G'day

I tried to Google this question but nothing popped up. So here's my question:

I currently own a black on black 2009 X Type. It's a good car. I bought it at 68,000km and it now has 120,000km and nil issues. However, I still find myself constantly looking to see what XJs are for sale (whether XJ8 or XJR).

At the moment I'm thinking of buying a black on black 1998 or 1999 XJ8 or XJR and trading in my 2009 X type in the process.

Does anyone have thoughts about this or want to throw their 2 cents in?

Cheers

Max

 

Well, there are good and bad XJ's out there, but as these cars are getting to their 20th birthday, you in generally can expect more problems.

Well cared ones are probably as good as your present car, but less maintained XJ's will throw a lot more problems at you than your X-type right now.
Most can be prevented or solved, but it will take (down) time and money.

I guess if you can buy a really good one, or buy the XJ along your X-type, you should be fine.
However, if it is your daily driver, I should really be very cautious which specific car to buy, and surely one with a detailed service history.

There is far more details to buying an X308, but see this as an opener ...

 

I've had X308's for several years now and I loved them all, the big cat gets into your soul. I got hold of an X Type Estate Diesel for my Dad and I hated it. Because after driving XJ's with their real wood and leather the X Type with it's obvious plastic wood and heavy vinyl seats felt like a facsimile.

As Eric says there are good and bad XJ's out there you just need to do your research carefully. I'm guessing you're located in either Australia or NZ? Shouldn't be hard to find a rust free example in those climates, it's the engine you want to look carefully at as well as the suspension.
These car's were not designed with long intervals between services in mind. Engine oil changes should be done roughly every 6-8,000 miles and suspension bushes generally last about 25,000 miles depending on driving style and environment. So don't go driving down the great western road on the corrugations.
There are plenty of buying guides and people who have previously asked a similar question to you on this forum, do a quick search and see what you can find.
Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the advice Eric and Stu. I'm looking at an XJ8 in the next few days. I've been doing research on the common faults etc with them and what to look out for and enquire about.

I definitely will look at the service history as I would prefer the XJ to be my main car and not an occasional drive as I already have an old semi-unreliable BMW (family heirloom) that I make my occasional drive.

Stu I know what you're saying about use of real wood and leather etc. I suppose I'm after the real deal - be more of a purist.

Cheers,

Max

 

Good luck, but be well prepared to say 'no' to the first car you see.

I was several times tempted to buy, but strong enough to keep my mind set on what I thought I wanted.
Only after 2 (!) years I found a low mileage, garage kept, chauffeur driven Vanden Plas, which has not really disappointed to far, considering some of the horror stories on this forum.

 

An estate diesel, I wonder what's not to love, lol...

 

Yeah gosh they're ugly

 

To be fair, it wasn't bad looking and it had the big screen navigation and other things you wouldn't find in an X308 plus the 2.2 Turbo diesel did make it shift. Mated to the 6 speed gearbox it made a good cruiser too. It's towing ability wasn't bad either, towed the car transporter with full sized cars on with no worries. It would be ok for someone who has never had the "proper" Jag experience, but for me it was like driving a wannabe almost.

The car itself is dead now, it was written off when an elderly driver ran into it. At the scene of the accident they said "I'm sorry, I've got bad legs. I couldn't get to my brake pedal in time."

 

It looks like a BMW 5 series wagon, with an aftermarket jag-like hood.

 

The bottom line:

X type = Ford Mondeo

XJ8/R = a real Jag.

IMHO.
Vector
(Flame suit on)

 

Yes, but the Mondeo is quite a good car.

Here's what I would do :

Get rid of the BMW.
Use the X-type as a daily driver.
Get an X308 as the second car.

 

You may be correct in that it's a good car, there are a lot of "Good cars" out there that come NO where close in comparison to an XJ. The ford Mondeo is one of them as is its cousin the x-type, IMHO

 

The X Type sold well in the UK and the estate version is very popular. It's also important to note that the X Type was available as 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive, and in winter weather is one of the few things still moving along with the big 4x4's.

The comparison with the Ford Mondeo is unfair because it's something like only 20% of components they share. It was a mistake to reference the relationship between the two cars in the media, or they should have worded it as saying the mondeo is related to the X-Type not the other way round.

There is a huge amount of Ford branded equipment in the X308 and you don't have to dig deep to find it. Ford invested a lot of time, effort and money in making the X308 what it is as well as the XK cars.

 

Yes, if the X-type is a Mondeo, so is my Volvo V60. All the same platform.

 

However, the fact remains that any X308 is, by definition, old, tired, not very reliable, expensive to maintain, woefully impractical, and has terrible fuel economy. All these drawbacks are mitigated when you only use it as a second car.

In the last 10 years I've been left at the side of the road waiting for a tow truck 3 times, and all in "proper" Jags - the XJS, the XJ8, and the XJR, and they were all very-well maintained second cars. All 3 with fuel problems, funnily enough. In my experience, the less "proper" the Jag, the more likely your chances of actually getting to your destination.

 

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree, I've never been left stranded by any of the X308s I've owned. I've driven them through snow when there was nothing else moving, I've driven through floods up to the door handles without any issues, I've been to the highest roads in Britain and deep underground in Belgium and they never missed a beat. I've driven from home over the channel and into France on a single tank of fuel, and when it has needed a repair I've never had to pay anything that's "broken the bank". They are unbeatable.
OK I accept that my last one died as a consequence of gearbox failure but it was a 160K box and I'd not done it any favours by making a regular less than 2 mile commute towards the end of it's life, it probably increased the wear. But even when failed it got me home, and I was 70 miles away at the time.
I've driven the Volvo V60, Ford Mondeo and The X Type of the era and they were all a different experience. The Mondeo was the highest spec you could get and it was far superior to what Jaguar were offering on the X Type Sovereign. The Volvo was an "Eco" model and it gave me the impression of being very functional. The X Type was sharp though, it handled very well and even though the one we had was on 165K it performed faultlessly and went wherever I pointed it.
The X308 I have now will be my last Jaguar, I am doing the best I can now to future proof it. It will be a second car used for high days and holidays, I have a little 1200cc hatchback for the commute and dirty work. I say it will be my last because I stopped liking what they were producing with the X350 and whenever I see one of the F-Pace SUV's I can't help but look at it with distaste.

 

Really, I've never even noticed them until the other day when I said to myself, wow, that Ford Escape is so ubiquitous, then I realized it was an F-pace...

The F-pace has about the same 0-60 as an x308 s/c (XJR), that's like being beaten in a race by your grandmother, haha

 

The F-Pace is basically a rebadged Land-rover , right down to all the glass has Land-Rover logos on it. I test drove one at a Dealer/Club event. The one I drive was pretty scarce on "luxury" and options. Not impressed at all at that price point. If I want a Land Rover I'll buy one, don't need a tarted down one with "Jaguar" plastered on it.

 

just about everything out there does zero to sixty pretty quick these days. It's not about how fast the manufacture says it is, it's about weather or not the driver can use the power properly and will stay in it. My XJR-100 w/stage II kit will sit there and shred the tires with traction off or will hesitate w/traction on, power comes on with the eaton at mid range a "feather and hammer" approach is the best medicine. I give no stock to manufactures stated 0 to 60 times. YMMV😉

 

I wonder what your definition or Terrible fuel economy is.

As far as cars breaking down. I worked for years as a dealership mechanic working on new cars (0-2 y/o) that were towed in. It doesnt matter who builds it they all break at some time and some sooner than others.