Hello, new member here just signed up to these forums. I'm currently considering buying an early 2000s era xj8 to use as a commuter and daily driver.

I am currently daily driving my 1999 Subaru Impreza L, which is also the car I regularly compete with in stock 4wd class in SCCA Rallycross. This car is a tank and despite the beating its takes on racedays at the rallycross it rearly fails to drive me to work the following Monday. But rallycross is beginning to take its toll and while the car is mechanically sounds, it is quickly turning into a s***box. It squeaks its rattles, the road noise and wind noise is getting worse with every event i compete in, and the underside of the car is caked in mud and the inside perpetually covered with dust.

I love this car but I'm ready to retire it from daily driving duties and keep it just as a dedicated rallycross car. That leaves me in need of a daily driver, and I'm wanting to get into something that's going to be a lot nicer to spend hours a day in when stuck in LA traffic.
That lead me to start looking at early 2000 model xj8s. The almost comical amount of depreciation of these cars over the past ten years make it easily affordable, and even if it might not be a beacon of reliability, I'd rather be driving something interesting because life's too short to drive a Camry or Accord.

I've been browsing Craigslist and Ebay looking at ads and auctions and I think I'm most interested in the Vaden Plaus edition XJ8 or the XJR.

The Vaden Plas edition appeals to me because the whole point of this car is to get a plush luxo-barge to commute in comfort, and the Vaden Plas is supposed to be the most luxo-ed out package, right?

I'm also considering the XJR because supercharger, which appeals to the motorhead in me which will always childishly think more horsepower has to be better.

On to my questions...
What exactly do you get with the Vaden Plas package over the base xj8? I've googled and can't really get a definitive answer, and based on comparing photos of cars I've seen for sale the only difference I can see is the woodgrain tray tables in the seat backs for the rear seat passengers. Is the Vaden Plas significantly nicer than the other trim levels?

As for the XJR, is says its 350ish bhp, is the performance advantage of the XJR over the other models that significant? And as for the engine is it the same motor you would get in any other xj but with a supercharger slapped on it. Or does it have different engine internals or different heads, or both?

On to some generic XJ questions...
I've been looking mostly at 2000-2003 xj's, this is Ford era Jaguar correct? Looking at the photos, based on the appearance of the intake manifold, it looks like the engine could be the Ford modular V8. Am i correct in this assumption? What about the rest of the driveline? How much of this car is made of Ford parts and how much of it is made of Jag parts?

And finally, I know I'm looking at aging high mileage cars, that doesn't scare me off. I've expecting to have to do the repairs and maintenance that goes along with a high mileage car. Other than the usual things you would expect to find in a 10_ year old 100k+ mileage car, what are the common problems that occur with these cars that I should specifically be aware of and look out for?
Oh, and one final question... Timing belt or timing chain? which does it have?

Thanks to everyone who took to time to read this whole long post.

 

Firstly, it's a Vanden Plas. With a d. The most significant difference is the wheelbase. It's longer, and all the extra room goes into rear legroom.

There's also the very rare Vanden Plas Supercharged - the XJR engine in the long wheelbase (also known as Super V8).

In my opinion, the XJR is the best of the lot. It has most of the extra features of the Vanden Plas, without the stretch, 370 hp, a more reliable transmission, and the suspension setup is just right.

The supercharged engine shaves about 1.6s off the 0-60, 5.3 against 6.9. The difference is power delivery is pronounced - the supercharger produces lots of low down grunt.

The engine is entirely Jaguar designed, and was used in some Fords (Thunderbird) in a version without VVT.

All the V8s have a timing chain setup but with the reliability of a belt. A poor quality belt.

 

Thanks Mark, please pardon my spelling error.

So how does the XJR driveline differ from the XJ8's other than the supercharger?

As for the timing chain what is the service interval for replacing that?

I'm going to be looking at an XJR this weekend, what are some things I should look out for?

 

In the stickies at the top of the forum is a thread on what to look at.

After the obvious expenses of tires, battery, brakes, the issues are secondary tensioners (lots of threads), over heating (head gasket), and water pump? X JR has a Mercedes Benz transmission, much more reliable; also has an aluminum thermostat tower.

The later models - 02/03 - were better. Mileage and age are important factors for plastic, rubber, and drve line, obviously.

All said, great ride: VDP and XJRs were $70k cars when new: now dirt cheap. And, in LA, little rust, and lots of salvage yards for used parts.

 

I was in the same boat before I got my Jag. Vanden Plas or XJR. I ended up with the XJR but wished I had some of the features of the VP. The XJR is a wolf in sheep's clothing!

