RE: Jaguar XJ-S V12 | The Brave Pill

[seefarr]

jackpe said:

Since when are these things worth £10k
And more?? World has gone mad. The role
End of the classic car market is finally
Cooling and dropping but the bottom end has not caught up yet

Is this a new form of radical four line automotive-based poetry you're exploring?

[J4CKO]

jackpe said:

Since when are these things worth £10k
And more?? World has gone mad. The role
End of the classic car market is finally
Cooling and dropping but the bottom end has not caught up yet

Yeah, and those things that came before it, even older, bet they are worth pennies....

Oh, hang on...

A Nice XJS is a fine thing, will never be E type money but 10 grand for something like that, if it isnt rotten/knackered doesnt sound too ridiculous to me.

They are still in the hinterland of cheap classic/run on a shoestring or blokes pretending to be rich, smoking round in one, though suspect they have moved on long ago.

[BVB]

Very brave pill. The V12 XJS will generally break down every time you use it. My brother had one and even though he is a handy mechanic, he got sick of it constantly going wrong. A new fault every cuple hundred miles it would seem. Nice looking car though.,

[lukeharding]

BVB said:

Very brave pill. The V12 XJS will generally break down every time you use it. My brother had one and even though he is a handy mechanic, he got sick of it constantly going wrong. A new fault every cuple hundred miles it would seem. Nice looking car though.,

They can be reliable if looked after and used regularly, like most old cars. The straight six cars are definitely reliable also. It also banks upon you buying one that has previously been looked after though, as with most old cars.

[300bhp/ton]

BVB said:

Very brave pill. The V12 XJS will generally break down every time you use it. My brother had one and even though he is a handy mechanic, he got sick of it constantly going wrong. A new fault every cuple hundred miles it would seem. Nice looking car though.,

Very different experience to mine then. They are old cars, not really a busting amount to go wrong really. Aircon, central locking and leccy windows. The gearboxes are pretty good manual or auto and the engines and platforms are the same as other Jaguar XJ's.

[Touring442]

Mine were reliable. However, I went through them from end to end; rear axle out, oil seals, hand brake sorted, changed the coolant hoses and fuel rail pipes, cured water leaks into the cabin and boot (they really were ste) and everything fettled and lubricated. Then they were OK (ish).

With modern rubber being as poor as it is, I don't fancy the chances of modern hoses much tbh.

[Ritchie335is]

I remember taking around 12hrs to change a set of plugs on one of these when I was an apprentice.
Half of them were seized and I was bloody terrified of breaking one.
Nightmare job.
Still love them though, the engines are marvellous.

[pSyCoSiS]

About 11 years ago you could pick up fully functioning 3.6 examples for less than £1200.

Always loved the look of these, especially the curves on the rear window.

An old colleague had a 6.0 TWR version, with the 3-speed auto box. That thing used to fly.

[Graham669]

My 32 year old 3.6L Cabriolet is not looking too bad, and my 1992 V12 XJS Coupe runs well.
good maintenance is the secret to owning any classic in good order.

Like XJS's? Join us at
www.xjsclub.org
£10 for the lifetime of your car!

Graham (events manager XJS club)

[R400TVR]

Always fancied one of these. My Grandfather had a red V12 in the early 80's and my Dad thought that it had stalled as it was so quiet! I'd like to get rid of the old engine and put in something like an RB25 or a 2JZ to give it more reliable performance, but keep it quiet like a Jag should be. A lovely sleeper.

I could never decide on the manual or auto, though. I'd want the auto just for the gear selector, it's probably the most elegant design I have ever seen.

[anonymous-user]

R400TVR said:

Always fancied one of these. My Grandfather had a red V12 in the early 80's and my Dad thought that it had stalled as it was so quiet! I'd like to get rid of the old engine and put in something like an RB25 or a 2JZ to give it more reliable performance, but keep it quiet like a Jag should be. A lovely sleeper.

I could never decide on the manual or auto, though. I'd want the auto just for the gear selector, it's probably the most elegant design I have ever seen.

