Ok I am looking for a new(er) sedan and I'm thinking about a long wheel base XJ. I love the way they look on both the outside and the inside, in these categories they are the best cars I've looked at. Aside from style the three things I need are big, fast and comfortable.

It is the comfortable part that has me worried. Many of the expert reviews say the ride is rough. I am not concerned about handling and I can get by with driving a land barge just fine (as long as it is fast) but I don't want to feel every bump in the road especially on a long trip.

I also am not concerned about the features, electronics etc. As long as it has a radio I am ok there.

So what do you owners think? Is the ride rough? Are there any suspension options I should look for to get a smoother ride or are there any aftermarket parts out there? I really like the way this car looks and would hate to pass.

FWIW I own a 01 XKR as well, but that has an active suspension that is really the best of both worlds ... at least until it breaks.

 

I think the ride is great on my 2011 XJL although I did upgrade the tires from OEM Pirelli P Nero Zeros to Continental Extreme Contact Plus. It comes with the active suspension as standard. Just stay away from the Supercharged and Supersport variants which have 20 rather than 19 inch wheels.

 

auburn2, you are going to love the ride. It is about as good as you can get as I see it. It rides much better than my wife's Ford Fusion. Rides better than my old Jaguar X-Type. Take one for a test drive and confirm the ride for yourself.

Now, a few things to keep in mind that will help with the ride:

1) go with the 19" wheels vice the 20". This will have a dramatic effect on your ride since you have a relatively larger amount of rubber between you and the road.
2) ensure the tires are inflated to the correct pressure. People have complained about their cars having a rough ride but they also inflated the tire to the maximum pressure written on the tire. The tires should be inflated to around 35 psi unless you know you are going to be loading the car to near its maximum weight and this is pushing the tires to near their maximums too.
3) stay away from the summer performance tires. Go with a good all season tire. The summer performance tires will have a stiffer sidewall to them which is going to transfer more of the road feel to the rim and therefore to your seat.

 

Thanky you for the advice. Didn't know it had active suspension. Does it have the electronic shocks like the earlier jags or is it a different setup?

 

The "Adaptive Dynamics" in the Jaguar uses magnetic ferrous particle fluid shocks, and the system monitors the suspension, varying the dampening electronically to suit the conditions. These intelligent adjustments, made 500 times a second, help keep the XJ as flat and stable as possible, improving your control and handling without any loss of ride comfort.

 

Mine has the 19 inch wheels as well, lovely comfortable ride, my passengers are always complimenting me on it. If you press the sport button and dynamic it then handles brilliantly, sits very flat around the curves at very high speeds.

 

Well, I too was worried about confort.

Bit of background - lots of sports cars and not so sporty, my late "big" car was a BMW 750iL and the Jaguar XJ is heaps better confort wise than the BMW.

My other car was a Porsche 911 Turbo and well.. no contest here.

I ride on 19 inch and although I lust the 20 inch visual look, I'm soooo happy with the ride - plush, confortable and as someone said, press dynamic and you do have a bit of fun also.

I drove a Range Rover Sport ( current model, My2015 ) and a Jaguar XJ and found them comparable in terms of confort. Wife said the Jaguar was better ( while in passenger front seat ) and WORLDS better in the back site, vs RRS.

I too read quite a few negative / worrying reviews about the stifness of the Jaguar, but remember that 2012 and 2014 models had tweaks on the suspension to make it more confortable - so apart from tyre recommendations and pressures as above, go for at least a 2012+ model. ( also 2010 and 2011 have a few quirks that 2012 and after models, got them ironed out )

 

Bottom line: do not lust for 20" wheels, nor summer performance tires. The 2011 XJL without these silly things provides a smooth ride and great handling in all weather conditions when fitted with appropriate tires.

 

I have no complaints about ride comfort with my 20"wheels and OEM Dunlops. Just be careful and don't hit potholes or curbs. Suspension engineering is brilliant!

 

Stuart, I am also on 20" Kasuga and Conti CSC5P. Been trying to find the optimal tire pressure. What are you filling yours with? I am at 32psi.

 

jaglover123, there is an easy way to find the "correct" tire pressure. What I mean by correct is the one that will get you the longest life out of the tires. Some may say that they will give up a few thousand in miles to get a better ride or better mileage. So, the call is yours.

To find the optimum tire wear pressure, you start with some white paper and some of the colored sidewalk chalk (the big sticks of chalk). Lay 3-5 pieces of paper, end to end, in front of the wheels on one side of the car (make sure this is done on a level surface). Using the chalk, rub it over the tread of these 2 tires. Start the car and slowly drive over the paper, transferring the chalk to the paper.

At this point, you look at the paper and see if you are getting a nice even imprint of the tread, the center is a little light, or the edges are a little light. What you are shooting for is a nice even imprint on the paper. If the center is light, then you need to bump up the pressure a few pounds and try it again. If the edges are light, then you need to let out a few pounds and try again. There is normally a 5 psi band or so that the tires will have a good imprint.

 

Thermo, thank you. When I say optimal I meant the most comfortable.

 

33 psi cold all 4 with digital pressure gauge. Dunlop Sport Maxx GT installed by Jaguar dealer CPO.

 

Personally, I'm very disappointed in the ride - don't get me wrong, I love the car, but coming from a Mercedes S-Class, the ride is no where close to that of the Mercedes, so much in fact, that I have decided to keep the S Class and use it for longer road trips. When people ask about the car, I equate it to the equivalent of a sports car or 'sports sedan'.

 

Really love the ride in my '12 XJL Portfolio. It has 19 in wheels and the original Pirelli tires.
Don't have any complaints.
As another person suggested, best to test drive the vehicle and base your decision on your personal experience.

 

I find my 2013 XJ 3.0s/c quite hard at times, feel every bump and the road noise from the 20” tyres is pretty poor. My Ford transit connect was more comfortable! I found this the most disappointing part of the car, love the looks and the interior but the seats are awful, coupled with the stiff ride is odd handling especially when changing direction quickly (like when coming off a fast roundabout) there’s a lack of feel which leads to over steering and then there’s the long throttle which spoils the feel of the unresponsive supercharged motor (works well for the naturally aspirated V8 which is razor sharp, but makes the 3.0 feel lethargic (which it isn’t) keep it in sport is best but does appear to firm the ride more!

 

mmmm! What model S class, I’m thinking of changing for the comfort

 

sweeper, part of your problem is simply running 20" tires. Those do not have a lot of sidewall and therefore are going to transfer more road vibration to the body of the car. Next, what pressure are you running in the tires. I know a lot of low profile people like to run the pressure higher to prevent damage to the rims. higher the pressure, the more road noise and vibration you are going to feel. Drop the pressure down to like 32 psig and see what the ride is like then. The last thing I will ask is (2 part question): 1) do you like driving around with dynamic mode engaged? 2) do you have a suspension fault currently on your car? Either one of these is going to cause your shocks to go to maximum stiffness. This again will transfer a lot of the road vibration/noise to the body of the car and make the ride less than desireable.

 

At the time of this posting, I had a S430. Given that this thread is approaching 10 years old, i have since had a BMW 7 series, Bentley Flying Spur, and currently a Maybach S580. Hands down, the S classes havr had the best ride out of all of them, including thr Bentley.

Good Luck no matter what u decide.

 

We have a 2014 S550 and 2019 Jag XJL Supercharged. I find them very similar in overall ride smoothness. For me, the Jag wins on overall all suspension feel and slightly better on smoothness. It could be the factory run flats on the Merc.