We've driven the X-Type down winding rural roads near Dijon, France, over mountain roads in north Georgia, and around the high-speed banked oval of Atlanta Motor Speedway. The X-Type was the epitome of stability and confidence in the high-speed sections. Yet it rode smoothly on the streets of Atlanta.

The narrow, high-crowned pavement in France follows the wandering ways of long-ago farm animals over varied terrain. When polished by rain, it becomes a driver's challenge. The dampness was simply erased by the all-wheel-drive system, which offered comforting security. On the French roads, the X-Type seemed to rise to every challenge. Whether on a major highway or winding back road, it always felt smooth and stable. The steering was sharp and precise, and the car feels nimble in corners yet secure at speed.

To further explore its capabilities, we took the X-Type onto a tight handling course near Atlanta. A corner flooded with water showed off the advantage of the optional 18-inch high-performance Pirelli P Zero tires, which provided better grip in the wet than the standard skins. They greatly reduced understeer (the tendency of the car to push out toward the outside of a turn when the front tires lose grip).

That flooded curve also helped demonstrate the value of Jaguar's Traction-4 all-wheel-drive system. The system incorporates a center differential and viscous coupling to split the torque 40 percent to the front wheels, 60 percent to the rear. Slippage at either set of wheels will send more power to the opposite end of the car. The viscous coupling automatically and transparently transfers power away from slipping wheels to those with the best traction, helping to keep the X-Type moving forward and tracking true no matter the conditions underneath. In short, the X-Type performs well in the wet and we presume it handles well on snow and ice.

The now-standard Dynamic Stability Control can help a driver maintain control in an emergency handling situation. DSC minimizes skidding by applying the brakes at selected wheels, something no driver can do. It can help the driver avoid an accident. It reduces the chance of spinning out. We found it makes the car easier to drive at the limit of the tires. It reduced yawing when charging too fast through a slalom. DSC can be switched off for those rare times when the driver feels it's too intrusive, as when we drove the S-Type on a closed course at Atlanta Motor Speedway to test its limits. By default, the system switches back on every time the car is re-started.

The X-Type feels equally comfortable on the highway and in fast, sweeping turns. It was supremely stable at 120 mph on Atlanta Motor Speedway's back straight and felt confident turning in for the banked turns at that speed. It was easy to drive flat out through the facility's infield road racing circuit. The well-controlled suspension and the all-wheel drive add to the X-Type's confident feel when driving at the limit. And the X-Type offers predictable handling when pushing its tires beyond their limits, something that can happen at much lower speeds when it's slippery. It felt comfortable when braking and turning at the same time, a move that ruffles many cars. The handling is quite neutral, understeering at times, yet willing to rotate according to the skilled driver's wishes in the middle of a turn through use of the throttle.

In designing the Sportwagon, Jaguar's engineers wanted to make sure it felt no different from the sedan. In fact they have made the wagon quieter than the sedan. While driving a Sportwagon along twisty mountain roads near Palm Springs we found it handled as nicely as the sedan. It is certainly substantially more pleasant to drive with verve than a small SUV, such as the BMW X3. And with its all-wheel drive the Jaguar Sportwagon is just as capable in adverse conditions as a car-based SUV. It's sportier than a sport utility, yet gives up little cargo carrying capacity.

Both X-Type models offer responsive performance. Engine torque is spread over a power curve in the desirable mesa shape. The 3.0-liter V6 engine doesn't have the hard edge of BMW's inline-6, but the Jaguar's power is there early at launch and accessible over a wide range of speeds. It growls appropriately when provoked because Jaguar engineers have fine tuned the exhaust note to sound right. The X-Type somehow feels more powerful than it really is because there is never a questing need for more oomph at a critical moment, as when you're making a left turn onto a busy thoroughfare or passing a tractor-trailer rig on a narrow two-lane road.

The five-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission works very well. Put it in Drive and it shifts smoothly and predictably up and down, keeping the X-Type's engine in the proper gear for smooth cruising or quick acceleration. Its shift points seem to be the result of some clever mind reading, because the transmission selects shift patterns according to driving conditions. The driver can select a sport mode, which raises the shift points to make full use of available engine power. Jaguar's J-gate shifter allows the driver to shift semi-manually, keeping the transmission in the selected gear until the lever is moved. The J-gate works fairly well, but it's more cumbersome than the plus-minus sequential pattern on other semi-manual transmissions. As with most automatics with a semi-manual feature, we prefer putting it in Drive and leaving it there most of the time. Jaguar says the X-Type sedan can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 7.1 seconds, the Sportwagon in 7.3 seconds.