Alright everyone. After reading the previous post, I would like to share about the driving experience event made by Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia and also a complete drive report here.
Like I said, I went to JLR of Petaling Jaya for the driving experience of their new Jaguar XE.
If I'm not mistaken, nearly 10-15 people, including myself were participating the drive.
All of us were split into 4 groups by looking at the tag number to match the cars, so one group had one XE. Since the driving instructor drove our XE to guide in front of the participants, me and one of the fellow members of the group would drive the facelifted Range Rover Evoque first.
The driving instructor was giving an introduction and explanation about the event. He told us about the route of the drive, the car itself and a proper driving technique.
The route of the drive started from the showroom itself, passing through Putrajaya while switching drivers and heading to Putra Heights where we get to visit some new houses made by Sime Darby Property. And finally, we switched drivers again and heading back to the showroom to end the drive.
"I like your answers, kid.", he said after telling people what to do before driving the car. Hehe.
He also explained about the correct driving position where drivers could find the most appropriate seating as well as the safest way to hold the steering wheel. This kinda reminds me of my driver training last year.
Without further do, the event was started at 10 a.m. This was the Evoque that used in my group before switching to the XE.
The convoy had 6 JLR vehicles. 4 of them were Jaguar XEs, while the other two were Land Rovers, namely the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Evoque. These two followed the XEs, or I should say, the big guards that took care of them in a drive. While heading to Putrajaya, we moved into different position where the Discovery Sport led the front while the Evoque (me) was at the back so the event management could take the best group photos outside the Prime Minister's Office later on. At the same time, hundreds of super bikes and supercars were there too. Leading us stranded from the group for minutes as I worried of scratching the car. Thank God there was a walkie talkie where the instructor guided me to escape from the crowd.
This is the Evoque that I've driven during the convoy.
After we went out of the huge crowd, the convoy stopped a bit further from the Prime Minister's office to switch our cars to the XE and had a light refreshments.
The XE Prestige (20t) was the one that we switched from the previous car.
After taken our light refreshments, we head to our XE and switching drivers.
One of the member told me that the XE was one of the sportiest and the most elegant compact luxury sedan. He was impressed with the overall of the driving feel. The power, the driving position and handling were great.
There was a little problem with the rear visibility due to the roof design, causing blind spots for drivers,
I do like the way the air vents located a little lower and touched the door panel. It matched the feel of it's larger Jag, the XJ as well.
He also complained about the headroom as he got used to his Evoque, which was a bigger car. Even I think his statement was right.
Headroom and rear legroom were the only thing that we were mostly complained about . This is because the Jaguar XE was designed to be a four door sports luxury sedan and creating a unique aura compared to its competitors. Also, the reason to have a low and swooping roofline were providing lower center of gravity and thus lowering the drag co-efficient as low as 0.26. Treat it like a four door coupe for instance.
We used the ELITE highway to drive to Putra Heights.
More XEs were following us.
30 minutes later, we arrived at Putra Heights to look around some new houses that were built by Sime Darby Property. Since I'm not a fan of big houses, I took some shots of the XEs that parked outside.
After dazzling around the new houses, we went for a lunch at the clubhouse in that particular area. Finally we get some foods to fulfill our appetite.
Damn, the mihun was so nice. Jealous? Just kidding.
While having a lunch, the crews of JLR and Sime Darby Property gave us goodie bag for each of us. Inside, there's a pendrive, two house catalogs and some JLR brochures.
After having a great meal, it's time to end the drive by going back to the dealership. Upon the end of the drive, it was my turn to get my hands on the XE.
How does it feel to drive the new cat?
The first thing that I had to say was when getting inside the XE, it felt like a roadster. Jaguar made a perfect job by creating the best interior layout for it. The controls were relatively identical to other Jags as they share most of the parts like the rotary gear knobs and the steering wheel. Nonetheless, I had no complain towards the parts sharing. Compared to the BMW F30 3 Series, they made the dashboard design philosophy to be sensible to the exterior and way distinct from other Jaguar models.
Next one is all about the driving aesthetics. Truth to be told that this was the only compact luxury sports sedan that can become a masterpiece. It's 2.0 EcoBoost engine was very torquey and more efficient. Even though the power was far away from other compact luxury cars, the handling was way superb for a sedan. In contrast to the Infiniti Q50, the XE had a low ride height and lighter chassis which was made of aluminum, making them a perfect ingredient for precision driving. Driving at 120 km/h at a sharp corner while in Performance mode, no problem! Not even a single bumpy ride at all and no signs of under-steer or over-steer either. Besides that, all XEs had the typical, but smooth ZF 8-speed automatic transmission that has been used in most European cars.
The cabin was kinda quiet as well. In order to blew away the gloominess inside, Jaguar provided a 12 speaker Meridian sound system that sounds like no other. The audio system sounded more to clarity just like the Bose audio unit from Infiniti. What's more was the re-enhanced infotainment that end all the bugs from the old unit. It came with HERE navigation system, which also formerly used as a Windows Phone navigation app. The navigation buttons were smoother and friendlier than before.
Finally arriving at the dealership, and it's time to say goodbye to the XE and ended the drive.
At the end of the story, Jaguar Land Rover of Petaling Jaya made an absolute work in terms of hospitality that satisfy future Jaguar owners and fans. Kudos to them for making an awesome event!
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