XJ XJ6 / XJ8 / XJR ( X350 & X358 ) 2003 - 2009

XJR X350 fun factor

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Old 11-07-2021 | 04:30 PM
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Default XJR X350 fun factor

I was wondering about the fun factor of a 2004 X350 XJR as i am wanting to get one but i couldnt find anything about how/if this car is any fun driving for example if its any fun on country roads or not.

Also i was wondering how good the handling is with the XJR "sport" suspension and how much better or worse it is in comparison to the "comfort" suspension.
 
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Old 11-07-2021 | 05:08 PM
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It's a big car, so you need a reasonably wide country road, but handling is better than some smaller cars due to its lightweight aluminium construction. The difference between "Sport" and "Comfort£ suspension is not all that great. It's the use of large diameter wheels and lowprofile tyres which can make the car seem rather harsh on other than perfect road surfaces. I found my two X350s plenty of fun, but you have to get used to fairly frequent replacement of certain of the suspension bushes as the design is not really all that good for longevity.
 
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Old 11-07-2021 | 09:08 PM
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Default Fun, fun

The handling is very refined. Quick transitions are completed with car staying flat. Recovery when quick turns is almost very good. May not be a skid pad champion, but very competent in twisties.
But most fun is pushing the Sport button, pushing the gas pedal and going fast. Very hard acceleration.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 04:29 AM
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Also i was wondering how the auto-adjusting air suspension works.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 09:56 AM
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the auto adjusting suspension is limited...i don't feel any difference unlike our Audi A8 air suspension. The XJR comes with 'sport' struts which are slightly different then 'comfort' struts. I cannot tell you the difference since i have only the XJR model.

The R is a very fun car to drive...the supercharger makes all the difference and has power on demand in any rpm range. As mentioned above the 'sport' button does increase the fun factor. Exhaust is too quiet, but you can always modify this to your liking.

I suggest you purchase one. I've owned mine just over a year and look forward to driving it each time i climb in.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 10:27 AM
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The aggressive stance and chrome delete on the XJR make it look sportier than the XJ variants. The ride height is at least an inch lower. Mine has never been recalibrated and the front is low. Rear appears a little higher. Looks good sitting still.
The air suspension works fine. Early models had two vehicle ride height sensors on the front. Later, maybe 2005 have one and they share air lines to balance ride height. Mine has one on the driver side. There are two in rear.
The system uses these to detect lean or sway. Adds air to low side to counteract sway when cornering. The Sport shocks may have smaller air volume in strut to react quicker. They have less travel.
The active dampening is a joke. It is normal or hard. Hard is really for driving with strut leaks and car is slammed. Doubt if system every goes to Hard if struts are fully inflated. Normal is just the conventional damper built into the air strut. Which wears out on a 17 year old vehicle. The Sport struts MAY have a stiffer damper than Comfort struts. My car came with an Arnott Comfort rebuild on the passenger front. Replaced with a RMT Sport rebuild. Could not tell any difference in driving.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 12:01 PM
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The XJR is a very nimble car for its size and has a good balance of Comfort (even with "Sport" tuned air suspension) and handling. I haven't yet tried it,, but I would assume the fun factor wold be amplified with the predictability of coil overs, to replace the air ride. How this will play out with the bushings, is a question.
With that said, I find my XJR, as it exists in sorted factory setup, to be a very competent and enjoyable highway car.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 04:16 PM
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As for the question about air suspension, don't go thinking that it's active suspension. It's not. It's load leveling ONLY; the car always sits level, no matter how it's loaded (ideally.) It's nowhere near responsive enough to be a handling-oriented active suspension. That adjustment is handled by the CATS system, which is an electrically-triggered valving change in the damper part of the strut. The damper can be stiffened by the computer, depending on the level of thrashiness being applied by the driver, but that has nothing to do with the air side.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 04:54 PM
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Lost of fun....Feels 1,000 lb slighter than it really is. Only complaint...One wheel peel.
 
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Old 11-08-2021 | 05:54 PM
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The air springs cam as "Sport" or "Comfort". The only difference is a slightly smaller air chamber in the Sport units making the springs a bit firmer. The damper element is the same on either. CATS switches the dampers betweeen "Hard" and "Soft" depending what manoevre the car is doing, based on various inputs. The ASM tries to keep the car at the correct level based on inputs from ride height detectors front and rear, but only on a long time interval basis, it does not react to short term changes such as the car leaning whilst going round sharp curves. CATS will, however, make very quick changes to damper settings.
 
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Old 11-09-2021 | 09:25 AM
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Originally Posted by XxSlowpokexX
Only complaint...One wheel peel.
Love it !!! Why in the heck did Jaguar not put posi traction on these cars is crazy. If you track this car, i think this would be a necessity. I had limited slip on my 1989 5.0 and it was $13k out the door.
 
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Old 11-09-2021 | 12:25 PM
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As standard my 2005 XJR was an exhilerating ride. Once I added an LSD it was like night and day better!
 
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