RE: SOTW: Jaguar XJ6 3.2 Sport
Discussion
RenesisEvo said:
V8 TEJ said:
I bought it with 115'000 miles and it now has 135'000 on it's original Nikasil engine.
If you don't mind sharing, one finds lots of stories about the Nikasil problemsm, can you impart more knowledge on this as a person with genuine experience? If I go down the XJ route it will have to be an XJ8, all the Nikasil stuff has me worried slightly but as ever, the internet is full of bad stories, never good ones.I should think Nikasil poses less of a problem now than it did a few years ago. The loss of compression was caused by damage to the Nikasil lining caused by sulphur contaminated petrol, and only cars filled with contaminated petrol were affected. Without sulphur damage, the Nikasil lining has advantages over the traditional engine.
It is now many years since sulphur contaminated petrol was available, so I should think any damaged liinings will have long ago manifested themselves and you would be very unlucky to buy a car which subsequently develops Nikasil related low compression now. I would guess the higher risk cars will be very low mileage, little used ones. The sudden increase in milage by the new owner could bring out an underlying problem, but it seems very unlikley to me after all these years.
More worrying to me would be the Jaguar V8's other problem - that of the chain tensioners. Earlier engines used plastic tensioners which can fail with catastrophic results. They are expensive to replace (several generations were made, the latest is the one to go for) as it is very labour intensive. The V8 engined Jaguar are also much less DIY friendly in other ways, the wheel hubs need to be replaced as a single unit rather than just the bearings as on the XJ40/X300 for example, which makes them a less good proposition than the XJ40/X300 for the DIY mechanic. The X300 is an easy DIY car.
I guess you trade one benefit for another; the X300 is cheaper to run and more robust, the V8 engined X308 is more powerful and sophisticated and costs a fair bit more to keep.
Nikasil affected BMW as much as Jaguar, but BMW handled warrently claims better so now does not suffer the same damage reputation. Did Audi also use it, I can't remember?
Edited to add:
I was a bit slow posting this so I didn't see the other reply - which I agree with!!
Edited by dbdb on Friday 26th August 11:48
Crunchy Nutter said:
Why have the owners of these cars always 'just completed a 1000-mile journey through Europe'? Hmmm. It smacks of "holy hell, this thing's about to blow, I'd better get rid of it quick!"
I suppose if you were willing to do a big cross continent cruise it shows you have a bit of faith in the car. God knows I've owned some bangers I wouldn't be happy taking out of the city!Tophatron said:
Crunchy Nutter said:
Why have the owners of these cars always 'just completed a 1000-mile journey through Europe'? Hmmm. It smacks of "holy hell, this thing's about to blow, I'd better get rid of it quick!"
I suppose if you were willing to do a big cross continent cruise it shows you have a bit of faith in the car. God knows I've owned some bangers I wouldn't be happy taking out of the city!
Crunchy Nutter said:
Why have the owners of these cars always 'just completed a 1000-mile journey through Europe'? Hmmm. It smacks of "holy hell, this thing's about to blow, I'd better get rid of it quick!"
Because funnily enough, I'd just done 1000+ through France, and it seemed a good testament to the car's reliabilty. 
pSyCoSiS said:
ITech said:
Epic car the x300. Massively reliable, those in the know would always buy one of these, over the newer, often troublesome x308.
4.0 litre is the one to have really, but the 3.2 still has sufficient go. Only problem with these is slight rusting on rear arches if it hasn't always been garaged/waxoiled. Aside from that they will do 200k without big issues, easily if well maintained. Interior not quite as special as the earlier xj40 and personally I prefer the xj40 shape, although I know that is not the general view.
Hard to buy a better, more reliable car than a good x300 for around £1k
You know your Jags!4.0 litre is the one to have really, but the 3.2 still has sufficient go. Only problem with these is slight rusting on rear arches if it hasn't always been garaged/waxoiled. Aside from that they will do 200k without big issues, easily if well maintained. Interior not quite as special as the earlier xj40 and personally I prefer the xj40 shape, although I know that is not the general view.
