Lady driver in a Jaguar

I would not even dare drive a Jaguar. But as fate would have it, I didn’t have a car to use to work because I had to bring it to the casa for a check-up, but the casa sent a Jaguar as a service vehicle! So I was a lady driver in a Jaguar, at least for a weekend.

I don’t really rave about luxury cars, due perhaps to my gender, and partly because I am an Ilocana and I value hard-earned money. I’m too practical to even consider buying something luxurious. Hence, all the cars I owned in the past, except for the one that I’m driving, are   pre-owned.

The Jaguar has always been a status symbol for me. The likes of Gretchen Barretto, Ai-Ai de las Alas and Rufa Mae Quinto are Jaguar owners, according to the grapevine. Hence, I was a bit self-conscious to be seen in a Jaguar because it’s just not my personality.

At the break of dawn of Saturday morning, I was very careful driving to work, paying very close attention to the road. I was very excited to drive it back home.

I was driving my normal pace along EDSA, or at least I thought so. When I checked the speedometer, I was surprised that I was hitting 120-km. per hour.

It took only seconds that I reached that speed. Instantly, I let go of the accelerator. I checked for the second time if there was something wrong with the speedometer.

The car was very stable along the “tapal” surface of EDSA. No exaggeration — the handling was excellent, that it seemed I did not need to control the vehicle. It felt like cruise control. I like how the leather steering wheel felt against my hands, firm and secure.

Twice I honked at a bus, and could hardly hear the horn. My ignorance about cars made me assume that the horns were faint. Not! Whatever it was in the doors or windows of Jaguar contributed to the noise-reduction.

I love the control panels, as well. The model that I drove, an FX, didn’t go overboard with high-tech peripherals and panels. I once test-drove the luxury model of a Japanese car manufacturer and was turned off by the space-age feel of the car.

I’ve tried other German-manufactured cars, but was more overwhelmed by the status of the vehicle. The Jaguar that I drove had a classic feel to it despite its obvious power on the road.

My favorite part: The FX runs on diesel and is so fuel-efficient. This is a major consideration for most of car owners, especially with the cost of fuel. But if one can afford a Jaguar, I doubt that fuel efficiency would even be a factor.

I didn’t dare ask the casa how much the FX is, because I know I won’t be able to afford it anyway! But yes, I want one, and I can see myself driving a Jaguar — if I win P300M in the lottery!

Kidding aside, I never expected myself write about cars. The traffic, yes. But cars? No.

But in my almost 20 years of driving, I never thought of driving as an experience. Driving was merely a means of conveniently getting from point A to point B, and relieving oneself of public transport. And in choosing a car, what matters to me are its storage capacity, how it fared in floods as well as its fuel efficiency, to name a few. 

I diligently check reviews conducted by Consumer Reports. I know nothing about torque or horsepower, and absolutely nothing about craftsmanship and the genius behind these machines. 

After driving a Jaguar, I’d say I “respect” it. Not to sound materialistic or anything, but I have prejudged the car as being just that, a status symbol. But because of that weekend of driving a Jaguar, my interest got piqued especially in understanding more about cars and how they perform, and that it’s about physics, engineering and even art!

When the car was collected by the driver from the casa, I watched it vanish in EDSA.

Smiling to myself, I was not intimidated by the Jaguar anymore. It was so easy to be at home with it, because you forget that you are driving a Jaguar and remember the experience.

While the passenger seat of the Jaguar feels just fine, nothing beats the experience of being behind the steering wheel — even for a lady.

(E-mail me at [email protected].)