Hey all,

It has been quite a while, and I felt like it is a pretty good time to give out a review of the Jaguar that me and my dad drive.

Background: Around 2020, our family immigrated to the States, right before the lockdown occurred. We don't have any kind of transportation, so I've been on the search for a car that we could use. I am a big fan of ChrisFix, so initially, I looked for an X-Type. But, everything soon changed when we stumbled upon a Facebook advertisement.




Yup! It is the same car. Funny how back then, we could have purchased a reasonably economical car for a first car, but then my dad fell for it, and so was I, especially when we checked it out, so we settled on a firm price and picked it up 2 days later.

At the time of purchase, I recalled that it had around 34,600 miles, and wow, was it different than any other car that I've been in. It's spacious, it smells of leather, it's so quiet and fast. It was like a whole new world for a 16 years old.

But, it wasn't without its trouble.
- The belt was very squeaky, which we later found out was because the tensioner has gave out. We pretty much drove it that way until I convinced my dad to replace it in 2021, and it has been quiet since then
- The tranny was pretty janky later on, especially when shifting from 1st to 2nd, which we discovered that the tranny pan and sleeve was leaking, leading to it losing fluid.
- The headliner was sagging, and well, we tried to reupholster it two times, but still couldn't get it perfect.
- The brakes was spongy, which was resolved after a flush.
- The engine RPM fluctuate when idling, and the car wanted to stall out a few times, which was fixed when we found out that the clamp for the hose connecting the air filter to the throttle body was very loose.

Aside from those trouble, the car has very much been a reliable driver. It was the car that:
- Drove my parents to work everyday.
- Got us moved to a different house.
- I drove and "owned"
- Got me to my first job's appointment, and saved me plenty of times from being late at work at my second job.

I truly, truly love it, more than anything else, and I really wished I could give it the TLC it deserves, but I don't have enough free time nor financially stable to do so, so waxing was the main thing I do for paint maintenance

So, in conclusion, while buying it wasn't really a bright idea, in the 3 years of ownership, it has brought us through various events and allowed us to be here today It remains a phenomenal vehicle in my heart, and I am proud to have driven a Jag.

Now, the question remains: What is the future of the Jag?

To be honest, I wish we could keep it for longer, but certain things has occurred to our family, so financially speaking, the Jaguar will more likely cost us more to run in the future. Breaking down, it includes:

- Gas, and the need to refill it more than our 3 other car (2 Hybrid car, and one 4-cylinder car) because of the engine size.
- Suspension, which surprisingly still last, but it could likely fail any moment.
- Replacement of aged parts, such as radiator hoses, any ball joint part where its rubber are ripped apart, or water pump/thermostat. In fact, I feel like I'm really cheaping out, considering how others have replaced said parts.
- Probably more stuff that ages within times, internally?

Given that scenario, we might likely have to let it go and downsize to something more financially sensible. I'd hate if that happens, but things comes and goes. Beside, if I somehow made it through school and get a stable job, I might purchase a Super V8 Portfolio, which is my dream family car.

For now, we'll just have to see... In the meantime, ride on!




- Khoa.

 

Tom,

At approaching fifty years older than you I can't imagine what you will be driving when you're my age but I can guarantee you'll still recall the delight of the highs and lows with this XJ8. A special car and some special times for you.

Graham

 

Great post Tom! I'm glad the your beautiful XJ8 has had such a positive affect on you and your family. Great car and story. Best of Luck whatever you decide to do

 

Glad its worked out for you and hope you find a good home for it, how many miles on it now? With 35k miles you got a great deal on that car, even considering it was pre-2020. Best of luck.

 

That Jaguar is now almost 20 years old. My X308 was a rock up until about 15 years old and by 17, I think she was leaking and squeaking from everywhere. I updated my daily driver to a newer Jaguar. I thought about selling the old girl, but couldn't bear to imagine her fate at her depreciated value; probably wind up baking in the sun outdoors in some Section 8 apartment block, maybe jacked up on rented 22s till something very expensive finally gave out. Tried to get somebody in the Jaguar club to look after her, but didn't get any takers. So I took it off the road for almost a year while I pulled the motor and went through all the seals, gaskets, hoses and replaced almost everything made of plastic. I got her cleaned up and back together in time for her next years annual inspection and drove her to a few car shows but she was still squeaking over all the bumps so the next winter I took her off the road for another six months while I spent more weekends going through the front and rear suspension and motor mounts. Finally found the most maddening squeak was a little bracket between the firewall and wheelwell that had come loose. Oh well, it made me replace a bazillion extra things that probably needed doing anyway. The only squeak left is the center console lid but that shouldn't be too difficult or costly. Last month I put new tires on her and got her inspected again.

