Drinking bout in front half of car (3)

I believe the answer is:

jag

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'drinking bout' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'half of car' is the wordplay.
'half of' indicates taking half.
'car' becomes 'jaguar' (I have seen 'posh car' mean 'jaguar' so perhaps 'car' could also mean 'jaguar').
'jaguar' with half the letters taken is 'JAG'.

'in front' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for jag that I've seen is " Cut unevenly; drinking bout".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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