Hello Jag owners. I'm trying to get your honest feedback on your experience with owning a Jag.

Is your Jag a pain? Does it spend a lot of time getting repaired? I can't seem to get a straight answer on this from anywhere and thought this would be the best place.

Honest opinions?

 

Thats a very generic question and peoples experience will vary greatly depending on the model/age of the car and there own mechanical capabilities.

I dont think Jags have any special juju that makes them inherently a pain to own and maintain. If you buy a sophisticated machine and are in the hands of a dealership then yes it will be expensive. Like any car marque there will be lemons and cars subject to abuse and neglect by previous or current owners.

A bit of mechanical understanding, machine empathy and good maintenance goes a long way. Its often the case that once you work through initial issues you end up with a reliable car. Seen this quite a few times with all kinds of cars.

 

Pain, NO.

Testy, YES, sometimes.

ALL my Jags have been preowned, so I knew in advance that general maintenance was NOT high on the PO agenda.

I have worked, and still do part time, in the Automotive Spare Parst industry. Sooooooo, I get lots of different makes wanting lots of different parts, and OH BOY, some stories could be told about any make of car/truck.

Jags became the "2nd car" very quickly in their life, and then that naturally means the repairs go on the back burner, and then that gets too hard, so the car gets sold, the next guy "drowns" coz he did not understand, or know about, the years of neglect, so it moves on again, and again, until an enthusiust type gets it, and he/she UNDERSTANDS, and the car gets ALL that "catch up maintenance" done, and done PROPERLY, and the car is then as reliable as any other make on the road.

BUT, that same maintenance needs to be kept up.

Some era Jaguars are higher demand than others, as already mentioned.

My basic point of view is a crappy Jag, Corvette, Lexus, etc,etc, is crappy whichever way you look at it. That ID Badge means ZIP, they all thousands of components making what we love or hate.

I have moved on to later, easier to maintain Jags, but that is purely due to my physical inabilty now, and nothing to do with the car. I still miss the XJ-S dreadfully, and temptation is always knocking.

 

Dear JMGWS ,


I am extremely pleased with my '99 VDP.


However,


Due to this Forum, I was able to create a punchlist of likely design/construction weak points. As soon as I purchased the car, I began addressing the punchlist (tensioners, transmission, hoses, electrical grounds...)
I mentally added the cost of this list to the (rather low) purchase price as the actual cost of the car.
The car has been on many long (coupla state) trips, and is nothing but a joy on the road.


I've never owned a car that gets such constant positive reactions. 'Car' people flock to it, even folks who neither know or care about cars at all get excited and want to go for a ride. Destination doesn't matter, they just want to cruise.


I suspect with Jag (or any make) some cars are Wednesday cars, everything screwed down tight and exactly centered on tolerances, some cars are Friday cars (Friday before a three day holiday!) and the car will never be right.


But there's still plenty of Wednesday cars out there at bargain prices.

 

In the grand scheme of things high end cars with lots of gizmos are prone to problems. Go to any MB, Volvo, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Lincoln, etc discussion board and see. As these cars age you better have deep pockets or enjoy DIY repairs.

AFAIC, if some problems are inevitable, you might as well have 'em with a Jag

Cheers
DD

 

"AFAIC, if some problems are inevitable, you might as well have 'em with a Jag "

Thats signature line material right there! :-)

 

Pain? No.

400HP and fun.

Some job are a bit tough to DIY but no harder than you'd expect, really.

 

All great responses, this is exactly what I was hoping to get from this thread.

 

All very well put, here's my tuppence worth....

I am the 4th owner iirc of my XJ and yes she needed work, most cars do though to be fair.
It's been a labour of love to get her to where she is today and she's never let me down to date.
Yes, I've spent time, yes I've spent money getting her to where I want her to be, and to the point where it's just regular maintenance, nearly there....

On the topic of regular maintenance, if it's 12 months for a filter / oil change etc I probably do it in around 10 or at least every year on the button.

I've probably had around the same amount od time / money / issues as spent on my brand new Audi A6 ( which I loved and still have, now at around 132k miles and still going strong )

Is it a pain?
NO

She gets so much attention everywhere I go, more so when she's clean and looking her best, more so than any other car I've ever owned

 

Im one of the "I didn't do my research and didn't know what I was buying into Jag Owner". I purchased the car on its brand name, sexy looks and my mechanical/DIY repair skillset (and that I'm an Englishman living in Dallas).

Over the last 3 years I have had a love/hate relationship with my car. It has only really broken down and left me stranded once (on the side of the road while heading to daughters graduation with a full car of people!!!). Luckily friends were able to transport them to the graduation while I sat waiting for AAA.

As the mileage creeped up, it became harder and harder to keep up with the maintenance and the cost of maintenance. however, after getting her and joining this forum and reading and learning about the cars I started to understand what I was getting myself into for the long haul and started to despise her.

It finally got to a point where another shock had blown and the cost of repair items were stupid. So I was going to buy a newer model year XJ8 or an newer XK. Now of course I loved the brand name, the looks and the drive and wanted to stay with them knowing what I do about their issues because I researched what I wanted.