If I paid somebody to do all that, I figure I'd probably be into her for about $15K in restoration costs, but DIY I've spent probably in the neighborhood of $6,000 in parts and supplies. I still need to do all the speakers as the foam rubber surrounding the speaker cones have disintegrated and stereo sounds awful. And I was just noticing that the door handle gaskets need replacing now. A car just keeps getting older and the repair jobs just keep piling up. I always kept her indoors, night AND DAY and waxed her religiously and thus have been very proud of how she still looked until last Fall, something got on the paint on the rear 1/3rd of the car and ate little blisters into the clearcoat. Can't figure where it happened or how. I had long ago dropped comprehensive insurance coverage. Unfortunately, the cost of that paint repair is beyond what she's worth and that's not something I can DIY. I know I can't ever get my money back but she still looks good from beyond 10 feet so I'm thinking about just making her my daily driver again (maybe try resisting the urge to wash her so the blisters aren't so obvious) until something very expensive breaks and then parting her out for the benefit of the community.

Your X350 is right now about where my X308 was when I started, deteriorated to the point that it needs everything I did to mine just from sheer age, but depreciated to the point that its not worth doing all that, certainly not if you have to pay a mechanic to do it all for you. If you were my age and could afford the parts, I'd tell you to go ahead and make it your hobby. Its feels rather rewarding to accomplish all these repairs yourself and I've found everything I needed to know to do it all on this forum. It's very doable and rewarding even tho its not worth it economically.

But sounds like you're still in school. You probably should focus on your education, establishing yourself on a career path, finding a wife and starting a family as those things become increasingly difficult or impractical the longer you put them off. Thinking logically, my vote, as painful as it is to type this, is sell it and get yourself a Honda Civic no more than about five years old so that you don't have to do any major repairs till you graduate. Then borrow $36K for a new Accord Hybrid or Ecoboost Mustang (depending how soon the first baby is due). Then when you are 50ish and at the top of your lifetime earning potential, you can buy another X350 either already restored or a barn find in need of all the same things I listed above (just more desperately by then) and make it your mid-life hobby.

 

Great story. The real holy grail you want to look for would be the 2009 XJ Super V8. Not the Portfolio. Not sure what one would cost. Good luck

 

I truly agree with what you said; the feeling of entering an XJ8 and hearing that leather smell, it just something truly special. Even though it does break sometimes and is an annoyance to fix, it does gave our family a lot of good service and memories.

- Khoa

 

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

- Khoa

 

Currently, it has 46,445 miles on it and yep, it was a pretty good deal back then, but on the other hand, most of the parts were originals so it does need a lot of work to catch up with time .

- Khoa

 

That was a really great story, and yup, I'm currently in college at the time of this post. I really appreciate your advice; it's something I'm trying to work on as well and when I finally have enough financial stability, a barn find XJ8 sounds like a good idea I hope by that time, regular engine could run on hydrogen so I can experience that V8 once again.

- Khoa

 

Oh yeah, there's just something about the X358 generation of Super V8 that really catches my attention; I guess the styling is more fitting for youngsters

- Khoa

 

I figure there will always be gasoline for sale. You might have to drive farther to find a pump and it will become more expensive as fewer things use it and they shut down all but one or two refineries. But you'll still be able to get it.

 

Well, after looking back at this thread, I am glad that I haven't sold the Cat yet. The more I drive it, and the more I reflect upon the journeys we went through, it's more than just a car, and I'm planning to enjoy it as much as I can

Also, we've just crossed 4 years of ownership a few days ago, and she is still doing great. There was only 1 major issue back in February due to a jammed thermostat, which caused her to overheat, but that is sorted alongside new cooling parts. Only have a few minor things to do (oil change, remove and reinstall steering wheel so that it's straight instead of being slightly crooked to the right, touching up a few spot, interior cleaning), and she'll be good for many miles to come!

- Khoa

 

First and foremost, if that X350 still has under 50K to 70K miles on it, you are DRIVING a 'barn find'.

Most of that age are over 100K, and the grottiest parts start to go at 80K miles and more from:

- one too many cooling sytem failures. built-in design flaws, sorry. But with care one can stay ahead of them and cheaply so.

- camshaft chain & tensioner wear left unrepaired too long. Same again. Cheapskate bean-counters beat sound engineering, but each update buys another 100K miles.

- transmission left leaky and not flushed and fitted with the relatively few new parts they need to keep them sweet.

- air suspension faults that are not as hard to repair as they once were, because this forum's helpful members have so thoroughly researched and published the information needed to sort them out ... or convert to 'coil-over' springs either permanently or temporarily.

