Recently got back from a weeklong road trip in our 05 Super V8 from NY to Durham NC and the Blue Ridge mountains.


3 people, a week's worth of clothes, A bunch of seedlings, full tool set, scanner, volt meter, endoscope and a spare air strut. Air suspension actually rode better with a full load and I got to watch it settle back down when everyone jumped out at rest stops.



Dinner at Lazer Wolf in PA included a cobblestone suspension test on the way back to the interstate. She failed -- just not good on small wobbly bumps.

Rear passengers enjoyed watching Little Miss Sunshine and "Ocean's 11" on headphones while the driver listened to podcasts on " Front Only" mode. Also enjoyed high fidelity music in the whole cabin through the rear entertainment Aux inputs. The stereo system in this car is good but not great.
Overnight break and Vietnamese breakfast in Falls Church VA.
Several days of 98 degree heat was no problem for the 4 zone A/C.
We only saw 2 other X-350s one driving and in nice shape, and the other slammed to the ground and looking quite sad.



70 mph limit means 80 right? Best mileage was 23.8 on 10% ethanol. With a lighter load and lower speeds I know she will do nearly 25 on ethanol free gas.



Enjoyed our afternoon at the NC Museum of Art and another afternoon at Duke Gardens. Also took in a Sylvan Esso concert and many fine dining experiences. Our hosts had something planed for us every minute.




Visited Flat Rock Loop Trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Wisemans View, Linville Gorge Wilderness. (We let our friends take us up to the trail head in their SUV because the road was AWD only!)​​​​​​​ Supercharger insured a relaxing drive going up the Blue Ridge mountains (even when overtaking...just whoosh) to more than 4000 ft. and Brembos felt no strain coming down...

During the trip (mostly on the way home) we endured about 2.5 inches of rain and 2 hail storms with no issues. The automatic wipers were much appreciated in the varying drizzle to deluge conditions and the adaptive cruise control performed flawlessly in 40 to 80 mph traffic except for two downpours and the hail where it had to shut down. (It’s a bit annoying that you have to pull over and cycle the ignition to get it to re-start)

A fantastic trip in the perfect car for the job.

 

Cool loved to read this. The xj is real fun to drive .
Just came back from a weekend trip with my wife to Zandvoort in the Netherlands . Just needed some time of




2003 xj8 4,2 213000miles/343000km
while my darling had a nap in the heated inclined passenger seat I tried to achive lowest consumption and new record is
43mpg imperial/6,5 liter/100km constantly at 100km/h/ 65mh for a about 50 miles.
average is 37mpg /7.4 l for a 900km

 

Simply the best Jaguars ever made in last 20 years. The new ones are so disconnect from what Jaguar use to be.