That’s a hard thing to translate into an estate, resulting here in a steeply tapered roofline and rear window which appears to wrap around the C-Pillars. Jaguar claims it’s inspired by luxury yachts, and there’s a familiarity with the back end of an XJ, too.

Most of its engines are shared with the saloon, though notably there’s no XFR version to take on the Audi RS6. So buyers have a choice of the 3.0-litre V6 diesel or the 190bhp and 163bhp versions of the 2.2-litre four-cylinder, as tested here.

This entry-level unit puts the XF at the bottom of the class on paper, with the lowest power output and – unlike BMW – no versions under 130g/km. But it doesn’t feel underpowered or particularly coarse, emitting a quiet diesel growl while wafting, rather than powering, up to motorway speeds and with fuel economy settling between 45 and 50mpg.

Jaguar prides itself on generous levels of standard equipment, and it’s clever with it – covering what would otherwise be blank switches moving functions to and from the touch screen to avoid cars feeling under-specced. But the XF’s muscularity means it’s prone to looking under-wheeled, and while the Luxury trim’s 17-inch wheels are good for ride quality and fuel economy, they look a little lost under its arches.

Boot volume is on par with the rest of the segment, and feels plush with its thick-pile carpet and leather handles. Its rear bench drops remotely in two sections, and the floor can be folded upwards to stop loads moving around. All Sportbrakes get self-levelling air suspension at the back, and a powered tailgate to make loading easy, but there’s no kick-to-open option as found on German rivals.

Outside, there’s a low load lip and the tailgate shuts almost flush with the bumper. Stylish, but perhaps a little vulnerable in an area where the German brands have opted for a protective protruding bumper.

It’s true that Jaguar could’ve waited until the XF’s replacement to launch an estate, but with the Sportbrake expected to account for over a third of sales in the UK it was an important variant to add. This may be a late arrival, but with looks like that it should have no problems getting noticed.

Verdict:

The Sportbrake makes a late but valuable addition to the XF range, and is an accomplished load-carrier for a manufacturer which hasn’t had a similar model before. However, further cuts in CO2 from Jaguar’s forthcoming four-cylinder engines will be a real asset for continued growth.

Watch the Jaguar XF 2.2 Diesel video here.