Maybe I am dense but I just accidentally discovered a nifty 'feature' that I was not aware of. I just realized that the luggage compartment panel above the spare tire area could be installed in a lowered position. The guy who I bought the car from had it in the upper position for some reason and perhaps he did not realize either that it could be installed in a lowered position (or maybe he just liked the smooth look of the upper position).

Anyway, I just love discovering these types of interesting things (I guess I do not have an exciting life)[sm=happy046.gif]

 

Yes, if you have the temporary spare tire, you can install it lower than with a full size spare tire.

 

If I am in the trunk I put it in the lower position since NOOOOBODY[sm=icon_rtfm.gif]

 

I read the manual cover to cover just as soon as I bought the car, and went thru it again after this post. Still couldn't find it. Thanks for sharing Doug, will give it a go after i clean it out next time.

 

having bought my car on the spur of the moment, i didnt really know of any specific extra's or hidden tricks, but i also discovered the extra boot space by accident. mind you, i had seen pictures of other XK8's and it did appear that the shelf had a 'upper' and 'lower' setting. but knowing my luck, i thought that i had just bought a car that only had one setting for the shelf, 'upper'. my discovery of the lower level happened when i lost my balance and preceeded fall, however, luckily and thankfully, the boot lid was open at the time and as my hand landed inside the boot, i pushed the shelf down and wooalla, i discovered the lower shelf level. although i knocked my knee into the bumper at the same and so in some pain, i preceeded to stand back and smile at the fact that i had made this discovery.

they do say that some of the greatest discoveries were made by accident.....so there's my contribution



***still with the elite 'cos i got an XK8***

 

The reason I was suspecting that there were 2 positions was due to the book I bought by Nigel Thorley about the history of the XK8/XKR. There was one photo that shows the trunk with a caption stating 'floor is shown in the lowered position'. So I just started playing around and discovered the lowered position. I then figured how could I have missed this in the owner's manual which I had read through? Sure enough it is discussed on page 6-6 of the manual under 'spare wheel stowage' that mentions upper location slots and lower position for the luggage compartment floor panel. It might have been better to also have had this in the manual in the section talking about the luggage compartment (page 2-10) and that is probably why I missed it.

Doug

 

thanks doug, i'll go back and see if I can find it in my manual!

 

Had a few idle minutes so I browsed the owner's manual again. I found another nifty feature I did not know I had, which is the passenger side mirror tilt down that you can do while in reverse to better see where the curb is. Neato!

Doug

 

I hate that feature Doug, I want to see what Im backing up to. not the ground, and do you also know you can program each remote to different memory setting for his n hers? or you can grind the detents off the park brake and use it to drift the car, or....come on guys fill in more "did you knows" in this thread that youve found....................

 

What did you mean about programming the remote? I thought you set and recalled the memory setting by pushing the 1 or 2 button on the door.

Doug

 

Does anyone else have trouble removing the panel when in the lower position? Is there a trick to do this or since mine was never in the lower position is it just tight?

 

If the front panel of the gray stuff Is out of place it can make it difficult to get the bottom panel in and out.

Mine is not too hard if you insert the front section first and set it on the little ledge before pushing down on the rear where the pull handle is.

 

I made another panel out of Masonite that sits on top of the 'toy' spare tire and fits the lower floor brackets. I keep the trunk floor in the upper position. This give me a nice flat storage area underneath the trunk floor maybe 100mm high.

 

I found that if i press down on the back side (side closest to the back seat) and then pull up on the tab, it seems to work a bit better.

Thanks for all the responses!