XJR Pros:
1. V8 supercharged 370 HP engine. It is a blast to drive! They say it is a 4-door Ferrari. My friend had a V8 Camaro and bragged about how fast that car was. He basically shut up after I got the XJR.
2. 255 low profile wide tires. They mean business, especially viewed from the rear.
3. Wire mesh grill. It looks classier than the VP front grill.
4. Sport mode. Hit the switch to change the gear shift points and it starts from first gear as opposed to second in non-sport mode. The engine sounds awesome then. The active shocks stiffen up the suspension.
5. The wood and leather steering wheel. (compared to the XJ8)
6. Leather seats - The pattern of the cushions look better in this car.
7. Mercedes 722.6 transmission. I understand they are bulletproof and interchangeable with my Mercedes C280.

XJR Cons:
1. Shorter body length. This causes legroom problems with backseat passengers.
2. Euro look. The painted trim and reduced chrome all over cheapens the look.
3. No flip-down rear seat tray tables.
4. 255 low profile wide tires. They are much more expensive to replace!
5. The stiffer suspension: You could feel every bump on the road and it will make your stomach sick. Not exactly a luxury car feel. I had to reduce tire pressure to 24 psi and try not to hit the sport mode unnecessarily to make it manageable.

If I had to do it over again, I would try to get a Vanden Plas Supercharged. But those are very hard to find. Production numbers: XJR=15,203, Vanden Plas=21,080, VP Supercharged= 788. Now you know why they are hard to find!

 

"The stiffer suspension: You could feel every bump on the road and it will make your stomach sick. Not exactly a luxury car feel. I had to reduce tire pressure to 24 psi and try not to hit the sport mode unnecessarily to make it manageable."

The sport button has no effect on the suspension.

 

Not true! Explain why the shocks on an XJR are $400 vs $100 for a non XJR, and why there are electrical leads to the top of all four of the shocks.

 

I took a look through the stickies and found a thread titled "Summary of Major Repair Problems," it really just seems to talk about the Transmission forward drum problem and the timing chain tensioners. I'm assuming that the XJR doesnt suffer from this transmission issue having a different trans, but this would be something to look out for on a VDP. As for the tensioners is this a problem on all XJs, the XJR included? I'd still like to find some information on what the differences are between the two motors beyond the supercharger.

Good list, thanks Pilot. I think the VDP XJR would be exactly what I'm looking for but I'm not holding my breath for one to come up for sale. At this point I'm leaning towards the XJR.
I'll hit on a few points on your list to explain why.
I pretty much agree with you on all the pros, so onto the cons:
The shorter body: which I dont necessarily see as a con. I do not need the extended wheel base chassis, and frankly don't think I want it. I've always had a preference towards smaller cars, so an extra long version of a full sized sedan probably isn't for me. I'm probably rarely if even going to be in the back seats and even if it doesnt have the room of the VDP to really stretch out, it is still a full sized sedan so I expect anyone back there will have enough of room.
The euro trim: I don't feel to strongly about this one way or another, but the chrome accents do look better, and a level of class you'd expect in a high end sedan.
The 255 tyres: This actually is a concern and a strike against the R. While I intend to use it only as a commuter and wont be needing the stickiest summer tyres, tyres of these width do get expensive. This car will be a fourth car for me and I've got to keep shoes on all my kids "feet."
No flip down tray: Dammit I want these trays! I'll never use them as I'll never be in the back seats, but it does add that touch of bespoke sophistication. It is a Jag after all. Even though I wont use them I'll smile each time i see them walking up to the car.
The stiffer suspension: I've actually been reading a few old reviews from when the car was new and I remember one of them saying the VDP wasn't really much more soft a rider than the XJR. One also said the seats were a little uncomfortable in both trims with the VDP not offering any more comfort than the R.


I'd still like to know how much ford dipped their fingers in the xj soup when these cars were made. Did they end up with some ford parts that may be cheaper to replace, or is the car still all jag?

 

The CATS suspension is active. It switches between normal and stiff modes, based on various inputs from sensors - braking hard, cornering hard, accelerating will all switch the system to stiff. This happens regardless of the sport button position, which is for the transmission. It changes the transmission behaviour, that is all it does. It is strictly a transmission mode selector switch.

If you read the JTIS you will see that the CATS suspension has no inputs from any switches, and only one output - a fault signal. It is essentially autonomous.

Also please note that there are XJRs without CATS, and ones with. My XJR does not have it.

 

Which ones had the active suspension and which ones didn't? I'm looking at a 2000 xjr tomorrow, what's an obsious sign that it has it?
Also how well do these tend to hold up as these cars age? Do owners tend to have problems with as the cars get older and higher milage?

 

My understanding is that it was an option until 2002, and then became standard. Mine is a late 2001 production vehicle, but 2002 model year, and it doesn't have it.

The only way to be sure is to look at the top of the shock mounts under the hood, and see if they have wires going to the top of the shock.

