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You should have bought a DB9 ;-).. The Sportshift I transmissions on the early Vantage are not great, but can be made to be just fine. Agreed, driving a Vantage in "Auto" mode is not a great experience.
Claiming the XK is a 2+2 4 seats is funny but from what I have read it's because they wanted to give the impression it's more a GT (grand tourer). I find it funny they claim the rear seats could be used by a child! LOL there is no way even a child could sit comfortably in the rear seat. I drive fairly far back and there is only about an inch between the seats.I the coupe you cant even have you dog in the back because the windows do no roll down and we all know your dog loves to hang their heads out the window. The biggest problem I have is the seat belt guide in the rear bolsters get knocked out with the seat going back. I am constantly finding them on the floor in back when they get knocked out. Some people in my Jaguar group who have been around a lot longer than me say it had to do with insurance and something to do with US regulations that a 4 seat car falls into a different category. I got mine because I never have passengers in the rear seat of my VDP. The seat is mint. I am going to research people taking the seat out and replacing it with a shelf it would be a lot easier to haul groceries etc around.
Claiming the XK is a 2+2 4 seats is funny but from what I have read it's because they wanted to give the impression it's more a GT (grand tourer). I find it funny they claim the rear seats could be used by a child! LOL there is no way even a child could sit comfortably in the rear seat...
For the record I’ve had both my college daughter’s roommate and my youngest (14) daughter in the back seat. (Both had seatbelt on)
Super comfy? Nah. Long drive, heck no.
Annoying wind with the wind deflector in the boot. Yeah.
But they have fun with the top down cruisin.
Only advice is to keep it on a trickle charger if you're not driving it every day. Most electrical "gremlins" come and go based on the battery.
I let it sit without being on a trickle charger for 3 months because medical issues and when I finally could drive again it was completely dead leading to lots of electrical issues .. luckily could figure out everything the one thing I’m having trouble figuring out is TPMS show all tires low on air when they are not lol I figure it’s from my electrical problem from the battery going dead …
One of the little things broken was the seat release on the drivers side I did a search for one online and they want a lot of dough. Luckily I have the broken piece so I unscrewed the part that was still attached with the screw. I drilled out the latch countersunk the hole and used a short stainless steel flat head screw to hold the shaft that it screws in with a little CA glue and attached the shaft back to the latch. I had to cut a little off the screw and it worked out well. I do not mind seeing the screw as long as it works.Now I need to see how to fix the seat belt guides in the back bolsters. It seems like the piece inside where the clips click into is just loose so you can't get the guides to pop back in tight and they just fall out.
Last edited by johnro6659; Apr 18, 2026 at 03:04 PM.
One of the little things broken was the seat release on the drivers side I did a search for one online and they want a lot of dough. Luckily I have the broken piece so I unscrewed the part that was still attached with the screw. I drilled out the latch countersunk the hole and used a short stainless steel flat head screw to hold the shaft that it screws in with a little CA glue and attached the shaft back to the latch. I had to cut a little off the screw and it worked out well. I do not mind seeing the screw as long as it works.Now I need to see how to fix the seat belt guides in the back bolsters. It seems like the piece inside where the clips click into is just loose so you can't get the guides to pop back in tight and they just fall out.
One of the little things broken was the seat release on the drivers side I did a search for one online and they want a lot of dough. Luckily I have the broken piece so I unscrewed the part that was still attached with the screw. I drilled out the latch countersunk the hole and used a short stainless steel flat head screw to hold the shaft that it screws in with a little CA glue and attached the shaft back to the latch. I had to cut a little off the screw and it worked out well. I do not mind seeing the screw as long as it works.Now I need to see how to fix the seat belt guides in the back bolsters. It seems like the piece inside where the clips click into is just loose so you can't get the guides to pop back in tight and they just fall out.
Different folks, different strokes.
Fyi, the part is available from jaguar.
I called my local Jag dealer and another a few miles away and both said they didn't have the part. Another dealer in the next state asked me for the part number and wouldn't go any further. IMO they were just too lazy to look it up because when I called them with the part number they just said they didn't have one and hung up. I put in requests to several scrap yards and haven't heard back. I found one on Ebay and the guy is asking $129.00. It.s nothing I need right away and you can't really see it and as long as I can use it it's nothing I will worry about. If anyone know where I could get one for around 30 bucks let me know.
I just found out the color was not Luna Gray but Sienna Gray Pearl Metallic. For some reason the color listed on the car fax said Luna Gray but when I ran the color code it proved that wrong.
Nope
