Last drive through the snow I promise!

I completed my roadtrip, averaged 15mpg over mountain top highways totaling 1700km or 1050 miles over 4080ft summit, could of done better but what fun is it when your only puttering along...better to floor it and deal with the consequences later.

 

Baby, it's cold outside! Great photo, this is going to be my new screensaver.

 

 

Ok, so where did ya go? Over the Coq to points north or #3 to the Kootenays?

Larry

 

Did you know, that cars overheat most commonly on snowy days? As seen in that picture, the radiator grille is covered with thick snow. Always remove snow from the grille... Just in case people do drive like that.

 

Went up from Vancouver to Kamloops/area via Highway 1 (very scenic, nice winding highway) and on the return went back down Hwy 1 but detoured due to a road closure and ended up going through Ashcroft on Hwy 97c up over the mountains to Merrit and back down to the coast, also a stunning winding highway route... now that I think about it I regret not taking some pictures as the drive absolutely brilliant, clear and sunny no snow on the road surprisingly, all the mountain ranges dusted with snow and best of all nobody on the road.

I don't recommend driving this sort of car in any snow/ice conditions regardless of tires even when I had studded winters its just so poorly weighted I've had the car slide sideways at idle while on ice there is just no weight in the back to balance out the huge v12.

 

 

Sure doesn't feel 50/50 on ice!

 

Only when fully loaded. My vehicle papers state the car weighs ~1.7t (metric!) when empty but with 90% fuel and a 75 kg driver. The front is a lot heavier than the empty rear. Without an engine you might be at 50:50

 

defiantly not 50/50

my xjs witch is engine swapped with a lighter engine than the v12 is still not 50/50

1993 jaguar xjs convertible sbc swapped with 700r4 on a certified scale.
3720 lbs
with a weight distribution of
2020 lbs front
1700 lbs rear

in kgs

1687kg total
916kg front
771kg rear

 

For what it's worth, my Japanese documentation says the F-R weight split is 1,000 kg front, 770 kg rear. Unloaded for both (1770 kg unladen, 1990 kg laden though I don't know how that breaks down).
So anyway, you'd need a couple of hundred kilograms of sand or gravel bags in the boot to make it 50-50. Best to avoid ice, I think....

 

I've not driven my XJS in winter, but I did daily drive a Series III XJ12 for years and it was an excellent winter car with the right tires (Michelin Arctic Alpin). Very sure footed and I had no trouble getting around.

 

Sadly, loving it as I do, it has to be said that the V12 XJS has very poor rear wheel traction on ice or packed snow, at least with normal road tyres. Chains or "shower caps" on the rear make it fine.

 

The XJS V12 rear end comes loose in light rain if you're not paying attention.

 

Mine does not do that. You can break it loose if you put your foot into it, but driving normally I have found the traction to fine. I have Nexen Tyres and these have great wet weather traction, far better than the Michelin's I had on it before.

 

Perhaps I'm always paying attention (which tends to be the case with this car), but I've only had the back break away once, and that was very slightly, on wet gravel/leaves accelerating smartly out of a rural intersection. I did have a slight wheelspin once starting off from the lights when I went driving and encountered some light slushy snow in the hills. Headed back to the flat pretty promptly after that...
I use Continental tyres, Conti 2 or something--basically one of the only tyres I can get in this country that fit my 15 inch lattices. It was either those, some Bridgestones with white writing on the sides, or some cheap Chinese junk.