Hey guys, hope you all are well,

Ive always been a fan of the big cats, particularly the x308s, and I was wondering what would they be like to live with as a main car. Im currently in a straight 6 BMW of similar vintage, would the jaguar be better or worse on the wallet in regards to servicing and reliability? Im looking at model year 2002 and late 2001, so as to dodge the tensioner and nikasil issues entirely, which leaves me with the autobox as the only real failure point (or so ive heard, please correct me if im wrong). Would it be more or less reliable than similar aged Germans? How much should I expect to pay per year? how easy is it to maneuver in city streets? and more importantly: how far will my jaw drop when I see it in the parking lot?

Im based in the southeast UK with semi-regular trips into Central London for work

Any of you take your big cats out daily? how many miles do you do and how do they hold up?
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Thanks to all of you !

A lil something i found on autotrader for <3k

 

Those are nice cars and you will love it, you will get accustomed to narrow streets and tight parking spaces, i've been driving lhd jag in london for some time and the good side of owning one is that you gonna have many road friends.
As far as costs go, and set apart gearbox, timing and nikasil issues, it is mostly service items which in UK you can have for pennies but at his age there gonna be plenty of them so either get the best cared exemplar you can or count on fixing stuff neglected by previous owner
Once you get it to standard you like your relation will go smooth and peaceful
Daily driver here

 

I drive my LS-swapped 2000 XJR almost daily. 10,000 miles since the swap completed two years ago. Had a 2001 XJR I daily drove while building the 2000. Lovely cars, both....

 

I used mine as a daily driver from 2011 (about 70K miles) to 2017 (about 115K miles). I did the tensioners immediately upon original purchase I actually bought it as the absolute cheapest luxury barge on the market with the intent to only waft about on its magic carpet ride for a few months while I healed up from back surgery, then I'd go back to my sports cars and trucks. But I fell in love with it and decided to do a pretty comprehensive service at about 80K mile including a Sonnex valve body upgrade since I would be doing the tranny fluid anyway. With all the recommended preventative maintenance done, it was quite reliable. But I decided to "retire" it from daily duties in 2017 after the alternator failed on my way to a meeting where I was supposed to give the presentation to about 30 waiting guests. Took my local alternator shop nearly three weeks to rebuild it but while I was waiting I thought about the risks, the parts availability, etc. and decided I couldn't risk my job to 17+ year old Jaguar. So instead, I bought a 5 year old X250 with only 27K miles to replace the X308. And I've since replaced the XF when it got to 70K miles because it needed service on a trip 900 miles from home, a minor issue, but the Jaguar dealer who took care of it, along with the two Jaguar dealers closest to my home are now closed. That made me think about the future inconvenience of getting a Jaguar repaired if I needed my daily driver right away and wasn't in a position to do it myself. I have occasionally used a local indy shop for "computer" related things or when I'm just too busy with work, but he's had his most experienced technicians retire and with the local Jaguar dealer gone, he's swamped and typically scheduling a month out or more. Being in the UK, you probably don't have any issues finding a Jaguar repair man, but here in Texas, particularly traveling through rural areas, it could be a deal-breaker for most people. I'm now dailying a 2024 Mustang which is radical change, but in its defense, parts are readily available and there's a Ford dealer in just about every other small town across Texas plus somebody who can work on a Ford in the towns in between.

With a newer daily driver available, I was still in love with the XJ8 and so I took it off the road for all of 2018 to pull the engine and go through everything, changing all the gaskets and seals (it had gotten to where it leaked oil like a sieve from just about everywhere), replacing all the cooling system hoses and pa66 nylon components. I also went through the suspension system and replaced all the Bilstein dampers and every rubber bushing. With so much refreshed mechanically, I figured I could drive it to work occasionally on days when I didn't have any critical meetings that I couldn't miss and that would help keep the mileage down on the XF (and later the Mustang). Well, the A-drum finally popped at about 120K miles. I figure the Sonnax upgrade bought me 40K miles. With so much already invested, I took it off the road for another six months while I pulled the transmission and rebuilt it myself.

I've been slowly doing cosmetic and other minor restoration. Last year I replaced all of the stereo speakers because the foam surrounds had disintegrated and didn't sound good anymore. I just had the fabric in the door pockets replaced and the leather on one of the seat bottoms redone at a local upholstery shop. I'm waiting on my leather guy to come refinish the rest of the seats. Eventually, I intend to get the trunk lid and bumper covers repainted.

