Hello to you all,

My name is Paul and i live in Lisbon, Portugal. I am a great car fanatic and a great volvo fan and owner. I want to buy a jag as i always looked at them as the ultimate gentlemans car and i believe the time has come.

So i have been looking for some specimens here at portugal (here all x300 are priced above 4000 pounds) and decided for a x300 3.2 , found mostly autos but today i got to try a manual 3.2 and felt that the manual box is a good choice

However after reading on the web and searching for parts i started getting the feeling that some parts are really hard to find or very expensive ones, such as the master and secondary clutch cyl ( 300pound one and 150 the other) and other stuff.

My great doubt has become if i should get a manual (like better) or auto(more parts avaiable) , what do you guys think?

 

Also do you know where do get parts cheaper? I found prices such as 200pounds for the water pump?, that seems a bit absurd

 

Olá Paulo.

First of all, welcome to the X300 world.

I´m also Portuguese citizen (and Swiss, double citizenship), but living abroad for several years. I agree with you that the Jaguar is the ultimate gentlemen car. Among several cars I´ve owned (and some kept), it is the one that gives me a special feeling while driving it. I just can´t explain, it is like that. Despite the size, it drives very well. In fact, much better than some more recent cars.

My X300 has Norwegian plates and recently I decided to bring it to Portugal for a complete overhaul. You can see a post about it in a separate thread. I´ve chosen that option for price but also because I located a good restoration garage near where I’m coming from. I don’t regret it. Instead, I decided to extend the restoration project to a much larger extent than initially anticipated. The deal was that I would source the parts myself and, during the process, I got acquainted with several excellent suppliers. So, to avoid publicity here, if you want, I may recommend some by PM. The downside is that you must find a garage that accepts the deal of you buying the parts.

For example, a new water pump ref EBC10867 should cost you some 90 GBP + 20% UK VAT+ shipping. This is from a supplier I bought a lot and can recommend. Searching a bit, perhaps you may find for less.

With regards to manual versus auto: I fancy very much manual gears in a sport car. I cannot imagine it otherwise. But the regular X300 is not a sports car. It is car that you don´t drive fast nor in a sporty manner. So, unless you want to have a rare X300, I strongly recommend you to go for the automatic.

Let me know if I may be of assistance.

Um abraço,

Jorge

 

By the way, I'm also a Volvo fan. I owned 4!

 

Hello jorge

Thanks for your help , in fact i choose the manual because i hate autos even though the pure essence of this car is the opposite.

Well i have been searching and the only prices that scares me are the manual gearbox master and slave cylinders, i am talking about more than 500quid dor something that in other cars (even jags os astons db6 for example) cost something like 100 or 150quid, and cant find spares anywhere. I really dont need these parts now but will keep an eye on ebay for sure.

I love the x300 but prices in Portugal are really high compared to the rest of europe, a good 3.2 here is about 7000-8000€