I find the seats in my 1997 XK8 very uncomfortable to the point my right leg bothers me if I drive it too much or on a regular basis. I would really like to drive it more but that prevents me. I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this and if there are any other Jaguar seats that I could put in there that are "plug and play" meaning they would fit without modifications? Thanks, Mike

 

I second that! I thought that there was something wrong with me but I tend to get pretty severe leg cramping in my right leg if I am on long drives on the freeway. I don't know if it is the height of the seat or the cushioning or the placement of the gas pedal or all of those things but it sometimes gets so bad that I have to stretch my leg out and use my left foot for the gas for a while. Never happened to me with any other vehicle.


Doug

 

The positioning of the gas is definitely awkward. It took me a little while to get used to. Never had the leg cramping though.

Sometimes my left leg falls asleep but that's because it can't reach its rest.

 

+1 on the dead pedal. It would be a long reach for an NBA star. I'm OK with the seat. Plenty of adjustments even though the gas pedal is awkward. What I want is better side bolsters.

 

+1 on the better side bolsters. Also, after a 2 hour drive I start getting lower back pains. I don't know if it's because of the long drive or because of the lumbar support on the bucket seat, but I definitely shouldn't be getting such pains. I'm still 19!

 

For what it's worth, the Recaro seats I have are also uncomfortable, particularly when you think they cost $$$ more than the standard offering.

 

After moving the seat mount back 2" to accommodate my long legs I still had a support problem. I replaced the front bolts with longer ones and put washers under the track to raise it 3/4" at the front. This provides a lot of support for the legs.

 

Have all you guys got the steering wheel on the wrong side ?
My (Recaro) seats are extremely comfy.

 

I was very disappointed with the seats in my car when I bought it, as I had exactly the same experience. However, I found that by adjusting the height and tilt of the seat base I could solve the problem and can now travel for many hours without any discomfort. For me (I am 6'1") I found lowering the rear of the seat base did the trick. Don't be too quick to ditch the original seats.

Obviously, being in the UK, I sit on the right!

 

My comment re steering wheel was because I wonder if the pedal position is less favourable (sorry, favorable) when the controls are on the LH side.

 

At 6-feet-7 I can now drive my wife's XK8 for about 45 minutes before my lower back, legs, neck (if the ragtop is up) and especially my left knee all begin screaming at me to get out of the car. When she first got her XK8 not quite a year ago, my limit was 30 minutes. But I can drive our S-Type for a good 6 hours with no such issues....

 

I'm 5'3". I don't get any of the cramps, leg, or neck pains, all I get is lower back pains after a good 2 hours of driving. I think it's the lumbar support for me.

 

Dang jon, I didn't imagine you as a globetrotter! I think your people (the big n tall types ) were not considered when the cockpit was designed. I'm 6' and if I were any taller, I'd never attempt it as a daily driver. My boss hit his head when he first got in the passenger side. Have you by chance tried the new style XK for fitment?

Getting in the xk8 after driving the XJ gives me a 5-second blast of claustrophobia, then passes.

 

No, I have never attempted to get into one of the newer XK models. No interest, so no need to try....

I still love my 1999 Dodge Ram pickup after more than 12 years of ownership. Legroom and headroom for as far as the eye can see, and massive power (along with heavy fuel thirst, unfortunately) from that big 5.9 V8. I'll keep it as long as I can....

 

My '97 XK8 seats are supposed to be bucket, but they're almost bench like... after a couple of years, they made more comfortable ones. My '05 XKR has Recaros and they work just fine for me.

 

I had a '97 and the seat bottom itself felt very flat- almost like sitting on cardboard. It only had 30K from a previous owner but he was probably 290lbs. My 2001 is much better on the padding: it springs down nicely but doesnt bottom out. I drove it 11 hours with one 20 minute lunch and an extra gas stop when I bought it. Loved it. Had a disc removed years ago but I felt great driving the car. Could have been the re-found adrenaline after missing the '97 that I sold for a few years though!

 

My daily driver is a Dodge Grand Caravan and it has the most comfortable seats of any vehicle that I have owned, by far. Though driving my Jag is a more pleasurable experience, if I had to drive a long distance, say 6 hours or more, I'd much rather be driving my van.

I think that the issue with the Jag seats is not necessarily the seat itself, but the "seating position", which is very near the floor with legs almost straight out. The seats in my van (and other full sized vehicles) is more like the sort of seat that you would have in your home with a more upright seating position. I think that the legs out seating position puts more weight and pressure toward your back instead of directly down into the bottom of the seat. I also think that the lack of mobility and how you have to essentially sit in pretty much the same position in the Jag whereas in other, larger vehicles you have much more room to shift your position around and relieve the stresses on certain parts of your body.

I used to drive between New Orleans and Atlanta quite frequently and after about 4-5 hours my back would start hurting very badly and I would be in considerable pain for the rest of the drive. When I got where I was going, sometimes I had to literally crawl out of the car and it would take a couple of minutes before I could even stand up.

On one trip when I went back home for a dental visit, I took some extra strength Tylenol the next day for my drive back. I did not have the back pain that I had always had before. Now, whenever I am going to be on a long drive of a few hours, I take a couple of Advils and I no longer have the back pain that I used to have. You may want to try that on your next long trip.

 

I agree on the seating position being the bulk of the problem but I disagree about the low seat/leg out description. The only car I have had with low seating and legs almost straight out was my 1995 Corvette and that was the MOST comfortable car driving position I have ever had in any of my cars. Getting in and out of that car was gruesome but once in it was shear pleasure.

With my XKR I find that the seats are too high, particularly for a "sports" car (which it is not). I believe if the seat was about 1" lower and if the bottom cushion was deeper to give better thigh support, my leg cramp problem would be gone.

Doug

 

I have no doubt that different people prefer different seating positions and/or are more comfortable in one over the other, but we have here a number of people who become uncomfortable and are actually subjected to pain from sitting in their XK seats for extended periods of time.

Here is what I am saying, the seat itself is not really uncomfortable when you sit in it. (at least not mine to me) It is not like you feel contorted or that it is too hard or anything, the problem comes when you have been in it for a long period of time, and still, it is not your butt that hurts, it is some area of your body that is being subjected to some sort of stress, and I maintain that that is because of the seating position which has more to do with the layout of the car and what sort of seat can fit in it.

What I was relating to, maybe not clearly enough is that to simply change the seat with another seat that might have to provide essentially the same seating position may not resolve the problem at all. Try two Advil's or your pain medicine of choice on long trips. It just may work for you, as it does for me.

 

You are correct in that the seats are not uncomfortable per se. But there is something weird about the positioning that ends up giving me leg cramps that I have NEVER encountered in any other vehicle (at least the wide variety of vehicles that I have owned). I still think it has more to do with the relationship of the seat to the gas pedal versus the seat itself that ends up maybe placing my leg in some weird position. A related complaint is that there is not enough "pushback" in the gas pedal. With most cars (even my wife's new Acura with drive-by-wire) there was enough resistance so that I can basically just rest my foot on the pedal without necessarily accelerating. With my XKR the spring pushback is so weak that I have to provide some pullback rather than resting the foot on the pedal. That might be what is causing the fatiguing or cramping on long drives.

Doug