Jaguar-Land Rover, the leading U.K. based luxury car brand has been in India for quite a long time now and is known to manufacture some of the most iconic, luxurious and competent cars across the globe. One thing that sets the Jaguar cars apart from any other luxury car manufacturer is the driving dynamics of all the Jaguar cars. To demonstrate how good Jaguar cars are to drive, the brand organizes ‘The Art Of Performance Tour’ from time to time. The Jaguar AOPT is just like Land Rover’s ‘The Above and Beyond Tour’ off road experience, demonstrating the car's abilities on various man-made courses. We were a part of the recently concluded Jaguar Art of Performance Tour in Delhi and here’s our takeaway from the activity.
Speed Run
Among all the courses set for testing the driving dynamics of the Jaguar cars, our favourite was the Speed Test in the Jaguar F-Type coupe. There were two Jaguar F-Type variants available for the drive – the Jaguar F-Type SVR and Jaguar F-Type R, both of them being the more powerful version of the standard Jaguar F-Type. We got to do the speed run on the most powerful Jaguar F-Type – the SVR Coupe with a 5.0-litre V8 supercharged engine producing a massive 568 hp and 700 Nm of torque. Coupled to an 8-speed automatic gearbox, the SVR can do 0-100 kmph in 3.7 seconds with a claimed top speed of 322 kmph.
The aim of the test was to check the acceleration of the F-Type and for the same, a straight-line course was built, approximately 200 metres in length. The aim was to push the accelerator to the floor, listen to the sweet exhaust note, touch the other end, take a U-turn and repeat. Kid you not, all the invitees were excited to experience the acceleration test. The Jaguar F-Type SVR did perform exceptionally well and we have to give credit to the braking power of the F-Type as it’s easier to accelerate, but difficult to stop a high-performance machine, especially when the car is not driven by experts.
Slalom Test
A slalom test is performed to check the handling capabilities of a vehicle. We drove the Jaguar XE sedan and the Jaguar F-Pace SUV to understand the chassis and handling of the Jaguar cars. Interestingly enough, we have driven both the cars before for our road test reviews and it felt like a walk in the park driving these cars through the course. However the fresh rains made it a bit difficult for us to understand how hard we can hit the accelerator to check the handling. Our instructor had the full confidence in the cars and asked us to perform to the best of our abilities and the cars did incredibly well sticking to the ground.
Rapid Lane Changing
Unlike slalom test, the rapid lane changing test required us to stop the car after an immediate lane change, to demonstrate both the handling and braking capabilities of the Jaguar cars. We drove the top-of-the-line Jaguar XJ-L and Jaguar XF luxury sedans to understand the braking and handling capabilities of the Jaguar vehicles. Needless to say, both the cars performed well, even with damp conditions. The ABS and stability control helped stop the vehicle even with a quick lane change.
Off-Roading Course
Although technically not a part of Jaguar ‘The Art of Performance Tour’, the Delhi leg saw a couple of off-road obstacle courses built to test the capabilities of the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the only Land Rover SUV among the Jaguar car at the event. The duo of Land Rover Discovery Sport performed some thrilling stunts in the obstacle course built to bring the best out of the SUV. The first course was to test the chassis stability and roll-over mitigation of the Discovery, while the car is standing only on three wheels. The second obstacle was a steep decline (no less than 45 degrees) meant to test the auto hill descent system that helps you come down a hill or other terrains without using the brakes.
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