Greetings.
I own two X300s, a 3.2 Daimler and a manual XJR
I am getting to the point of considering an XJ as the secondhand prices here in NZ are reasonable now.
I really want a 5litre supercharged one, but diesel would make more sense...can’t decide, and I need to drive a few. I’m 6’3” and not even sure if there is enough head room with the sunroof - that is an issue in my sunroof XJR but no problem in the Daimler without a sunroof.

There is a nice Jaguar racing green Supersport for sale with 137,000km on it (about 85,000 miles)

Has anyone got any advice or warnings about higher mileage XJs other than the obvious stufff like full service records etc?

Thanks in advance, Alistair

 

AS you've posted in the forum for the current XJ saloon, (X351) i assume this is what you are looking at. Frankly, an 85k miles car is not considered high mileage these days; I would think you need to be well over 100k miles before this description applies, even 150k miles. My local independent XJK before they packed-up doing servicing and repairs told me the current XJ saloon diesels are a whole lot better than the ones in the previous model,(X350/358). I don't know how much petrol costs in New Zealand but a 5 litre V8 petrol in the UK will not be economical as we are paying £1.20 per litre at the moment. Diesel costs slightly more but the car goes a lot farther on it.

 

But OH that V8sc under full song is hard to deny!!

 

Fraser, I am going off-topic a bit, but in NZ diesel is half the price of petrol, but it’s not that simple.
Petrol is taxed to Hell and back like in England - 98 is $2.30 a litre which is about £1.15
However diesels were historically all trucks, the fuel is not as heavily taxed but diesel vehicles must pay Road User Charges (RUC) in advance - this has not been updated to acknowledge that many modern cars are diesel. I recently bought 10,000km worth of RUC for my diesel XC90 volvo which cost equivalent to £630, for 6250 miles, so about a pound per 10 miles on top of the fuel. But the Volvo does about 30mpg versus my old petrol Tribeca which averages about 18mpg. So diesel cheaper to run by far. I estimated at 20,000 km/year, the Volvo will save £1500 a year taking into count fuel price differences and RUC.
However, as XJsss points out, a supercharger on song is one of life’s pleasures (even though I only have the baby XJR6 which is 200 bhp down on the 5 litre current XJR)

 

I have just driven the Supersports at the dealer’s today. It has awesome power and good headroom, an issue for me in some cars. So now I know I fit in an X351...
I think there was some minor benign-sounding clunk/rattle coming from the right back wheel on harsh bumps, and it smells like a smoker may have once owned it, but I still like it. Hmmm.
But I am very tempted.

 

I love the super sport. There's no real difference in power that I can tell having driven both the SS and SC, but it's got 45 more hp, and the interior carbon fiber and illumination make the interior look incredible... I believe All the mechanicals are the same as the 5.0 sc just some minor tuning and the looks. But sweet car!!

 

Saying my car has 470 HP, just doesn't have the impact as saying my car has 500HP. It's the same phenomenon as saying it's only 2999.95. You need that extra 30 HP..500 or 510 doesn't matter, what matters is that 500HP. It's all marketing. They charge you more for that extra 30 HP. Even if the only difference is the exhaust tips and the engine tune and you can't even tell the difference. Psychology say's some will have to have it. Marketing is all about using psychology to separate you and your money.

 

Just remember that ALL the SC 5.0L V-8's are the same. Only the tune is different.
So any 470HP version can be tuned just as high as the later 550HP and even the new 575HP versions!!

Kind of amazing when I think about it. There is even some discussion that the ONLY difference is how far the computer will allow the throttle to open?
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