Get smaller hands? Seriously, it's a common problem, but I'll move this to the XJ8 forum so that the XJ8 experts can better help you.

 

BTW, isn't the car still under warranty? 2006 but how many miles? Over 50K already?

 

OUCH! 59K is a bit steep, but I would just put some grease on my wrists and squeeze my hand in there. The lid is not super tight, the only problem is getting the hand in there. Did both low beams go out at the same time? That seems odd.

 

I suppose that you could always remove the headlights all together, then replace the bulbs. I'm not familiar with your car, but there should be a few torx screws holding the headlight in. Just pop the hood and look behind the headlight for brackets that hold it. Remove the screws and the headlight should pull out towards the front of the car.

 

Isn't this one of those "remove the bumper to remove headlights" type of car?

 

I ended up taking the bumper off and removing both lamp assemblies to replace mine -- I could get the outer covers off ok, but no amount of effort would get them to clip back in at the bottom. Taking the bumper off is fairly straigtforward and will make changing the bulbs take around an hour and a half!

Goodness knows what you are meant to do if a bulb blows at the side of the road at night.