I was invited to the Rocky Mountain Driving Experience last week, because I test four-wheel-drives and other off-road-capable vehicles to review on this blog. They had an off-road component on the second day, but the first day was all about driving on the paved roads.
I could have taken some of the off-road-worthy vehicles out to see how they handled on the highway, and there were plenty to choose from. They had the new Ford F-150, a GMC Denali 2500, the Ram Rebel, a Toyota Tacoma, a Chevy Colorado, a Jeep Wrangler, and the new Jeep Renegade, to name a few. And I did drive the Tacoma and the Renegade on the road, but then I decided to try some vehicles I’d never get the chance to drive otherwise.
So I slid behind the wheel of the Jaguar F-Type R convertible. This thing was sweet. It was so low to the ground, and the driver’s area was so form-fitting to the driver, I thought I was going to have to learn some Yoga poses just to get into it. But I made it into the seat without embarrassing myself too badly – but I realized right away that a $121,000 performance sports car isn’t made for people who carry a Leatherman on one hip and a cell phone on the other. I shudder to think how uncomfortable it would have been if I’d been carrying my 1911.
So I got back out, took off all my belt-mounted tools, and folded myself back in again. Then I started that F-Type up, and I completely forgot about Leathermans and cell phones. Listen to that purr.
It got me thinking, you probably could hunt with something like this. You wouldn’t be able to take it far off the road, but there’s just enough room in that back seat, if you drop the top, to stuff at least a small elk in there. I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.
