Help with buying/ owning an xj 3.0v6 (x350)

[Baffled Spoon]

Hi all,

My dad is considering buying an xj6 3.0v6 (x350 chassis code) and just asked me to find out a few things about them on his behalf, so if anyone on here has had any experience with them I’d appreciate if you could help out. He would be looking to get a 2003/4 car with about 80k miles on the clock (looking to spend upto about £10k) and wanted to know;

1. how reliable the cars are and how well they cope with large mileages
2. what the realistic town and motorway fuel consumption is
3. how much servicing is
4. whether there are any other associated running costs (eg timing belts etc)

Thanks, Spoon

[Jaguar steve]

Have a look on Honest John's (Daily Telegraph) car by car breakdown. There's lots of X 350 information there and a road test of the 2.7 diesel too.

If you buy outside the Jaguar network you should be able to source a lower mileage example for your budget. I'm thinking of buying one too and recently drove a really nice 04 reg one with 50k. That was up for sale at £8999 and then reduced to £7999 at a specalist car dealer near Chelmsford.
Nobody wants luxobarges at the moment and used Jaguar prices have plummeted. Depreciation is the killer expense with cars so if you do all the sums - especially with the recent fall in petrol prices and reduced effect of the proposed changes to road tax - it's never been cheaper to buy and run one.

Routine servicing is very competitive especially if you use an Jaguar independent - there's not much to do.

Combined fuel consumption for the 3.0 is 27MPG. Urban 18.5 and extra urban 36.7.
Driven reasonably carefully I'd expect to see well in to the 30s on a motorway cruise.

[Baffled Spoon]

Thanks jaguar steve. Do you know whether the engine uses a timing chain or belt? Also does anyone know how long the air suspension lasts usually before needing a rebuild?

[eldudereno]

The V6 engine has a timing chain, I've basically got the same engine in my S-Type.

[Jaguar steve]

How long the suspension components last is always down to driving style and road surface conditions. I've heard one or two reports of air compressor failure and the odd error message but nothing particular to be concerned over.

As a general rule larger diameter wheels and lower profile tyres feed more energy and movement into the suspension over the same road surface than smaller wheels and higher profile tyres causing increased rates of wear. As there's options on wheels and tyres on the X350 it's somthing maybe to bear in mind if you're looking at a highish mileage example.

[Baffled Spoon]

Thanks for the help guys. We'll go and have a look at a few in the new year and see how things progress. Happy holidays