Jaguar Drive Experience

Jaguar Drive Experience

I got invited to another "driving day" - this time by Audi - and it made me think of a Jag event Nel and I went to last winter so I thought I'd blog about it, sort of an endorsement of these types of marketing events.

About to do some slalom runs in an XF.

I was invited to this event, but I think anyone can go if you find out about it and ask.  I get invited to a lot of these things because I'm a car guy and have owned many different makes - I've owned 8 different Jaguars over the years.  Sometimes they target potential customers based on what you currently drive.  For example, if you have a Mercedes or Lexus or BMW, you might be targeted by Jaguar.

They had all the models set up inside so you could play while eating and mingling.

Even if you aren't planning on buying a car anytime soon, or even if you KNOW you're not ever going to be buying a new Jag, still go to these events if you get the chance and have the time. They're usually well done and first class (especially if it's a luxury make) and you'll probably get to do things with other peoples' cars that you would never do with your own.  They also usually give you some pretty sweet swag as well.

Branelle taking the XJ out for a road test.

Jaguar did a good job with this one.  They limited the attendees to a very small number at any particular time so there was no waiting on the drive portions.  They also had some fantastic food catered.  They let us take the XJ out on a road test, do slalom runs in an XF, do 0-100-0 runs in the ultra-exclusive XKR-S, and even had an autocross track set up for the XKR with professional instructors giving you tips.

About to do my 0-100-0 run in an XKR-S.  I'm in the black one, which Nel later pointed out to me was #13 - scary if you're superstitious.

The autocross event was especially cool.  You got three practice laps with an instructor and then a timed lap.  They had an artist on-site doing an original piece and the winner of each session got the piece as his/her prize.  I REALLY wanted to win and threw down a hard lap.  Our session had about 60 people and my time held up the whole time...until I was beaten by 2/100th of a second by a guy wearing driving shoes!

Even the port-a-potty was 1st class!

  
Nel had a great time and really loved the autocross part.  She said she was legitimately scared - she had never done anything like this before - but loved it after she got into it and put up a pretty respectable time herself.

This classic E-Type was a real treat.

Even if you aren't into cars, go to an event if you have the opportunity.  They're free, and almost always fun.  Who knows, you might even learn something or decide you want a new ride.

Nel leaving with her "swag".