This is not about air flow but just a public rant about my latest purchase. I own 2 Jaguars an 86 XJS and a 97 XJ6L...the latter I purcased 2 months ago. I've also owned an 87 XJ6 Series III (Wonderful car!) and in the past an MG and a current TR6....several British Motorcycles (too many to list) In other words I'm not unfamiliar with British engineering/Lucas. I bought the XJ6L for my wife from a club member. The car sat for 2 years after the previous owners death and was purchased with 45k on it one year go...I purchased it with 61K on it a month or so ago. The car looks impecable, rides impecable and part of the purchae was the understanding that this was considered the best Jaguar to own in terms of fit/finish/maintenance/reliabilty.....IMHO, nothing could be further from the truth. It amazes me the constant SAME problems I read about on these car's that other cars of the same year/caliber and less don't suffer from. Come on, timing chain rattle, tensioner failures on a modern engine! harmonic balancer seperation, Seat memory failures, diode pack failure/blinking interior lights, mirror leakage/seperation, steering wheel sag after getting out, seat up/down failures, gear shift release failures, interior screen, stereo/hvac failures. My 87 XJ6 was FAR more trouble free and more reliable in the 4 years of ownership then this car has been in 2 months...in fact my 86XJS V-12 is WAY/WAY more trouble free then this car. Maybe I got a bad one but from my research and reading the problems suffered from owners I'd say it seems like par for the course. I know this will ruffel some feathers and many will disagree, but walk a ile in my XJ6L shoes AND my many miles in my XJ6 III/XJS shoes and you'd probably understand.

 

As a prior XJS and Ser III owner, I'm pickin' up what yer layin' down :-)

I'm six or seven years into X300 ownership. It's better automobile in a great many respects but it's hardly been trouble-free....especially the last couple years. The "gloss" has certainly dulled a bit!

OTOH, maybe we're expecting too much of 15-17 y/o cars. Time and miles eventually take a toll on any car


Cheers
DD

 

Doug, I'd take my Series III any day over this car....I'm just glad I've held onto the XJS......the 5.3 in one word is.....smoooooooth! It just seems the X300 is over complicated where it doesn't need to be. I put 189K on my 99 Explorer Limited which was loaded to the gills with WAY more features then the X300 and all of it worked 99.99% of the time...never leaked a drop of oil and all automation/electrics worked a charm up to it's selling time 2 months ago, even the auto dim mirror was flawless.

 

I'm with Doug, AND you to a point.

NO ruffling of feathers, toooo old and grumpy for that, and the energy is just lost drinking time.

I am in a different market/world to you.

My X300 (12/95 build), and the mighty 3.2ltr and a base XJ6 (138000kms at purchase), Ex Swiss Embassy car here in Canberra, sooooo maintenance should have been 100%, not so. Maybe they paid for 100% maintenance, but in my opinion they did not get it.

I replaced the top tensioner, annoying, YES, but life goes on, and a few other "Grant's catchup" items. Since then 60k kms in 3 years, and many interstate runs, no issues at all.

All my Jags, especially the V12's did what was expected of them on any given day, but age creeps in so slowly and hits hard when it hits. My '85 XJ-S purchased in '94, and by '98 I had rebushed the front and rear suspension units, rewired the whole engine bay, etc, etc, and thought nothing of it. So the X300 at 15 years old will certainly need so TLC, and mine will get it.

Our "new" 02 S Type 3ltr (she sold the XJ-S), is another world again to the X300 and all before it. YES, it has issues, if you read the forums, you would buy NOTHING, but we have done 3 interstate runs (2000kms each time) in it since ownership 10 weeks ago.

I got others my age with BMW, Mercs, Commodores (Aussie GM car), and they all have issues, some more annoying than serious.

In all my years with Jaguar, previous maintenance not being done correctly (short cuts if you will) are the main issue. The mechanic is just doing his/her "job", its not their car, and no matter what spiel is spluttered forth, it is how it is.

I do all my own work, always have, and some of the things I have seen/found, would be a best seller book, mmmm.

Enough typing, I'm thirsty, see ya.

 

I've made my mind up to get another Series III or possibly XJS. As great as the XJR is in so many respects I just don't love it as I did my older Jags.

I'd like to get another year or two usage out of my XJR, though.

I'm a bit ashamed to say, though, that for the first time in 15 years I think I'll get an "ordinary" car for daily driving. Driving (and slowly wearing out) the XJR with a mindless, boring 65 mile/day commute up and down the interstate hasn't done the car any favors.

Cheers
DD

 

The problem may be the particular history of the vehicle.

It sat for two years and then the next owner quickly put 16k miles on it before flipping it. That would say it that in addition to sitting which does a working vehicle absolutely no good, that the following owner did little more than drive it.

In addition, as an owner of about a month, the problems have not actually reared their ugly head. It is more a matter of a fear of all of the catalogued problems of every complaint ever recorded being visited on one vehicle ... yours. There is no reason to believe that you are going to be that unlucky.

 

It isn't a matter of "unlucky" or "it sat" the things wrong with it are all things that Jaguar could have done BETTER for the time the vehicle was built...period. Just like Jaguar continuing to put TH400's in XJS's late in the run...REALLY??? a 1960's era 3 speed auto transmission with a terrible 2:88 gear set in 1986? It reminds me a lot of my 1979 Triumph Bonneville...a GREAT motorcycle for 1969 but not 1979. I'm going to mull over how much "sorting" I'm willing to do with this particular car. Sorry, just venting...I've the skill, knowledge, tools, even some money and time but I'm starting to lack the patients.

 

Well ... either you knew all of what you perceive to be shortcomings before purchase and still purchased it ... or you purchased it before doing the research.

Either way, it is what it is.

 

"Well ... either you knew all of what you perceive to be shortcomings before purchase and still purchased it ... or you purchased it before doing the research.

Either way, it is what it is. "

??? You're a "moderator" you're now "speculating" what I did and didn't do or know? It is what it is? Really? I purchased it w/o research? I knew it's shortcomings before purchase but still purchased it? WOW


Boy I knew I'd ruffel some feather's but mods coming out and putting my thought's in print w/o being in my head is a new one! Thank's for staightening me out.

 

Well, moderators are entitled to a viewpoint or to make observations just like any other member.

Most members like their vehicles even if there are some things they would rather have been done some other way. That's life unless someone happens to be the chairman of the company.

It's pretty much one or the other. You knew ahead of time and bought it or you didn't know and bought it. The former would mean you did the research but ignored it and the latter means you didn't do the research.

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