I took my 2004 on a ride today, armed with my navigation to make sure I didnt get lost I took the long way home. A 15mile long way home!!! It was around 6pm and transitioning to night driving and I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Boy did she handle well. Smooth, responsive and rock solid stable. With the road to myself, high beam on, no police expected on such a remote road I really pushed it round the bends and she hugged every one predictably. I was told the air springs will tighten up - Is that the case? Sure felt like it.

I am not an expert fast driver by any means but I felt no body roll to speak of, no slip. Few turns tighter than I had anticipated - no problem!! Simply a joy to really swing the XJ8 around a bit to see what it is made of. Awesome!!!

My only issue was hot brakes at the end - all four wheels where very hot.

I transitioned back on my normal route and conforming to the traffic rules. Brakes had cooled of by the time I got home. Wife non the wiser!!

Next time I have a spare 30 minutes I may get lost again!!

 

Cool , have many happy safe driving

 

Definitely as far as full size luxury sedans go, the XJ is one of the most nimble, mostly due to its light weight.

I had a Miata that I used to tear up the roads in. I don't really drive the XJ hard, though, mostly because it has an automatic transmission (as it should, it's a luxury car!), which really ruins the "fun driving" part of it for me.

 

OrJaguar - I had a similar bit of fun in the eastern side of your lovely state last summer. I bought my XK8 in Boise in June and, well, y'see, there are these Blue Mountains and this Snake River thing sorta between Boise and Seattle. You can fill in the rest of the story. (I'd love to do it again, now that I have better tires on the kitty.)

Cheers,