I am new to the forum and recently inherited a '97 Jaguar XK8. I love the car, and it stills runs great. However there is one small problem. I am 6'2" and in the lowest position, the driver's seat is still not low enough. I cannot see out of the front windshield properly and my head goes into the convertible top. I am hoping to find an inexpensive way to lower the drivers seat about 3 inches.

I could completely replace the seat, or modify the height of the existing seat. Does anyone have any suggestions? It would be much appreciated!

 

Welcome to the forum Lawman, I can't offer help with your problem, but it sounds as though it is stuck fom a previous driver. 6'2" is hardly too big for the car.

Hopefully some of the XK owners will be able to chime in.

 

I have customers taller than you without issue. You can recline the back for the same effect as lowering. You can talkto a trim shop about replacing the bottom seat cushion that is alittle thinner and denser foam. The tracks are about as low as you can go to the floor, and anyother mod may render the motors and adjustment inop

 

Thank you for both responses. Replacing the seat cushion sounds like an easy and inexpensive fit. Is the bottom seat cushion merely bolted on to the adjustment tracks, making it easy to switch out another cushion?

I should mention that I sit up rather straight in the car (doctor's orders) due to neck and upper back pain. Reclining the seat back to achieve a lowering effect places my head forward above my chest (instead of my shoulders) and results in neck pain. So a combination of my height and sitting position is causing the problem.

I would appreciate any other suggestions about how to lower the seat. Thank you.

 

Ah... I see your problem now. I'm about 6'4" and I don't have a problem because I recline the seat way back. I'm more comfortable that way anyway. But if you have to sit upright I don't even think replacing the seat cushion is going to help.

The only alternative I can think of would be to replace the seat altogether. There are companies that make seats for track cars and stuff (think Recaro but cheaper) and you could probably retrofit one of those into the car. Of course, it would look strange and you'd lose the functionality of the power adjustments.

 

I'm with Lawman on this. I am 6'1" and I also like to sit fairly upright. I find I am looking through the top 1/3 of the screen and would like to be an inch or 2 lower. I know of a trimmer fairly locally who may be able to help. Before I go to the trouble of taking the seat out (car laid up 'till the weather cheers up) does anyone know whether there is enough foam in the seat to reduce the thickness without sitting on the diaphragm? I would like to keep the interior looking standard so I don't fancy a recaro or whatever.
Cheers duncan
2003 XK8 convertible

 

Put the top down!

 

The seat placement in these cars is decidedly sedan versus "sports" or GT-type. Admittedly, I came from a Corvette where you are pretty much almost sitting on the floor. However, the first time I test drove the XK8, I felt way too high up (about an inch or so higher than what I would consider ideal). I am not sure if the Recaro option was any lower.


Doug

 

Sam,

Maybe you can help me with my problem, I just traded in my '99 XK8 for a 2007 one. I,l like you am used to reclining the seat way back to get more room. The problem I'm having with the 2007 is once I move the seat all the way back, and then try to recline it, the seat starts moving forward again. It didn't work like this on my '99, does is sound like there's a wiring problem or something causing this. I hope it's not supossed to work this way.
Love the new car, but cramped so far
Thanks

 

I have no idea. Have you tried sliding the seat forward, reclining, and then sliding it back? Maybe the seat is smart enough to know when it is going to hit something in the back of the car and it only lets you recline so far before sliding the seat forward. Kinda like those wall-hugger recliners that let you recline all the way by sliding the bottom part of the seat forward.

 

There is a way to lower your seat, but there is also a compromise.

I have removed my seats for obvious reason in my track car, I then fitted some basic seat runners to my race seats which still allowed a forward and backward movement but actually dropped the seat by about 2", I had to make spacers up to put me back in a position I liked.

The point is, there is no reason you could not do this to a standard seat but you would loose all the electric functions.