Shed Of The Week: Jaguar XJ

A classic slice of Great British barge for Shed this week, with cash left in the pot too!

Why does the used car market hate Jaguars so?

Here's a £700 X308. Just look at what you get for your money.

Tasker & Lacy must be private detectives too

A 3.2-litre twin-cam V8 that was quieter, smoother and more powerful than the old straight six - and that was a legendary engine in its own right. A new five-speed automatic gearbox. A stiffer body with a higher percentage of high-strength and zinc-coated steels. All new fully-independent double-wishbone suspension and braking systems. A specification list that left you wanting for nothing. 140mph performance and a low eight-second 0-60 time, or whisper-quiet cruising.

At launch, Australian PHers paid $126,000 for a new 3.2. That's the thick end of £66,000. This Shed is yours for £700. Come on.

For many, these frankly ludicrous Jaguar values apply because of the name on the bootlid. For Shed, they apply in spite of the name. Let's look at the X308 and try to work out just why they're so stupidly cheap.

Best get familiar with that filler cap location

This model ran from 1997 to 2003. Most significantly, it was the first Jaguar to feature a V8 engine that came in two sizes, a 290hp 4.0 or (as here) a 240hp 3.2, both with variable valve timing. These Bridgend-built AJ-V8s replaced both the straight six and V12 engines that had been powering the Jaguar range up until then. For a while in fact the V8 was the only Jaguar engine on offer, until the arrival of the AJ-V6 in the 2000-model S-Type.

The argument against these Nikasil-lined (i.e. not lined) V8s was that they didn't get along with old-style high-sulphur fuels. It was a fair argument too, as they didn't. But any car still running in 2015 will have had a replacement (i.e. conventionally linered) engine fitted. There'll be a tag on the nearside of the engine block to confirm that, so really nothing much to fear there, other than the low-20s mpg figures that will be the inevitable consequence of enthusiastic wheelery. And you'll want to be enthusiastic too: the AJ-V8 appeared on many a 'world's best engines' list, and even the 3.2 will hustle the 1,710kg XJ along at a very respectable lick, accompanied by a delicious 32-valve rasp.

Someone say 'reliability'? Well, X308s rarely dropped out of the top 10 in satisfaction surveys, and usually smooched their way into the top five. They weren't squeaky-clean, mind ye. Those ZF trannies were designed to be 'sealed for life', which meant you couldn't check or refill the oil level. Guess what happened there? Thumpy changes with rising engine speeds are your warning of impending doom. A 'flush and change' service via the oil cooler pipes is offered by specialists and gets round the complication of a 'correct' change.

When saloons just had to be saloons

Early cars had plastic cam chain tensioners, which (predictably) failed. Steel items can be retrofitted. You'd be very unlucky to be struck down by the gearbox issue at this late stage. Again, the problematic plastic-impeller water pumps and squiffy thermostats will almost certainly have all been replaced by now. Cars that still have the original two-piece water pumps will be given away by localized overheating. Dampers and front wishbones can go, especially on CATS cars (spot that by the presence of a plastic cover on the front shock with a lead going into it), so listen out for clunks.

Someone say 'electrics'? Another false alarm. Even the early X308s are OBD2 compliant, so you can plug a cheap code reader into the driver's footwell socket just like everyone else. Keep the battery well conditioned, or you might start seeing random error messages on startup. Otherwise it's all good.

You may consider the styling old school, but surely only those in dire need of new specs would argue against it being better proportioned than the current X351 XJ. The amount of interior space didn't seem to match up to the exterior dimensions, but the three-cavity dash architecture was a big step forward from the slapped-on plastic binnacle of the old X300.

Still very presentable in here too

The Sport model only came with the 3.2 engine, which was perhaps slightly odd, but it offered a clean, inoffensive look with none of the old-man wood slabs that placed other Jags in a certain demographic zone whiffing of cigarillos and trilbies. The Sport also had stiffer suspension and moody matt black or metallic grey in many of the places normally slathered in chrome.

You'll probably be able to find a better example than this Shed, but not for £700. Sure, there's a tiny bit of visible rust on the rear wheelarch, but Shed can't see that terminating this lovely car before the end of its MOT six months from now, or for a long time after that.

If you're looking for a place to sink some money, and not in a bad way, the X308 could well be it. Can you think of a better rendition of the XJ concept? Shed can't. You might have to beat him to this one.

Here's the ad.

SILVER, 5+ owners, Next MOT due 23/09/2015, Adjustable Steering Column/Wheel, Air Bag Driver, Air Bag Passenger, Air Bag Side, Alarm, Alloy Wheels, Central Door Locking, Climate Control, Electric Windows, Immobiliser, In Car Entertainment, Mirrors External, Power-Assisted Steering, Seat Height Adjustment, Speakers, Steering Wheel Mounted Controls, Traction Control System. £700

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