How much can you tell about a car by sitting in its passenger seat? Not as much as by driving of course, but the opportunity to take a seat in Jaguar's new F-Type does provide some early indications of what the most eagerly awaited car of 2013 will be like on the road when it goes on sale this spring.
In truth, the passenger ride - normally with a manufacturer's test driver behind the wheel - is a well established tool that car manufacturers' PR departments use to get more coverage before a car is given to journalists to test. And spending three or four hours in the passenger seat isn't enough to really know how a car really performs, but the opportunity to see Jaguar's new two-seater convertible being thrown around by chief power-train engineer Tim Clarke is simply to good to turn down.
Since its launch at the Paris motor show last year, the car hasn't been short of publicity, but in the metal - on British roads with a good coating of Welsh mud - it looks fantastic. It's a car that Jaguar's design chief Ian Callum admits he's wanted to design since he was a boy. And like all the best designs it could be illustrated in one smooth line from its raised rear and spoiler (which pops up at speed) to flared wheel arches and an aggressive front end. Inside there's not a touch of wood in sight and just the right combination of sharp styling, such as pop-up heaters and carbon fibre, but not too much bling.
It's a pretty car, then, but how does it perform? Again, it's hard to tell from the passenger seat, but Clarke is able to take it to the limits of traction on slippery roads.