RE: SOTW: Jaguar XJ6 3.2 Sport

[PaulFontaine]

king arthur said:

jonah35 said:

lovely cars.

ok so i know this car went from say M reg ish up to about, what, 51 plate?

so before it was the 'square headlight' john major shape one and after it was the newer aluminium one.

However, please can someone sum up the range for me and provide a review

we had the 6 cylinder xjr and then the v8 370 brake xjr. what's the difference between an x300 and x308, xj6 and xj8 and all that kind of stuff. what had nikasil, what didn't and so on.

is an xj6 a 6 cylinder and xj8 8 cylinder?

is a sovereign top of the range?

a nice, neat review would be luvvly!

Yes, the number after the 'XJ' denotes the number of cylinders. X300 came along in 1994 to replace the square shaped XJ40 but in truth the X300 is more or less a new front and back end attached to the middle of the XJ40. The engines from the XJ40 were revised and called 'AJ16' and came as straight 6 3.2 and 4.0 and the new supercharged 4.0 in the XJR. In 1997 these were replaced by the new V8 also in 3.2 and 4.0 and supercharged 4.0, and these are the models known as X308. The V8s were the ones with the Nikasil issues until some time in 2000 when they stopped using it.

Sovereign is top of the range, Sport has slightly harder suspension, black window surrounds instead of chrome and usually comes with black over oatmeal interior with Oak wood trim, but not always.

That was a good question that I wanted to know o so pretty much 94-97 are okay and post 2000 are okay as far as main issues go? Is that correct?

[varsas]

PaulFontaine said:

king arthur said:

jonah35 said:

lovely cars.

ok so i know this car went from say M reg ish up to about, what, 51 plate?

so before it was the 'square headlight' john major shape one and after it was the newer aluminium one.

However, please can someone sum up the range for me and provide a review

we had the 6 cylinder xjr and then the v8 370 brake xjr. what's the difference between an x300 and x308, xj6 and xj8 and all that kind of stuff. what had nikasil, what didn't and so on.

is an xj6 a 6 cylinder and xj8 8 cylinder?

is a sovereign top of the range?

a nice, neat review would be luvvly!

Yes, the number after the 'XJ' denotes the number of cylinders. X300 came along in 1994 to replace the square shaped XJ40 but in truth the X300 is more or less a new front and back end attached to the middle of the XJ40. The engines from the XJ40 were revised and called 'AJ16' and came as straight 6 3.2 and 4.0 and the new supercharged 4.0 in the XJR. In 1997 these were replaced by the new V8 also in 3.2 and 4.0 and supercharged 4.0, and these are the models known as X308. The V8s were the ones with the Nikasil issues until some time in 2000 when they stopped using it.

Sovereign is top of the range, Sport has slightly harder suspension, black window surrounds instead of chrome and usually comes with black over oatmeal interior with Oak wood trim, but not always.

That was a good question that I wanted to know o so pretty much 94-97 are okay and post 2000 are okay as far as main issues go? Is that correct?

Pretty much. The 6/12 cylinder X300's have no/very few known issues, only one I can think of is peeling laquer, which affects carnival red cars more then other colours. To save me typing what has already been said, in a far more comprehensive way, this covers X308 models:

http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&amp...

[tr7v8]

Fatboy said:

dave de roxby said:

Hmmm. S-type was a Ford.

LIncoln underneath IIRC - platform shared with it I should have said.

Still, Evo loved the S-Type R when it came out...

Early S was more Ford Lincoln, later post 02 one are just a Lincoln floor pan pressing. The rest is pretty much all Jaguar. I had two over nearly 4 years, very few problems loved them to bits.

[ziggypop]

I purchased an Antigua Blue one of these in 2001, one of the last ones complianced and registered in OZ in June 1997. I still have it. Had two BMC/Leyland produced Daimlers before that which although goergeous in the looks department were the most unreliable of vehicles. This Sport (and it is a 3.2) has proven to be the most reliable car I have owned and I still drive it to work (around 35km per day). It still looks as new and no oil leaks - serviced annually as per the book and the usual consumables replaced (as well as the brake rotors at 100,000km). Now runs on Goodyear tyres - which stopped the tramlining I was getting with the Continentals. Will keep the car until it dies or we run out of petrol. It is also quite economical to drive considering the 1.9 tonne weight. Gets around 10km/L around town and 12km/L on the highways.

I don't think there are better ride and handling and comfortable cars produced even today. I find the German cars too fidgety and hard in the ride and the interiors - well frankly no-one other than perhaps Bentley do as fine an interior as Jaguar.

cheers

Bill from OZ

PS There are quite a few of this vintage of Jaguar around in OZ 'cause they don't rust here.

