Hi new to forum. So i was in the market for a truck but in the truck lot they have a 2011 XJL i think I am in love with it only has 37000miles. So my question is this car reliable? I dont know alot about Jaguar yet, I just remember in the past they where not very reliable. What kinds of problems have you had if any? I have heard that the touch screen is very slow, is this true? Any input from you guys would be appreciated. Last thing if this is a reliable when I test drive it is their anything I should look for or pay close attention too? Thx

 

Norhtstar, welcome to the forums. Please stop by the New Member section and tell us a little bit about yourself. We pride ourselves in being a better car group and getting to know one another. You will find the information here very valuable. This will also give you a chance to meet those that make this place what it is.

As for your question, the newer cars are just as reliable as anything else you buy. The Lucas electrical harnesses are gone and you can expect to get many years of use out of the car. As for problems, there are 2 issues that come to mind that if you are going to have issues, these are going to be it. The first is a popping noise that comes from the sunroof. This was a problem with the early cars. If you take the car over a rough surface, you will hear a popping sound coming from over your head. The fix is simple (retighten the screws holding the sunroof in place). The problem comes in that you have to pull the headliner which simply takes a fair bit of time. The other issue (which is a bigger concern) is the water pumps just don't seem to be quite what they should be. Replacing a water pump is not hard, but a bit more difficult than what you may have experienced with other vehicles. There are numerous improvements done to the water pump over the years. A simple check that you can do is to open the hood and look at the tubing running to the right of the throttle body. There should be a gray connector in the middle of the 1/4" ID tubing there with a very small port teeing off right next to the throttle body. If there is a hose connected to this, then you still have the original water pump. If the tee looks like there should be a hose connected to the barbed fitting, then the car atleast has a newer style water pump. Parts alone to upgrade are around $400 or so (pump, new intake hose, new bearing bleed tubing, and seals).

As for the infotainment system, yes, the screen can be a little slow. You can get the 2012 screen and it is a direct replacement and this will speed things up considerably. But, it is still slow overall. You won't be doing 10 key on this screen. I have a 2012 and it takes about a second between buttons for the system to recognize things. I have not gotten the upgraded nav software ($200). So, that might be improved with that.

Other than these things, most of what you are going to experience are your common issues that you are going to see with any car (tires, alignment, oil changes, etc). Of note, if you like doing your own maintenance, you will want to get a vacuum pump for sucking the oil out of the engine. There is a suction tube in the oil fill cap and this makes oil changes a breeze. Don't even have to drop to a knee to do anything. If you are old school and want to pull the drain plug, this will take you a bit longer as you will have to remove the aero plate on the underside (takes about 20 minutes to remove, 20 minutes to reinstall). there is no access hole to drain the oil through.

The question I have back is what motor is in it. You will have a 5.0L engine, but are you looking at the naturally aspirated engine or the supercharged engine? The NA engine is more than plenty powerful. The advantage the supercharged cars have is they come with a larger brake package for better stopping (not that the NA version is a slouch, still more than capable of clearing the seats during a hard braking).

 

Thermo Thx for replying.I have not looked under hood or test drove it yet, in next couple of days. Thx i will look to see if its new water pump and i have no problem working on my and others car, my cars right now are Cadillac do all my own work. The motor is the NA 5L not the supercharged.

 

I have had my 2011 since new , another thing to check is some corrosion on the slider rails of the sun roof. You need to open the roof and look in from above, a lot of people are not aware of this as they never look in through an open sunroof from above. It is more cosmetic than anything else, however it may be a less of an issue in the US as it is over here in the UK.

 

Thx roviw I will look for that.

 

Thank you for this information. I am also looking in to buying a 2011 XJ Supercharged.

 

Once you drive an XJL with a supercharged 5 liter engine, you will never want to go back. Just be careful - owning one Jaguar tends to make one want to own another one.