No offence intended by this, but only someone who has had no experience of the way a V12 delivers it's power would suggest a 6 pot of equivalent output as a replacement. While you could doubtless match the power output of the V12 very easily with a more modern I6 there is so, so much more to it than the headline figures

[300bhp/ton]

stickleback123 said:

R400TVR said:

Always fancied one of these. My Grandfather had a red V12 in the early 80's and my Dad thought that it had stalled as it was so quiet! I'd like to get rid of the old engine and put in something like an RB25 or a 2JZ to give it more reliable performance, but keep it quiet like a Jag should be. A lovely sleeper.

I could never decide on the manual or auto, though. I'd want the auto just for the gear selector, it's probably the most elegant design I have ever seen.

No offence intended by this, but only someone who has had no experience of the way a V12 delivers it's power would suggest a 6 pot of equivalent output as a replacement. While you could doubtless match the power output of the V12 very easily with a more modern I6 there is so, so much more to it than the headline figures

Besides Jaguar offered the XJS with a silky smooth straight 6 anyhow.

[anonymous-user]

300bhp/ton said:

Besides Jaguar offered the XJS with a silky smooth straight 6 anyhow.

I wrote a 2nd paragraph to say exactly that, but it went missing. Not sure I'd call the early 3.6 AJ6 silky smooth though - one reviewer at the time likened driving it hard to thrashing a Morris 1000 because it was so unrefined - but the later 4.0 and particularly the late AJ16 were very nice. You can even have a 3.6 or AJ6 4.0 with a manual gearbox!

[MarJay]

I've always wanted one, and I'd make sure the stereo was constantly blaring this music...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc-8991Q9jA

[unsprung]

A car with considerable presence.

It makes for a bit of an ironic shed.

I always wanted the rear overhang to be a bit less. But there we are. Design of the times, really.

[300bhp/ton]

stickleback123 said:

I wrote a 2nd paragraph to say exactly that, but it went missing. Not sure I'd call the early 3.6 AJ6 silky smooth though - one reviewer at the time likened driving it hard to thrashing a Morris 1000 because it was so unrefined - but the later 4.0 and particularly the late AJ16 were very nice. You can even have a 3.6 or AJ6 4.0 with a manual gearbox!

I actually rather liked the 3.6 it was eager and more racey in way. I think the journo’s saying unrefined were a bit unfair really.

When I young my Dads first Jag was a 3.6 auto XJ40 with the digi dash. Lots of found memories. Many years later we had a 3.6 XJ6 manual. One of those cars we should never have sold. Apart from the 6.0 litre V12 it was the best XJ I’ve driven.

[alabbasi]

Different perspective from Texas when it comes to seeing these.
1) Interiors are usually roasted
2) Most dead ones that I see dropped valves at right around 45k miles.
3) A bunch of ones running around today have a small block chevy engine in them because #2 (not a bad conversion)
4) I've thrown away perfectly rust free bodies for the price of scrap metal (around $100) because nobody wants them

I've not driven my 94 XJS V12 convertible in years. I should really pull it out now that petrol is $1.99/gallon.

[Jaguar steve]

stickleback123 said:

300bhp/ton said:

Besides Jaguar offered the XJS with a silky smooth straight 6 anyhow.

I wrote a 2nd paragraph to say exactly that, but it went missing. Not sure I'd call the early 3.6 AJ6 silky smooth though - one reviewer at the time likened driving it hard to thrashing a Morris 1000 because it was so unrefined - but the later 4.0 and particularly the late AJ16 were very nice. You can even have a 3.6 or AJ6 4.0 with a manual gearbox!

I drove dozens of AJ6 Jaguars when I was in the trade.

That engine is as as rough as a badgers arse at high RPM particularly when mated to the agricultural Getrag manual gearbox and was noticeably less refined then the XK engine it replaced. The refinement of a contemporary BMW 6 cylinder engine in comparison was on a completely different level altogether.

.

[swisstoni]

I’d say that the V12 is 80% of the reason to own a Jag like this or an XJ.

[Nudrev breac]

From experience of them, could be a problem In the wet. Back end went very easily, like most Jaguars.