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Inattentive and on his cell phone, the cop couldn't be certain that I was breaking any laws. But then, a droptop Porsche on these roads is always just moments away from an ostentatious display of poise either in speed or in cornering grip. He knew well enough that if he wasn't going to pull me over, he must, at the very least, wag a finger. And so he did.

Jaguar has made more than a million desirable, high-style sedans in its seventy-five years, but what stands out in people's memories are its sports cars, even though exciting two-seaters really have been only a small fraction of the vehicles produced during the company's checkered, multiowner history. From the almost-too-perfectly-British SS 100 to the XK120 inspired by Italian-bodied BMW 328 racing cars, from the sublime Series I E-type to today's XK, Jaguars have always been esteemed for the exceptional beauty and -- at times -- extraordinary performance of its sportiest production models. No doubt the best of all of them was the XK-E, but like the 1968 XJ sedan shape, that D-type-inspired line has had its day.

This big family truckster grew on me over a long weekend and a couple hundred miles of driving. I'm still not sure how I feel about the visual aspects of the Denali package (chrome wheels that look exactly like giant plastic hubcaps from AutoZone and bigger, lower body cladding), but the interior appointments were nice.