Just bought an 04 XK8 and oh so many questions
1) The ride is terrible. My girl friend said its like ridine on bicycle tires. Really ruff above 35mph Only 35,000 miles on car seems like original tires. Taking it in to tire store for evaluation but any help is wlcomed
2) I have owned many muscle cars and high horsepower cars. There seems to be very slow, mushy throttle response for a V8 in this weight car
BTW I bought the car b/c I love the styling of the body'
Thanks in advance

 

I also have an '04. The ride is firm, but compliant. I have 19 inch wheels on mine. In my opinion, the bigger the wheel, the thinner the rubber, the worse the ride. Do you have 20's on this car? You didn't mention "miles". Mine had 97k on it when I bought it. It was ready for upper strut bushings, so I replaced those, and I added 2 small inexpensive plastic Jag spring seats (since I had the springs out anyway!) to help restore a bit of ride height due to older springs. The ride seems slightly better, and the overall feel is better. On the power: My 2004 seems kind of sluggish off the line as well. I figure it's due to the somewhat lazy programming of the 6 speed trans, and a stiff throttle return spring. I have started to "push" it a bit harder, and it responds well to more throttle. I woould love a trans re-program. (An XKR would be the deal! Supercharged Jags are really responsive.) You can select "sport" on the shift console, although I can tell no difference just motoring around town. My car does get exceptional fuel economy, and it really sails well down the highway.

 

On the ride issue (1), I would agree with chopr. Check the upper bushes first, they are a common wear item.

For the sluggishness, mine had the same issue at first. Two things have cured it; adjusting the throttle cable (plenty of threads here on how to do it) and resetting the system by the battery disconnect (also many threads). I had to reset mine for another issue which forced the "brain" to relearn my driving style.

Once reset, drive more aggressively for a few trips and you'll begin to see the difference. And if you take the cable slack out of the throttle there will be an immediate change in response.

 

+1 to everone's advice.

Also, check your tire pressure. 25-30 PSI will give you a much more compliant ride. The wide rims are prone to dents on the inner side, so those should be checked. Fianlly these cars benefit greater from balancing on a Hunter Roadforce tire balancer.

 

wotanner, if you reside in a large city or the metroplex area, I recommend driving another 'for sale' 03 or 04 xk8 to see if you're vehicle is similar in ride quality. At our car's age, shocks could have been changed, the bushings replaced with perhaps polyethylene (more stiff), different springs, you never know. If the ride is noticably different with another xk8, then start looking at your suspension to see what is different.

This is of course, in addition to the other good suggestions above.

 

Consider your tires as the culprit. When I bought mine it rode very loud and rough,
so much so that I thought I might have a bad wheel bearing. But a new set of tires made it buttery smooth again. Old rubber tuns hard!

Steve

 

I agree with Steve, as the P-Zeros on mine were AWFUL, and a set of new tires will be WAY cheaper than replacing the girlfriend !

 

I replaced my 20" P zero's with new versions of the same. The dealer explained how much better the new versions were than the old as they had gone from hand lay up to cnc machinery. They are much better. For the size of wheel I find the ride pretty good and that's an XKR with super sport suspension. Much more compliant than say the average BMW. So my advice is to check the tyres and make sure the suspension is a known quantity.

 

Trust me its the tires I had a xk8 with 2 mich.. 245/50/r17 and front 245/45/r17 dunlop I replaced the mich and dunlops for toyo proxes 4 plus 245/45/r17 all around so I lowered the rear tire height the jag rolls so smooth and at 45 you have perfect lookin wheels not 30s or 35 that have bad ride feel due to how thin they are.