But I still don't trust it to go farther than AAA will tow it, and particularly I won't drive it if I've got people depending on me to arrive by a certain time. No matter how many parts I service, repair or replace, there's still tens of thousands of parts that are now over 25 years old. I've been anticipating an electrical "gremlin" for several weeks. The Jag went completely dead last month after the headlight brightness fluctuated all the way home one night and then half an hour later, it came back to life all on its own and has been perfectly fine ever since. Happened once before, several years ago. I've checked a bazillion things suggested by forum members, but could not find anything wrong. I've been driving its quite a lot since, waiting for it to happen again so I can swap relays around on the side of the road before it miraculously cures itself a third time. But the moral to the story is that its just a 26 year old car with 130K miles on it. **** is gonna happen at a statistically increasing rate the older it gets/the more miles it racks up. And its not a Jaguar thing, I "retired" my beloved 1985 Toyota Supra (best car ever) in 1998 at about 160K miles for the same reason. Things were starting to break and Toyota warehouses were starting to run out of parts.

Everybody here is going to tell you how great the X308 is and try to encourage you. It is very probably the best sedan ever. Or at least it was. Sadly tho they just stopped making them after 2003 and that's 23 years ago. Jaguar stopped making most parts for them by 2013 and stopped making, well, anything, after 2024. Its still a great sedan but its getting more and more complicated. Can you daily drive one? Absolutely, yes. Should you? Well, that depends much more on your situation than any aspect of the car itself. Since you mentioned your drive to work, I thought I'd describe my concerns about using the Jaguar (or any old car) for work trips. If you can DIY most repairs, have another car to drive while you search/wait on parts, AND you've got the flexibility at work, go for it. But if on the other extreme, you're a surgeon or a defense attorney or such, you may be better to get something newer rather than risk being late to an organ transplant operation or a last minute hearing on a stay of execution.

 

Keeping classic jaguar in UK is similar to having classic mustang in US, plenty of excellent vendors with competitive prices and next day delivery, also europeans are not that picky when it comes to car brands, car is a car and replacing alternator is just the same job on audi peugeot or jaguar.

 

I drive mine everyday: it gets 18.3 US mpg at 24avg mph. Much cheaper to repair than an equivalent BMW 7 or 5 series. But parts might be harder to find (especially plastic parts). You probably have a Jag capable tech on every-other corner . . .

As for the metal secondary tensioners, Morris-type chains -- best pull the cam cover and check -- for US 2001 models, they came with the second generation PLASTIC secondary tensioners.

But a Google search (or a knowledgeable source, here) willl tell you what ENGINE number was the introduction of the new style.

 

I'd ignore nikasil issues, they don't happen anymore as the high sulphur petrol that caused it is no longer sold.

I'd stick to the later ones as you've said, because pre the newer tax bands they aren't ULEZ exempt. They'd pass the standards but until the 2001 tax changes it's not recorded by the DVLA so the ULEZ folk won't believe you.

 

We own an electric car but the wife and kids use that. I alternate my daily driving up here in the North West between my '98 XK8 convertible and 2001 Daimler Super V8, depending on the weather and whether I need space for passengers.

Consumption day to day is a little under 20mpg and servicing and maintenance costs are very low because I do most of it myself and don't have to worry about meeting warranty conditions. Depreciation, of course, is next to zero compared to something newer so I reckon the true running costs of the car aren't much different to a newer car. Three things to consider if the cam chain work has already been done (or isn't an issue):

• Rust! Because the Daimler is used when the roads are wet, it's a constant effort to keep on top of the normal rust traps. The only thing I've really spent money on in the life of the car has been sorting this out
• Car Tax. If going for a V8, get a car registered before March 2006 to get the lower VED rate
• ULEZ - painful in my cars but we hardly ever go into London. Make sure you get one that's ULEZ compliant, as @Hooli mentions

Oh, and finally, allow extra time for trips to the supermarket, petrol station, shopping centre etc. Everyone wants to have a chat about these wonderful cars...

 

All XJ8s have things that need to be considered, however it is not
difficult to detect the previous ownerships level of caretaking. When
a good example is found, it is wise not to delay, as we have seen many
cases here, where these ladies are gone, the first day of sale.