THE second accidental impact to befall our fleet in the space of a few days seemed less catastrophic – but little did I know how much hassle and money would be involved.

Contact between a small pheasant and our big long-term Jaguar XJ6 resulted in a reduction in Britain’s bird population by one and an invoice for more than £400. All the unfortunate pheasant did was break the smaller of the two headlights.

Our local dealer – Marshall Jaguar – was contacted and an appointment for a replacement light made for a few days later. But soon after the car arrived at the garage, the service manager rang to say they could not replace just the inner light – it comes as a set with its bigger neighbour and would have to be ordered.

Some 24 hours on and I’d still not heard from the dealership, so I called at 3pm and was told my previous contact was ill but they would find out what was happening with the car and someone would call me back.

I’d still heard nothing by mid-morning the next day so called again. The paperwork couldn’t be found so the woman who answered the phone promised to call back shortly, which she duly did. The part was in and would be fitted that day, she said.

When collecting the car that same evening I was surprised to find it hadn’t been given a quick wash.

Other prestige manufacturers usually do this – even Volkswagen did when our long-term Golf went in for a door seal to be repaired.

Despite a steering wheel that emits a quiet squeak as you turn it, I’d had no other problems with the car before this unfortunate feather-flying incident – which finally ended with a bill of £427.11, including VAT. But two other problems have cropped up recently.

Last Saturday morning, a warning message flashed up on the dials telling me the car had gone into restricted power mode.

A call to the dealer at noon that day proved worthless as the service department had closed by then but the problem corrected itself and hasn’t appeared since.

And only this week, the car’s automatic locking function on the key fob started working intermittently, meaning on occasions I have had to manually lock the doors and then attempt to get my key in the ignition as quickly as I can when I get into the driver’s seat in order to silence the alarm – the return of a problem fixed originally last summer. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Despite these hiccups, there are many aspects of the Jaguar that befit its status as an executive car. The engine emits a glorious roar as it climbs through the gears, the seats are comfortable and the cabin snug.

Model: Jaguar XJ6 3.0 V6 Executive
Price (OTR): £41,995 (£45,900 as tested)
Mileage: 17,700
CO2 emissions (g/km): 249
Company car tax bill (2006) 40% tax-payer: £464 a month
Insurance group: 15
Combined mpg: 27
Test mpg: 22.2
CAP Monitor residual value: £15,700/38%
Typical contract hire rate: £744
Expenditure to date: £427.11 (new headlight)

Figures based on three-years/ 60,000-miles