Shed Of The Week: Jaguar XJ8
Want as much barge as possible for your Shed money? Step forward the XJ8
Oh sorry, wrong thread. But while we're on the subject of planks, a key one in the Jaguar proposition has always been to do with bringing sporting luxury within reach of the common(ish) man. The first XJ6 certainly did that in 1968. The current XJ is a considerably larger beast, but even that manages to retain an unlikely-looking sporting edge.
Classy colour combo? Check
You could understand it. Jaguar was still gamely delivering on the marque's double whammy of sportiness and luxury, and all credit to them for that, but in reality owners rarely extended the XJ's performance/handling package. They preferred to ooze. The market had spoken, and it had said that this was a luxury car, not a sporting one.
On that one criterion alone it was hard to fault it. It was even harder to get out of an XJ in a bad mood, unless you'd just broken down of course, which as we all know is something that big Jags do all the time. Isn't it?
That's a lotta luxury for £850
The X308 had a 'sealed for life' gearbox, but as we all know, life doesn't always mean life. Jerky or thumpy drive engagement at higher engine speeds is not what you want. An oil and filter change can sometimes sort things out, but you wouldn't want to bet your house on it.
Rust hits front and rear screen surrounds, rear wheel arches, front wings, around the engine subframe and behind the front shocks. The suspension and braking get a pounding generally, so listen and feel for knocks and wandery braking. Uneven tyre wear is another clue to tired shocks or wishbone bushes. Contrary to popular Jaguar folklore, an X308's electrics are no better or worse than those of any other car of this vintage. There's a socket in the driver's side footwell for modern code-readers.
Check those rear arches for rot
The one strange thing about XJs is that you will never see a woman or female of the opposite sex behind the wheel. As you'd expect, Shed has owned many XJs, but Mrs Shed has never given the slightest inkling that she might fancy a good hard thrunge in any of them - although it must be said that she has shown a little more interest in the idea since she took up pipe-smoking.
What about this example here? Judging by the sparse ad, it's a probate sale. Three owners, last one for eight years, 123,000 miles, full service history - it all sounds right. Though we're a bit light on decent pictures to prove it, there's every reason to believe this was a loved car that deserves at least one more lap of life's racetrack before making that final turn into the recycling pitbox of destiny.
Spookily, as Shed was contemplating his approach to this article on the way back from the dog walk, a 57-reg XJ in a heavenly shade of deep sky blue glided past. It looked like a £40K car. If it was for sale, you could most likely buy it for £15K. This one is for sale, and it's £0.85K. The maths are easy - but are you man enough?
Lovely condition inside and out. Current owner since 2006, full service history. Bereavement forces sale.
to me, they exude everything I wouldn't want to be associated with, i just don't get them at all
it is a monster amount of metal for the little outlay, but I just couldn't bring myself to drive it, far too pretentious and Arfa Daley to me (or is that the point that I'm missing?)
Beautiful, graceful machines. Nothing else wafts quite like an old Jaguar XJ.
X308s are much more refined and better put together than the X300, but that AJ16 engine is almost bullet proof. The V8s do tend to have more issues, with leaks from the rocker covers sometimes seeping into the spark plug champbers and causing misfires.
But, if looked after, they are a superb cruisers and reliable to use as a daily. Not too bad on fuel, and they are surprisingly nimble. 240bhp is adequate when you're in a rush, and the 4.0 litres give almost 300bhp.
I've said it many, many times before - every petrol head needs to own one before they die!
I bought an XJ Sport 3.2 for £1,000 as a run about. The only thing wrong with it was it needed new ball joints. Drove it for a year without fault and it returned around 30mpg on a the motorway. I miss it so much I'm looking at getting a 4ltr x308! If I look like Arthur Daley then so be it!
They're brilliant if you have a good honest local indy, don't do too many miles and can put up with the quirks (like not being able to just move it and switch it off again - this will flood the engine).
Class and grace with shortage of space, if it all checks out what's not too like!!
Great cars 1 nearly made my 10K Garage (was an early XJR mind) but I wasn't sure how well they towed
I checked here: https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/Default.... to see how much MoT was remaining but it stated vehicle details could not be found.
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