I can't seem to park my XJL straight when heading into a parking space. I have had no issues with any other cars including my 300m, Charger and Cadillac. I can back up into a space no problem and I can parallel park perfectly. I just cannot seem to pull into a space straight. I think I am straight and then get out and am parked crooked or over the line or otherwise parked like an idiot. I do ok (not perfect) when there are cars around the space but if the space is by itself I just suck.

Is this just me or do other people have similar problem? It is making me feel old!

 

YES! I have a hell of a time parking in a straight line with this car and I am very OCD about being within the lines. It drives me nuts. Never had this problem before.

 

straight is okay for me, but backing up for whatever reason i am always off. right now, off in my lonely corner of the parking lot, i am within the lines but crooked. even using the backup cam with the lines, somehow i end up slightly askew. i feel pretty retarded.

 

I park the car just fine but my wife cant.. She has the same issues with parking crooked which I cant understand because she can park my 4 door Chevy dually truck with no issues which has no backup camera!

Here is a much worse story
The other day I was driving her 5.0 N/A XJL and I switched it into sport and manual.... That was a total disaster.... At a stop light from a stop I jumped on the throttle and right before it redlined I reached to grab the shifter and quickly figured out there was nothing there when the car started banging off the rev limiter! I felt pretty stupid being that I have a full on drag car which runs bottom 9's and a very outrageous pump gas 55 chevy that runs 11.30s on radials,, So there it is, I guess I cant drive........ Paddle??

 

I have traced my difficulty in this respect to modern car design. The bottom edge of the driver's window slopes on many cars these days. It's subtle on the XJ, but enough to throw me off. In the loaner Discovery Sport I'm in right now, it is a real pain.

 

this took some getting used to for me as well. Ive had several cars with paddles, but they all also had a shift lever that you could use too, so while the paddles were fun, they werent the standard. In this, obviously, the paddles are a requirement, but for 20 years ive driven with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the shifter, so this is a big change.

That being said, i do love this god damn transmission, so being forced to use the paddles and stupid *** dial is a worthwhile compromise.

 

I find that the camera helps me enormously. It even has guide lines for me to aim at.

Mine is only SWB, though.

 

I don't feel as bad now thanks!

 

Most cars have a normal wheel base, the distance between the wheels, this one has an extra 5 inches. You have to compensate your driving for that. Around here parking is ample and easy but the roads have a deep ditch that's where you have to be careful. You don't want to lose a tire in the ditch when you turn onto a new street. The adaptive headlights really help that at night.The headlight moves to the side so you can judge the turn a lot easier. The other day I went to my accountants place and didn't realize the rains had cut a deep rut in his drive. When the tire hit it the front plastic scraped the ground and the car bitched at me. It said something like "careful with slow speed maneuvering". Yeah thanks, Bitching Betty. Lol.

 

Yeah, I have trouble also keeping it straight when going forward. The reverse camera is helpful because it shows the lane markings.
I use the excuse for my diagonal parking in that I like to leave plenty of room to get out from amongst those who like them me in.

 

This here was the key. I am getting better and better at parking now. I intentionally park it so it looks crooked from the driver's perspective. I get it almost perfect now and feel much better! I am still parking a little to the right in the spaces though but slowly correcting that as well.

 

Think of it like firing a pistol whose sites are not properly aligned. You make visual adjustments, i.e., aiming a bit to one side or the other, until you hit the bullseye. What I learned in my XJL was that I was waiting too long to straighten the wheel when pulling into a perpendicular parking space. Angled spaces never presented a problem for some reason.

 

I also have a wrangler unlimited and find that the parking is the same in both cars so I guess I was used to that longer wheelbase already?? It's also been a pet peeve of mine to never leave my cars crooked in parking spaces so I guess I've just been practicing my whole life, lol...
But my garage is another story. I have to open my door every time I pull into my garage and look a bit to check that I'm in the right spot to not hit. My garage door is tiny and I only have about 2" clearance at the mirrors. 1" on each side literally. Before I got used to it it was a nightmare trying to get it into the garage. If the line wasn't perfect I'd hit in the back. Or bang a mirror. Also, that's with the mirrors in. It won't fit with them out. Luckily no marks yet. I also have to go out of the garage and walk out and around as there isn't enough space to walk around the car in my garage. I have to get the nose about 2" from the front wall to be able to close the garage door. I hung a tennis ball that hits the windshield at the rear view mirror so I know where center is pulling in. and another where to stop without hitting. Also wish the park sensors came on automatically.