This weekend I took the XJS on her first serious road-trip. 700 miles from Chicago to southern Illinois and back. Most of the drive was Interstate but I spent time on some 2-lane state roads, too. The XJS was very comfortable for the ~5 hours I was behind the wheel each day and I took advantage of Friday's nice weather to spend some time with the top down.
Yesterday I drove in the rain most of the trip and it was nice being in a British convertible and not having a single drop of rain come into the car. I also own an MGB (I've had it for the last 24 years) and I can't drive that in the rain without getting wet.

These are great cars.

 

If your standard of “great car” is “I didn’t get wet” you’ve had your MGB too long. I got mine in 1992

 

Properly sorted the XJS really claws down the interstate!

Too bad most of them are reserved for sunday drives instead of daily drives or road trips!

 

Yup and yup!

I enjoyed my XJS many, many 600-700 miles weekend jaunts. I really felt comfortable in that car. By that I mean it felt solid, stable, competent out on the open road. Nothing would faze it. I felt safer at high speeds in my XJS than the XJR which replaced it.

Cheers
DD

PS- prior to Jags I had an MG Midget and MGB/GT. Fun cars, and the B/GT was a real sweetheart. Mine lacked overdrive, though, so the noise was tiresome at highway speeds. Good times.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug, In view of your last and interesting post, does anyone besides me think a "cars I have owned" thread would be interesting?
Greg

 

Total agreement from me.

The XJS is the best long distance cruiser I have ever travelled in. Mine now does mostly long trips. My shortest trip these days is 50km. Last trip we did was 500km.

 

Any pics of her enjoying the trip, Thorsen?
I took my lady, and my wife, up on a day trip, no more than a couple of hundred kms, yesterday, which was very enjoyable for all concerned. Didn't get many pics of the car, however. Planning on driving her down to Tokyo next month, too. With luck, I should get some cool pics there. Road trips are what this machine was made for.

I don't know if it's the most comfortable car for such, however. A little more leg room would really be appreciated, perhaps with a little more thigh support. Then again, I could lose weight and fit inside better.... My old Toyota MR2 turbo was another great road trip car actually. I took that on pretty regular long drives. But it didn't have quite the same "I'm going to take the long way, just to spend more time in the car" thing that the XJS does rather well.

 

Sadly no pictures of her in action but here she in sharing the garage with my MGB roadster undergoing an over-winter suspension rebuild and carb replacement on the supercharger.

Before the Jag I had a 1969 MGB GT that I did a full mechanical restore on and added a supercharger and Air Conditioner. If you're interested you can read about it here.

 

I think everyone's waiting for you to get us started

Cheers
DD

 

OK , Doug, it's a deal
Greg

 

If you want more XJS leg room might I suggest the seat rail adapters created and sold by Mr. Leroy Sorrell. I'm 6'1" and these rails let me slide the seats back until they are touching the rear seats. That's too far from the pedals but just to explain how far back you can go with them, and they also raise the seat height from 1" to 2".
Here's the link to them on his website: https://jagxjsparts.com/seat-parts/seat-extender-package/

 

I've seen those. They seem rather expensive for four bits of steel with holes in them. But more than that, I can't sacrifice any head room. My hair already brushes the roof as it is. There are extra holes in the seat rails, and I experimented with them, but they are not the same size as the current bolts. It would probably be easier to get new bolts and/or drill out the existing rails/supports as needed.

 

I would actually like to lower mine if that is possible. I can set the recline pretty far back to achieve the same head to roof line distance but that would put my head farther back. I see there is no seat up/down adjustment either. Is the seat mounted to the floor in it lowest position possible?

 

Indeed. A slightly lower seating position at the back would be nice. I've read (in Kirby Palm's book, I think) that adding a few (a few!) washers under the front of the rails can improve thigh support, and I might try that.
The alternative is losing weight so my butt ain't so big....