Unfortunately it didn't end up well for Jaguar, I went with their former owning Company and got my a new car with wrap warranty for everything so I don't have to carry out any maintenance (less usual driver checks weekly) and I am happy as larry.

I do though still sit and look at my unsold XJ8 out the window and miss it like mad... Go figure.

 

I will reiterate what others have said here. ANY high end car is complex and needs regular maintenance and care. As time goes by and things get neglected, the problem gets kicked down the road and the car changes hands until it ends up in either a set of knowledgeable/dedicated hands or at the junkyard.

Jaguars are no better or worse in this respect. As a long time British car owner, I have an understanding of this and have benefited from other people's frustration with their cars and its "issues". (I just bought an '03 XJ8 for the price of a used Ford Taurus). As was said above...All cars will have issues eventually, but I'd rather have them in a Jaguar.

If you are looking for trouble-free, zero maintenance, cookie cutter design, vanilla-bland transportation, go buy yourself a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord. For me, I want something that stirs my soul, makes a connection with me deep inside and stands out in a crowd. A Jaguar hits all the buttons for me and because I have some mechanical talent, I'm willing to deal with their "personality".

jmgws: I suspect that you too have been attracted to a Jaguar for many of the reasons we all were once...beautiful styling, exotic air, the promise of great performance. Some have jumped in unprepared and been burned. Others have taken the plunge with eyes wide open and have never looked back. This forum is full of the later and we try to help people like you understand and be informed. Hopefully you'll join the pride some day.

 

Most of us are not in a position to buy a New Jaguar. By far the majority of Jaguars on the road are "pre-owned."

Any time you buy a used car, Any car not just a Jaguar, there's a reason someone got rid of it, and maybe a Lot of them. It may be a small reason (the ash tray was full of gum wrappers) or a BIG reason like several neglected things have all come to a head at the same time and it needs stem to stern rebuild or someone used it for a dog house.

When you buy such a car the previous owner may not be exactly forthcoming with the Real reasons he's so anxious to part with it (why it's so cheap); that's for you to find out later.

There was a time while rebuilding Nix's brakes and suspension (and several other things) that I looked at the car with gritted teeth and clenched fists! If Aliens had beamed her away in the night I would have been Ecstatic! At one point I wanted to stuff a rag in a gas tank and light it off! Husband narrowly stopped me by reminding me of the collateral damage I might do to the house.

But beyond the 'morning after' we get to love our cars! Everything we do for them is rewarded with better service, better handling and more comfort; they become part of the family.

By now, after all that work, pain, expense, drama and trauma, I would trust the car driving her Anywhere for as long as I could buy gas.

However, being a man of prudence husband extended our roadside towing service to the maximum distance of 200 miles; Just in case. She did turn 40 this year after all.
(';')

 

ive had Jags that were a pain......and i've had Jags that were a dream.

with that being said:
ive had OTHER cars that were a pain......and ive had other cars that were a dream.

My BMW broke down within an hour of picking it up from the dealership. the transmission broke...30 miles on the odometer. **** happens

 

I've owned multiple high-end brands, usually toward the end of useful life. All had their own gremlins, and for some reason, all had the common weak points for their respective models.

Examples were:
Cadillac - Head gasket and suspension.
Infiniti - plenum and fuel pump.
BMW - multiple electrical modules.
Jaguar (S-Type) - plastic timing chain guides, coolant tank, water pump, AC compressor and throttle body (last 2 recent).

All are expensive, however, by the time I acquired the above, all were at 90% deprecated already. But, for the record, the only one that got any real response, was.... "You got a Jaaaaaaggg!"

 

Having a Jag is allot like having a new puppy. Most of the time it will bring you nothing but joy... But occasionally it pees on the rug. Pisses you off, but you would not give it up for anything. Go get yourself a Jag.

 

The good news is that only the 4.0 had the plastic guides etc - the 4.2 doesn't and is very solid.

 

True that, JagV8....acquisition of a late model in most series of Jaguars reveals that constant improvements in a model run yields a great Jag to pick up, since all of the bugs get worked out over time.

Not often the case with some other manufacturers, who will squeeze every last drop out of their lemons.

 

I can't remember the exact quote (and can't find it via google/youtube,) but on the way home from work yesterday, I heard an Infinity Q60 commercial that led off with a statement to the effect: "The only measure of an automobile that REALLY counts is how it makes you feel."

By that measure, I can't imagine a better fit for me than the X300 VDP! (unless perhaps the unicorn that Jag never produced: The supercharged AJ16 LWB VDP X300 and yes, I know they did the SuperV8...still.....)

 

My Jaguar can sometimes be PITA, and its generally those times when the technician says it needs some expensive part or other that seems to have worn out at a far lower mileage than one would expect. Suspension bushes come to mind. I call this syndrome "unfair wear and tear" !! There does seem to be rather too much of this on the suspension components, I have to say.

 

I see this commercial often on TV and I think the same thing about my XK!