[neejah]

My old man bought a 4.0 sport in '98/99 - it was a '96 model with the XJR wheels on it (in turquoise)it replaced an XJ40 4.0 which was a beast......he sold it this year - didn't give many problems (he replaced the X300 XJR with some BBS split rims) I still maintain he was an idiot to sell it for 1200 GBP......and I hope he reads this thread!

It was one of the nicest cars I've driven all round......not the fastest, but always felt very smooth and capable....one of the great bargains of this era.....if I ever return to the UK I'll be looking for one.....

[Jaguar steve]

varsas said:

PaulFontaine said:

king arthur said:

jonah35 said:

lovely cars.

ok so i know this car went from say M reg ish up to about, what, 51 plate?

so before it was the 'square headlight' john major shape one and after it was the newer aluminium one.

However, please can someone sum up the range for me and provide a review

we had the 6 cylinder xjr and then the v8 370 brake xjr. what's the difference between an x300 and x308, xj6 and xj8 and all that kind of stuff. what had nikasil, what didn't and so on.

is an xj6 a 6 cylinder and xj8 8 cylinder?

is a sovereign top of the range?

a nice, neat review would be luvvly!

Yes, the number after the 'XJ' denotes the number of cylinders. X300 came along in 1994 to replace the square shaped XJ40 but in truth the X300 is more or less a new front and back end attached to the middle of the XJ40. The engines from the XJ40 were revised and called 'AJ16' and came as straight 6 3.2 and 4.0 and the new supercharged 4.0 in the XJR. In 1997 these were replaced by the new V8 also in 3.2 and 4.0 and supercharged 4.0, and these are the models known as X308. The V8s were the ones with the Nikasil issues until some time in 2000 when they stopped using it.

Sovereign is top of the range, Sport has slightly harder suspension, black window surrounds instead of chrome and usually comes with black over oatmeal interior with Oak wood trim, but not always.

That was a good question that I wanted to know o so pretty much 94-97 are okay and post 2000 are okay as far as main issues go? Is that correct?

Pretty much. The 6/12 cylinder X300's have no/very few known issues, only one I can think of is peeling laquer, which affects carnival red cars more then other colours. To save me typing what has already been said, in a far more comprehensive way, this covers X308 models:

http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&amp...

That post covers pretty much all you need to know about the X308. Passage of time since it was written has revealed the tendency of some cars to suffer corrosion where the front subframe V mount joins the body on the wheel arch side behind the front shock absorber - check both, some only go on one side and corrosion around the front jacking points too. Both of which if serious enough means an MOT failure.

There has been some confusion too about secondary timing chain tensioners as well. The only ones that can be relied on to last are the third generation metal bodied types - part numbers C2A1512 and C2A1511. Several of the second generation ones fitted from 2000 have failed too and you don't get the first generation warning rattle with this one either, it's spring loaded to keep it quiet.

[IROC-Z]

The car is back up for sale, so get your wallets out lads!

I took a deposit but the buyer was relying on selling his car first and that sale fell through. Unfortunate, but it means that some other lucky punter will get the chance to buy it.

[V8 TEJ]

king arthur said:

Sports usually came with the 'Dimple' alloys, the only problem with them is it's hard to find a decent set that haven't been painted and lost the original polished effect. As for the boot lid trim, I think they only made them body coloured later on. Certainly the XJ8 Sport bootlid trim will be body coloured, to match the grill.

/anorak

Just a couple of small points to mention, The sport wheels are known as Eclipse and where diamond turned finish on the X300 and painted (2 shades of grey with the inserts being darker) on the X308 and even the X300 Sport models had a body coloured boot plinth. It was only the grille that was chrome on the X300, which did become a smaller, rounder, body coloured version on the X308 (sport) models.

The car in the ad has an X300 XJR grille hence being body colour or was painted at some stage.

Edited by V8 TEJ on Tuesday 30th August 11:25

Edited by V8 TEJ on Tuesday 30th August 11:26

[dbdb]

V8 TEJ said:

king arthur said:

Sports usually came with the 'Dimple' alloys, the only problem with them is it's hard to find a decent set that haven't been painted and lost the original polished effect. As for the boot lid trim, I think they only made them body coloured later on. Certainly the XJ8 Sport bootlid trim will be body coloured, to match the grill.

/anorak

Just a couple of small points to mention, The sport wheels are known as Eclipse and where diamond turned finish on the X300 and painted (2 shades of grey with the inserts being darker) on the X308 and even the X300 Sport models had a body coloured boot plinth. It was only the grille that was chrome on the X300, which did become a smaller, rounder, body coloured version on the X308 (sport) models.

The car in the ad has an X300 XJR grille hence being body colour or was painted at some stage.

The X300 XJ Sport had a chrome boot plinth and a chrome grille surround with body colour painted slats. The car in the ad has an XJR grille. The X300 Sport came with 'Dimple' alloys, the 'Eclipse' wheels were not introduced until the V8 engined cars.