- Kalifornikyah SSR, you may not have this problem, but anywhere in the USA's wintertime "salt belt" the steel cage that houses the rear suspension can rust. Even so, it can be repaired or replaced.

Most of the rest of an X350 is aluminium, so my 2005 is 'planned' to serve me until 2035.

Family tradition to retire our driving licenses at age 90 out of consideration for the OTHER fools still on the road. Not to worry. hung up my pilot's license before age 60.



Aside from just "being a Jaguar" the almost-all aluminium chassis/body of an X350 is a MAJOR part of what insures it will be worth caring for.

The other 'instant classic' factor is the "last of the Sir William Lyons style" body shape to it.

When NEWER cars all resemble Japanese door-stops or training shoes with wheels, it is, and will ever be, a reminder of the days when cars where lovely to look at as well as fun to drive.

If one cannot have a late 1930's Alvis "Speed 20" - and afford the insurance fees to actually drive it to and from work?

The X350 is a damned fine substitute.



Almost certainly the wrong procedure. There is a system to detect centering as part of the dynamic power-steering rig.
You need to see to the rack & pinion steering, sensors, and their share of the electric "brains" that manage it all.

Research that thoroughly before you do anything to any part of it.

 

Yup, she is indeed a "barn find", as before we got it back in 2020, it was always garaged and had 34,260 miles on the odometer. Right now, it has 48,200 miles, and it does have some of the issues that you've listed out, except for the air suspension, which still works surprisingly well, but I suspect it'll give up soon in the future, which by then, I'll have the whole system converted to coil-overs. A bit of a controversy on that topic, but I've pretty much made up my mind if that ever happens.

About the steering wheel, what happened was that when we (me and my dad) reinstalled the wheel after fixing the common clock spring issue, we misaligned the steering wheel by a few teeth, so when we're going straight, the steering wheel center is slightly to the right. As far as I know, the steering system is fine, especially since it got an alignment when we replaced all 4 tires, and nothing off was noted. So yeah, all we need to do is pull the steering wheel out, re-center it again, and we'll be good to go

Personally, I agreed with your opinion on the styling and I think that it's such a timeless design (I kept staring at it most of the time, even at work). I know that I'm a tad too young for these type of old school cars, but newer cars, or the trend of cars in today's generation, just doesn't resonate with me much. Sure, it does have the latest in technologies and is more practical, but I love the elegance and luxurious feeling of those Cats. Every time I drive, it's such a nice experience overall, and I think that help the Cat in terms of breaking down less. Slowly but surely, I hope I could get her to 100,000 miles, as I think it's a beautiful milestone for her.

- Khoa

 

LOL! Well that's a dif'rent case, then!

I simply ceased using the steering-wheel mounted stuff when hitting "cancel" on the cruise control shut-off the engine entirely .... along with power steering and power brakes, of course. In the middle of a busy freeway. @ 70 MPH!

"Cancel" indeed! Talk about taking my wishes "literally?"

Just grateful the impudent b***h wasn't optioned with ejection seats ...or a trash compactor!

"Beauty on wheels" was the 450S Maserati of mid-1950's.

But a less-practical car for 'street' OR racetrack use would be hard to even imagine!

Stay AHEAD of the bits as want to deteriorate, and you can get her to TWO hundred thousand miles. Or more, with an engine conversion.

It all goes back to that strong and uber durable *aluminium* body/chassis.

Not a problem getting a long list of steel cars past the 200,000 mile mark... or even two MILLION for Cummins-powered Dodge dually pickups.

But you have to do it FAST.

Do it slow and they rust right out from around still sound engine and powertrain.

I was actually seeking a Bentley Arnage "Red Label" when I bought the XJ8-L.

But those Bentleys were made of rust... err "steel". Annnd ... I had lost over 60 lbs, Avoir. So I can actually get INTO the Jaguar to wear it.

After all. the best of cars are worn like clothing, not worn like broken. Jaguars are good with that, given they were born out of a motorcycle sidecar business!

 

"Oh, BTW"... Swallow Sidecar was Jaguar's original name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Jaguar_100

A relative of mine unfortunately perished, with his wife and child, and the poor Frenchman he hit, head-on, in his SS-100.

Departing Lewes, near Brighton, England in a right-hand drive Jaguar SS-100, coming off the channel ferry in France, he had apparently motored off on the Japanese side of the - at the time - two-lane highway.

Fatal move as the French drive on the Chinese side of the road.



With that tragedy ever in mind, touring the Continent half a century later in my RHD BMW 520 was only a minor annoyance. Besides... I'm ambidextrous anyway, and we 'septics' drive on the Chinese side as well.