Hard to buy a better, more reliable car than a good x300 for around £1k
pSyCoSiS said:
Spot on write up - these are very reliable.
Thanks!pSyCoSiS said:
Problem is where people pick them up cheap, they forget it was still a £40k car when new, therefore needs to be maintained as such.
True, good maintenance is the key - but same for any car.pSyCoSiS said:
I can vouch for this as I has a '95 BRG X300 3.2 Sport. Never once went wrong. Always started, never ever broke down.
Coincidentally, I too owned a 1995 BRG x300 3.2 Sport. Grey leather interior. Totally reliable, aside from the fuel guage being a bit iffey. Replaced the sender myself with one bought off Ebay for £10 and problem solved. No other issues at all, great car!
Sorely tempted. Just becuase I love them. However, my S Type has a penchant for pound coins so a little wary of Jags at the moment.
With regards to Servicing in the South east asked earlier, Racing Green in Ash Vale are very reasonable and really know their stuff not to mention the pretty array of toys in the showroom. Also Jo Jags in liverpool would make keeping this on the road very affordable.
With regards to Servicing in the South east asked earlier, Racing Green in Ash Vale are very reasonable and really know their stuff not to mention the pretty array of toys in the showroom. Also Jo Jags in liverpool would make keeping this on the road very affordable.
pSyCoSiS said:
ITech said:
ER.. No they didn't, the xj40 had the Aj6 engine. The last Jag to use the XK6 was the Series 3..
Yes, you are correct.XJ40s had the 3.2 and 4.0 litre 'AJ6' units.
Again, bullet proof mechnicals on them, just the body rusted around it!
My XJ40 is an incredibly reliable thing ...with rust!
I can see the debate in the PH office during the last week, discussing the possibility of a mutiny if the next shed was some wierd old slice of oddness, so, sensibly like a government offering tax cuts before an election a crowd pleaser has been thrown in the mix.
Cant say fairer than this one though, a perfect antidote to eco superminis and the grey goo of resale silver german turbodieselness or big ugly white SUV's, a Jag in a suitably unfashionable olde worlde colour, they looked old (in a good way) when new and dont seem to have aged, these are from when the motoring order and heirachy was well established and if you had one you had some money, not a line of credit.
Cant say fairer than this one though, a perfect antidote to eco superminis and the grey goo of resale silver german turbodieselness or big ugly white SUV's, a Jag in a suitably unfashionable olde worlde colour, they looked old (in a good way) when new and dont seem to have aged, these are from when the motoring order and heirachy was well established and if you had one you had some money, not a line of credit.
louismchuge said:
David Marks (well regarded specialist in Notts) quote a 10k service at £215
You'd probably need new tyres which if you ignore the original spec ditch finder Pirelli P6000 and bought far superior but budget(ish) Nexens would cost you about 240 quid all round
Are Nexen now "blown" as the best-kept secret? I've had them on our 320D Touring for ages and recently put two on the front of my 06 GTi. On a very wet run back from Yorkshire to the West of Scotland they were very impressive, and 60% the cost of Conti Sport3. Much recommended! You'd probably need new tyres which if you ignore the original spec ditch finder Pirelli P6000 and bought far superior but budget(ish) Nexens would cost you about 240 quid all round
Yes please, buy it, run it, hope something expensive doesn't rear it's head.
My Uncle tried this with a X300 Sport and came a cropper due to overheating problems- result a 400 quid loss after 5 months of motoring or as I like to look at it half the depreciation of an inexpensive new car, one months lease payment and a quarter of the cost of a rental...........
My Uncle tried this with a X300 Sport and came a cropper due to overheating problems- result a 400 quid loss after 5 months of motoring or as I like to look at it half the depreciation of an inexpensive new car, one months lease payment and a quarter of the cost of a rental...........
dbdb said:
I like the coachline, but it just sticks on anyway - it isn't painted.
No I think you will find that it is painted on originally. Mine and others I've seen certainly are so my plans of removing it as soon as I got the car didn't go ahead :-( But they have grown on me now and I prefer these Xjs with the stripes.
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