Here is a shot of the rear of the XJ Sport from the 1996 Jaguar brochure. There is a chrome plinth and you can just about see Dimple alloys.

[confused_buyer]

PaulFontaine said:

That was a good question that I wanted to know o so pretty much 94-97 are okay and post 2000 are okay as far as main issues go? Is that correct?

The Nikasil issue is pretty much irrevelent these days. If an engine has done 11 years since they stopped selling the petrol which damaged it, it is not likely to blow up now. In fact, you could argue that a Nikasil one is better as it is potentially the longer lasting engine.

The V8's have some issues to worry about - mainly chain tensioners, throttle bodies and some 4.0 litres had oil issues but Nikasil isn't really one of them.

[ziggypop]

since my last post the pussycat is no more. yesterday I got rear-ended by an inattentive young lass in a van. Car is undriveably and the insurer and repairer at first blush said the car may well be a write-off because the cabin has been bent - driverside rear door cannot be opened and the car won't start as the battery, relays and one of the computers in the rear got stuffed as well as the anti-tilt snesor on the boot lid.

[EarlOfHazard]

ziggypop said:

since my last post the pussycat is no more. yesterday I got rear-ended by an inattentive young lass in a van. Car is undriveably and the insurer and repairer at first blush said the car may well be a write-off because the cabin has been bent - driverside rear door cannot be opened and the car won't start as the battery, relays and one of the computers in the rear got stuffed as well as the anti-tilt snesor on the boot lid.

[LuS1fer]

ziggypop said:

since my last post the pussycat is no more. yesterday I got rear-ended by an inattentive young lass in a van. Car is undriveably and the insurer and repairer at first blush said the car may well be a write-off because the cabin has been bent - driverside rear door cannot be opened and the car won't start as the battery, relays and one of the computers in the rear got stuffed as well as the anti-tilt snesor on the boot lid.

OUCH! That was tempting fate saying they don't rust there! Hope you're OK, car doesn't really look salvageable.

[williamp]

I hope you and her are OK

Awful news about the car. It was a such a lovely example. But there are others. There's only one you.

[ITech]

That is sad news, I hope no one was hurt.

A lovely car, such a shame. One day, I feel the x300 will be really revered, it is a great car on many levels. Buy another now, whilst they are such good value. In a lesser car, i'm sure the damage would have been greater, the x300 is one of Jags greatest achievements.

[Scot 62]

Bad luck man, waste of a great car

[ziggypop]

Well, last weekend my partner in life and I visited the main motor dealer road here in Canberra - the capital of OZ (I live outside the Capital on what is known as a "Lifestyle" acreage block with mini-mansion on it) - but I digress....

We were going to purchase a second car - a buzz box if you would - to get me to work so we looked, poked and prodded a number of small new cars and almost set off to buy a VW polo after exiting from the Honda dealer. As luck would have it my partner spied an XJ sport lurking on the forecourt of the adjacent Land Rover/Jaguar/Skoda dealer. Now this vehicle was advertised on the dealers website but stated it was no longer available. I thought we would have a look at it any way to assess condition. The sales droid shimmered over and asked our pleasure and we asked if the car had been sold. He indicated that it had not been.

I almost went weak at the knees..... truly the Gods were smiling that day realising my poignant loss on the first day of our spring!

At that point, I just knew she would be mine. We quickly arranged a test run and sure enough from the moment I slid behind the wheel and fired her up she purred and cooed. As we exited the forecourt she growled and I then threw caution to the wind and gave her speed. Then blipped the S button and we were off!

With a stupid grin on my face we tested out the car, and her ability to zap around roundabouts without so much as a squeal whilst the Bimmer behind me shot off into the grass. We loped back to the Dealer and I said - she is mine now. Where do I part with the hard-earned.

As soon as I take delivery (she must be registered in my Stae and detailed) I will post photos of Kitty Galore as she will be known - an 1998 XJ Sport 3.2 (with mod chip to remap power) and in immaculate condition with ivory interior and Anthracite flanks. The paintwork is immaculate and the interior is as new and the mechanicals have been rigorously serivced by the previous owner.

Can hardly wait.

Edited by ziggypop on Tuesday 13th September 23:58

[Ace-T]

^^
RESULT! Well done!

Trace

[MX7]

ziggypop said:

I purchased an Antigua Blue one of these in 2001

You had it for 10 years, and within a few days of posting here it's been destroyed? I wouldn't post pictures of your new one if I were you!

The blue one was beautiful, and good luck with the new one.

[ziggypop]

well here she is:a 1998 3.2 V8 Jaguar sport. with everything just about. Now closeted in her abode where previous kitty resided. Insurance company came good with payout and local Jag dealer held one for me as he knew I wanted one. serviced regularly every 10k be previous one owner. Now only have work out how to use Nokia bluetooth system and the fiendishly more complex sound system.