XJR XJ8 or something else ?
Discussion
As a serial Jaguar owner I'm trying to streamline my "fleet" and free-up some money to spend on other than cars for a change !
I have 7 classic jaguars in various states of repair ranging from concours to restoration case which I eventually want to reduce to 3.
But the pressing issue is my 2010 XKR which I bought in the "summer". I love the car but it's simply a luxury I can't justify (or afford).
I have an old Lexus 4WD for winter transport and my thoughts are to sell the XKR and buy an XJR or XJ8 as a "daily" driver. I'm looking at spending around £12-£14k for the right car.
These are one of the few Jaguars I've never owned or even driven - so does anyone on here run the XJR and if so how practical are they and what fuel consumption can I expect ? Any other alternatives I could consider ?
As an aside I did have an S type R a few years ago and really enjoyed it.
I have 7 classic jaguars in various states of repair ranging from concours to restoration case which I eventually want to reduce to 3.
But the pressing issue is my 2010 XKR which I bought in the "summer". I love the car but it's simply a luxury I can't justify (or afford).
I have an old Lexus 4WD for winter transport and my thoughts are to sell the XKR and buy an XJR or XJ8 as a "daily" driver. I'm looking at spending around £12-£14k for the right car.
These are one of the few Jaguars I've never owned or even driven - so does anyone on here run the XJR and if so how practical are they and what fuel consumption can I expect ? Any other alternatives I could consider ?
As an aside I did have an S type R a few years ago and really enjoyed it.
I've had an X308 XJR for the past 4 years now & it's been a great car. I would advise looking for as late a model car as you can find-the early V8's had various issues which were pretty much sorted on the later ones. Look for late 2001 year cars & ideally 2002 cars.
Fuel consumption of the XJR is not that much greater than the regular XJ8, but it has considerably more power. If you drive it like a lunatic then you will drink lots of fuel! Long runs give around 25mpg, town driving around 21mpg & driving the nuts off the thing gives 17mpg or less.
The XJR is easier to insure than their German performance equivalents & road tax is thankfully not up there in the £400 bracket for the X308's, as they were made before 2006.
Mechanically, the X308 XJR doesn't have the Variable Valve Timing system so that's one less thing to go wrong. The XJR also had the more robust Mercedes 5-speed autobox. The standard XJ8 has the ZF 5-speeder & these are more problemattical. Delays in selecting gears mean plastic check ball valves in the autobox valve block body are failing, which causes pressure spikes & blows the front autobox clutches-expensive repair.
The XJR's Merc autobox doesn't suffer from this problem.
Great cars & a good compromise between sporty handing & ride comfort on the XJR too-it doesn't crash over poor road surfaces like some of the German cars do, yet it car still tear down the road like a scalded ferret
Fuel consumption of the XJR is not that much greater than the regular XJ8, but it has considerably more power. If you drive it like a lunatic then you will drink lots of fuel! Long runs give around 25mpg, town driving around 21mpg & driving the nuts off the thing gives 17mpg or less.
The XJR is easier to insure than their German performance equivalents & road tax is thankfully not up there in the £400 bracket for the X308's, as they were made before 2006.
Mechanically, the X308 XJR doesn't have the Variable Valve Timing system so that's one less thing to go wrong. The XJR also had the more robust Mercedes 5-speed autobox. The standard XJ8 has the ZF 5-speeder & these are more problemattical. Delays in selecting gears mean plastic check ball valves in the autobox valve block body are failing, which causes pressure spikes & blows the front autobox clutches-expensive repair.
The XJR's Merc autobox doesn't suffer from this problem.
Great cars & a good compromise between sporty handing & ride comfort on the XJR too-it doesn't crash over poor road surfaces like some of the German cars do, yet it car still tear down the road like a scalded ferret
X308 XJRs are a performance bargain right now and you should not need to pay more than £5k for a good one. They will however be no newer than 2002 and have the 4.0 with the Merc box. No problem at all provided they have had the right servicing. X350s are also easily within your budget and will be less thirsty and quicker. More to go wrong (air suspension etc.) but the 4.2 engine is pretty bullet proof and the six speed ZF box is handy for good fuel consumption figures when wafting along on the motorways
P700DEE said:
X308 XJRs are a performance bargain right now and you should not need to pay more than £5k for a good one. They will however be no newer than 2002 and have the 4.0 with the Merc box. No problem at all provided they have had the right servicing. X350s are also easily within your budget and will be less thirsty and quicker. More to go wrong (air suspension etc.) but the 4.2 engine is pretty bullet proof and the six speed ZF box is handy for good fuel consumption figures when wafting along on the motorways
I'm actually thinking of an X350 rather than an X308.mph said:
P700DEE said:
X308 XJRs are a performance bargain right now and you should not need to pay more than £5k for a good one. They will however be no newer than 2002 and have the 4.0 with the Merc box. No problem at all provided they have had the right servicing. X350s are also easily within your budget and will be less thirsty and quicker. More to go wrong (air suspension etc.) but the 4.2 engine is pretty bullet proof and the six speed ZF box is handy for good fuel consumption figures when wafting along on the motorways
I'm actually thinking of an X350 rather than an X308.X350's in my understanding are as bulletproof mechanically, but watch the bodywork. There's well documented problems with bodywork corrosion on early cars,that Jag sorted on most of them. Top of the rear wings where it meets the pillars was the classic spot for corrosion, as its where aluminium meets steel (IIRC)...
I keep having lustful thoughts about an X350, but I've got my X308 well sorted now, so ill probably stick with it.
I feel that X350's have a bit more depreciation left in them, whereas a good X308 will hold its money - look at the used values, there's usually X350's cheaper than top end X308 - public perception is X308 is 'last of the proper Jaguars' (rollocks I know, but I've hard it from many people...)
Whichever you get, enjoy it ;-)
MPG - mine is up to 28 on a long cruise, shorter journeys mid teens - especially from cold, and if I'm really pressing on (driving like a tw*t!) then single figures beckon...
Insurance is cheap as well - I pay £290 fully comp, and I'm a publican with 6 points....
A bit too expensive for me and I know it's still depreciating, but how many chances will there be to drive an almost new XJR ?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...
mph said:
A bit too expensive for me and I know it's still depreciating, but how many chances will there be to drive an almost new XJR ?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...
That looks very nice indeed.http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...
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