Most of us have a very clear idea of how we're going to spend our summer vacation. Some of us will soon be boarding a plane to spend a week relaxing on the beach in Turkey, while others are planning a road trip to their favorite Croatian resort.
But what if the journey were not just a means to an end, but the end itself? We've tasted the taste of an adventure with no destination set in advance. Gentlemen, welcome to every man's dream vacation!
The Red Gentleman
It's a surprisingly hot June morning and from the window of an apartment in the wider center of Bratislava you can see heavy traffic. People are impatiently sitting in their cars and crowding at the bus stop. A traditional image that we are usually a part of. But not today. Something else can be seen from the apartment window. A deep red Jaguar F-Type Coupe. And the keys are lying on the table in the hall.
The plan is to sit in the F-type for the next five days and not get out until we are surgically removed from it by competent people. The destination of the trip? We don't know exactly either. We quickly load our suitcases and, while slowly moving through the city center, set the navigation to the Italian lakes. It can be quite nice there, right? We pass Vienna, then Graz and 400 kilometers from the start near Klagenfurt, we are still admiring the cabin of this beautiful machine.
A driver-oriented center stack, deep-set gauges and a great driving position. Jaguar is serious about the F-Type. After all, it carries the legacy of the famous E-Type on its shoulders, so if the F-Type is anything less than exceptional, it will end up in the losers' camp.
However, the Austrian motorway has already bored many a driver to death, and we are no exception. "Did we choose the right route?" we begin to ask ourselves, a question that the Italian border immediately answers. After passing Villach, the motorway instantly turns into a wild roller coaster full of bends, bridges and, above all, endless tunnels. The concerto grosso in the bass tone of the three-liter six-cylinder engine comes into play.
Very early morning
When the keys with a cat on the pendant are shining on the nightstand, you can't sleep for very long. Even more so when you know that two of the five highest roads in Europe await you today. We leave Chamonix and head towards Val d'Isére. The famous ski resort, undoubtedly packed with tourists in winter, is unpleasantly deserted. The only thing missing from the perfect picture of a ghost town is a stack of straw jumping across the road. However, we are only interested in one thing here, and that is the signpost showing the direction of the Col de l'Iséran.
At the top we find a few crazy people who can't get enough of skiing even in the summer and use the only year-round lift for a long way. We don't have much time to reflect, because we have another epic stop waiting for us today.
On the roof of the world
After a quick lunch in the small town of Briacon, we set the navigation to Barcelonette. However, our destination lies exactly in the middle. The Col de la Bonette is the real roof of the planet. You climb up the road, which seems to have been designed by the architect to copy the most famous turns from the world's racing circuits, and you see that nature ceases to exist. Green meadows and forests slowly but surely turn into black, inhospitable stone. You reach a height of 2,802 meters above sea level and you feel as if you were on the moon. If it weren't for a few bikers, it would be quite scary.And then it hits us. Jaguar, French Alps, Riviera. Rewind fifty years and you have Steve McQueen in front of your eyes, conquering endless hairpin bends in a Jaguar E-Type.
Arriving on the Riviera, you would expect the locals to be used to red and low cars. But our Jaguar is surrounded by old men with their wives and young children with their mothers. And that says a lot about the character of the Jaguar. It is incredibly striking, but not in a vulgar sense. It is not like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. It is like a work of art and its presence on the street conveys an experience to passersby. It is like a young English gentleman who has come out of a salon on Savile Row. If he had to embody a personality, it would not be Prince Charles. It would be Dominic Cumberbatch.
The question “Is the Jaguar F-Type a car you should own?” is poorly posed. It should be, should you buy it in red or white?The Jaguar F-Type Coupe can be rented through the German branch of Hetz Prestige car rental.
