Hey all,

So this has been on my mind for quite some time now and I thought I'd put it out on the forum before work today and see what all your inputs were.

My current DD is a 1999 C5 base which I love to death. Recently, my father purchased a 1999 Jaguar XJR supercharged. After spending a few days over there for the holidays I definitely fell in love with the car. It's the opposite of the C5, aka VERY heavy. But it's still got a Ford build 4.0 V8 with an eaton supercharger. The car has a very solid feel to it, and very comfortable.

So my debate is replacing the C5 with another XJR. Now as per reliability I know we're talking two different worlds. But what's your guys opinions? The XJR's of that generation are very cheap and with a pulley upgrade, exhaust, headers, intake, and tune you'd easily be pushing well over 400hp.

The C5 has been great to me as a DD but I am one who likes switching things up. My other car is a C6 GS and I have a 993 Porsche 911 sitting as well.

I'm posting this on both this forum and CorvetteForum to see what I get from "both sides"

I'd really appreciate any and all feedback, share your opinions and thoughts. It's an odd question but I'm still curious as to what the rest of the community thinks. I apologize if I am not able to reply til later tonight.

Thanks all!

 

The cars are very reliable -- but .. they are all old cars at this point. The earlier cars -- including your fathers 1999 had the potential to have more problems. All of my MB's have had way more problems.

The later cars .....2002 and 2003 are the best ... The XJR's less (problems) then the non-SC cars.

 

First, good luck ont he "headers, intake, and tune" for the XJR. If you find them, and they work, please report back for the rest of us!

As to reliability, I have found the XJR to have an inordinate number of "snigglies", including a PITA to get to the fuel pumps, weak head gaskets, weak chain tensioners, and a host of control module problems. I have logged nearly 225,000 of the total combined 400,000 miles on two of them. That said, I love the car and see the upkeep as just part of the ownership experience.

 

The 4.0 V8 is a Jaguar designed engine and a very good design although it has a couple of weak spots as Ross pointed out. But, the Jag has a certain charm and refinement that is unique.

 

Are we all automatically supposed to know what a "C5 Base" and a "C6 GS" are?

 

I can only imagine the comments on that other site.

As already posted, the engine in your Jag has nothing to do with Ford.

 

C5 (5th Generation) Corvette, base model, and a C6 (sixth gen) Grand Sport

Hence why he also posted on their forums too

 

Yup- unofficial designations given by owners to later generations of Corvettes and much disliked by owners of real Corvettes (flame suit on )

Don't feel bad for not recognizing the term- most posters on the CF site wouldn't know a Jag-wire if it fell on their lap and started to wiggle.

 

And... If a driver is really comparing a Jag-u-wah to a Vette, he probably is much better off going in the bow tie direction.

 

Ahhh, got it! Those are those really gross looking sports cars I keep seeing.

 

Hey. I'll probably swing over to CF and see what they think. You post it in CFOT or somewhere else?

I really like my 1998 XJR as a daily driver. It will not be as cheap as a C5 to run though, but hey, at least the steering column doesn't need to be jacked with! And the dash doesn't look like an S10 pickup dash but a little melty. I owned an early C4, great car, but even worse interior than the C5.

I'd buy an XJR over an XJ8; a huge concern being the Mercedes 722.6 box in the XJR is leagues better than the craptastic ZF 5HP24. I've owned 3 cars with the 5HP24, 2 had the units fail at low miles. The 722.6 is Germany's GM RWD (Powerglide, TH400, 4L80e, etc; that level rugged). Durable, solid, cheap to fix on the off chance they go.

If you buy an XJR, they are solid cars; do the common maintenance work and they'll be a nice car. They are garbage in the snow, but tolerable with excellent quality winter tires (Blizzaks, Nokians, etc). My 98 is doing that duty pretty ok (came from an A8 that was awesome in snow, currently doing work on to get it ready to sell).

These cars are not Fords in any way. Ford's contribution to Jaguar is big ol piles of money, new facilities and better suppliers than Lucas.

BTW - I posted to where he's talking:

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...post1591256759

 

Thanks for clarifying! Whoops, I should've known not everyone knows Unofficial model designation lingo...surprisingly the guys on the Corvette Forum knew exactly what an X308 XJR was!

 

Hey, thanks a bunch! You nailed it, CorvetteForum. That's the only Vette page I'm a member of.

Definitely agree with you on the interior department, I'm not picky but I could do without the plastic bits and miscellaneous squeaks here and there.

Funny thing you brought up the XJR vs XJ8, not just because of the tranny. I went back and forth between the two but the SC model is (to me) what makes the Jag more desirable power wise, it just glides whereas the XJ8 feels a bit more sluggish, granted these things weigh a lot.

I'm not sure if the 722.6 MB trans was the same one I had in my 996 911 tip, but it was an awesome gearbox...better than the ZF of that gen they dropped in the Z3 BMW. LOVE the PowerGlide reference

As per maintenance I kind of got my little intro with my dad's Carnival Red one. I've heard the horror stories and unfortunately this one fell victim to it. I had to do a rear diff on it (fun fact, different unit than the XJ/VDP diff yet still 3.06 ratio). But surprisingly a very simple job for someone like myself with no formal automotive repair education.


All in all I like how the Jag has a solid feel to it, the Corvette (I'll refuse from using informal model designations ) isn't a bad daily at all...It's quite comfortable but after a while it'll definitely get to you. Contrary to what a lot may say, I think they are both super pretty cars...who doesn't like flip up headlights? No one.

I guess my fear was hearing "stay away" signs like that of the E39 M5 (gorgeous car, I owned one for 2 days before it was totaled outside a friend's house). With that you have issues like Vanos and little quirks that pop up here and there and can get annoying killing the point of a "DD"