About one month ago I received an invitation in the mail from Jaguar inviting me to their Jaguar Alive Driving Experience at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. I signed up for a Saturday afternoon time and drove out. There was a large temporary facility constructed in one of the parking lots of the stadium. Inside were jaguar vehicles on display as well as complimentary beverages and appetizers. After a short marketing presentation we were off on our road drive in a 2013 XF 3.0. A brief couple of mile trip on the road allowed me to get a feel of the comfort the car provided driver and passengers. We returned to the stadium where three temporary tracks had been layed out for driving demonstration. On the first course I drove a 2013 XJ-R awd. This course had sand and mud put down to demonstrate the traction control, stability control and awd systems. The second course was a traditional autocross course. I drove a XF-R on this course. The 510hp supercharged V-8 was very impressive, as were the huge brakes. Both features helped make this big 4 door sedan feel and handle like a smaller car. Three laps around this course was a lot of fun and made me appreciate the power and handling the XJ-R has. The third and final course was a straight line acceleration run. I would guess it was about 900-1000 feet long. For this run Jaguar was providing their top gun, the XK-R S. A 550hp supercharged V-8. 0-60 times are advertised at 4.2 seconds. There is no doubt the car is capable of doing this. On my run I made 78mph before applying the huge brakes. The brakes made more than 1G of stopping power when bringing the car down from 78mph to about 10mph. Overall it was a fun day enjoying the best Jaguar cars has to offer. I hope I get invited back some day.