 

CATS were NOT an option before 2002 for US specs cars and became standard on 2002 -2003
Cats shocks have an electrical connector on top

 

So I went to look at a 2000 XJR this afternoon. The car was in OK condition as few scuffs and scrapes on the exterior and a few tears in the interior, but nothing worse than you'd expect for a 15 year old car, but there was potentially big problem though, the car was in failsafe mode. I had a obdii code reader with me and I wanted to plug it in and check for fault codes but I couldn't find the damn obdii port! I googled and got the answer that it was just in front of the hood release latch but I still couldn't find it there.
The owner said that it was a brake issue that cause the light to go and a quick search just now came back with answers about some brake switch going faulty and throwing the failsafe light.
The car seemed to drive fine and the engine didnt seem like it was in any kind of limp mode, still it wasn't as quick as I'd expect 370 horsepower to be, but then again they are big heavy cars.

 

The OBD II port is to the right of the steering shaft, just above the accelerator (opposite from above the hood release where it is found on other cars). Not sure a bad brake switch will set the fail safe mode. More likely some other issue.

How many miles? I am not nearly as familiar with the XJR as the NA units: but a dirty throttle, dirty MAF, old plugs and dirty fuel filter will make any hot rod suck. These are cheap fixes, providing the blower is producing and compression is solid.

If close by, try again to read the codes.

 

120,000 miles. I don't know if I'll go see it again, but if I move forward with buying it I'll have a pre purchase inspection done at a shop.

 

I saw the one you were interested in. I would pass on that one. It was missing covers in the engine and not too crazy about black interior in LA weather. You may want to see this one instead with a tan interior. Looks like a better condition. See link below:

2000 Jaguar xjr Silver Super condition

 

Yes that one does look much nicer. I hadn't planned on spending to much but judging from the pictures (and you can only see so much in pics) it does look in great shape. I don't know about the tan interior. I agree that it looks better but I worry about keeping it clean.
The price seems kinda high too. KBB lists that car at $3200 in excellent condition. Maybe I missed checking one of the options it has but $5750 seems way high.

 

Back to the "issues" with these cars. The timing chain tensioner problem applies to all models of these cars until MY 2002 and mileage is not relevant as much as time for deterioration of the plastic housing. Be sure you know they have been changed or figure that into the purchase.
And... I don't know if yoiu were serious about the trays for the rear seat, but they really don't fit in the short wheelbase model, although I remember someone claiming they had retrofitted some in.
I am not sure about whether the CATS suspension was standard for the later XJR, but my MY 02 XJ8 does not have it.
Good luck.

 

I was completely serious about the rear trays. It's childish and stupid and completely irrational given I'll never be the one to use them but for some reason I want them. I don't want them enough for it be deal breaker between buying a car that has them over buying a car that doesn't but like I said, they make me smile.

Onto more serious question, what are the differences between the xjr and xj8 motors. I'm assuming the xjr has stronger internal components (pistons rods, maybe even crank) since the super charger increases the compression? What about the heads, is it the same valve train?
Obviously one motor is supercharged the other is NA but what are the other differences?

 

BTW - $5750 is not a bad price, not great but a very nice car for the money. Jags in good, well maintained condition sell for more than book a lot of the time.

The S/C cars, the XJR and Vanden Plas SC, are more stout in many good areas! I didn't even consider an XJ8 when looking for a DD because of the issues they have.

The XJR has a reliable Eaton M112 blower. It has a very reliable Mercedes 722.6 transmission (called W5A580 in this application). It has an aluminum, not plastic, thermostat housing. It does NOT have variable valve timing like the base NA cars.

The rule of thumb on these cars in regards to secondary timing chain tensioners is that unless you have concrete proof from a verified engine code (not VIN, but actual engine tag is out of the range of affected engines), or excellent proof they were replaced with the metal bodied tensioners, pull the covers and see. To do just secondary tensioners in your garage is a 4-6 hour affair, and if you use the zipp tie method (zip tie cam sprockets to cam chains, rather than using Jaguar timing tools and removing the non-keyed sprocket) and the Ford/Lincoln parts; you should be able to do this for $250 doing a bit of while you're there stuff!

Earlier cars, 8 AND R, up until an engine date code of a certain date in 2001 (not production year of car, production date and time of the engine) had Nikasil cylinder linings instead of a conventional pressed in steel lining. These are used in Ferraris, Porsches, BMW, many motor racing applications; etc. The nikasil engines are vulnerable to high sulfur gas that was common in the US in the time the earlier cars were put into service. This is not an issue gas wise anymore. The general consensus is that if you have a good nikasil engine, take care of it, avoid lots of short not to operating temp trips, and you'll never have to worry. There is a leakdown test a dealer can perform if you would like to analyze the health of a specific nikasil lined engine. I have two cars with Nikasil engines and have no qualms at all.

My 98 XJR is a good DD in it's configuration. It does NOT have CATS, just regular shock absorbers. It has the base brakes, NOT Brembo. The Brembo units are excellent, but are much more costly to service, and not easy in my neck of the woods to get parts right away.

I service my cars myself for a pittance, and I'm guessing if you are a Subie enthusiast, you know how to work a wrench. These are quite simple cars. Front engine V8, conventional autobox out to RWD. There are quirks but these are good solid cars when you buy a good one.