Hello to all . Thank you for the privilege to join this forum .

I am a truly delighted owner of a 2003 ( anthracite) Jaguar XJR with a mere 38,000 miles on it. I am the second owner of this wonderful car.

I have been trying to trace the lineage of the car and everything about it.
Thus far all I have determined is its date of manufacture which is March of 2002.

Here's where it gets really confusing for me:
Jaguar literature talks about an all aluminum body for the 2003 XJR. So the first question is "does this car with this 3/2002 date of Manufacture have an aluminum body or not?

second question.. "Does Jaguar do manufacturing "phase ins" and when does Jaguar start building the new model year? ie my Jaguar is a "2003" model yet was produced in early 2002.

Any clarification as to how Jaguar determines production of model years would be of great interest.
Thanks again to All

 

The best thing is to research your VIN number. There are threads here telling you how to do that.

 

I have researched the Vin numbers. That's how I found the date of manufacture. There is no way from the Vin that one can determine whether the body is aluminum or not.
To me, Jaguar lineage is quite "mysterious

Thanks for the reply !

 

Look at my cars. They are steel bodied X308s. If yours has slightly oval headlights and is a bit shorter, narrower and taller, then you the aluminum X350.

 

Thanks for the input.. looking at pictures of the 308 and 350, I have to conclude that mine is definitely a 308 , and therefore a steel body. Where it gets confusing is that Jaguar announced "production" of the 350 in 2003 when what they really should have clarified is that it was for the 2004 Model year. so I guess what one can conclude is that Jaguar routinely begins production of the next years model somewhere around 9 months before the actual model year.....
I think you've answered my question. Thank you

Ron

 

Look at the character sixth from the end of your VIN.

If it is an F you have a 2003 steel bodied X308. If it is a G you have a 2003 aluminium bodied X350.

The last X308 was F59525. the first X350 was G00442.

Graham

 

Much appreciated.. I learn something new all the time. Occasionally I do something smart like joining a thread like this where knowledgeable people like you have the answers.
Thanks again,

Ron

 

What usually works is to email Jaguar corp (via their web site) and just ask - give them the VIN. They can tell you all options factory-fit, trim colours and so on.

Any franchise can print it out but might charge and anyway may not be conveniently near.

 

So ....... which one do you have?
We're all hanging on here to find out!

Graham

 

Thanks to all here for your interest. I'm a "newbie" that joined today and am amazed at the really fast replies to my post and the first rate information... I'd like to post a picture of "my baby" and a description but I don't know how. As a new member I suspect that I'm not permitted to do that until I have posted 10 times and have eliminated any concerns that I'm a jerk. Good policy
Also I don't know how to adjust my" signature " closing to give details on my new prized possession jaguar. Maybe after 10 good posts all the "magic doors" on this thread will open up to me.
What a great site this is !

PS.. My Jaguar is definitely a 308 steel body ...SAJDA15B13MF52817

 

Congrats on the steel body!! Welcome to the club! I was happy to find out that men was a steel body machine.

 

Ronco... welcome tot he forum.
To put it simply.....

The North American market is different to the rest of the world (ROW)
Whereby in ROW the car model is the year it was built.
In NAM (Nth Americam Market)....you always go the next year...so, MY2003 is actually 2002.

The first of the new generation all alloy bodied X350's were first built in 2003 but NAM lists them as 2004.
All this can be rather confusing for the unitiated ;o)

 

This is a little confusing as well as it implies that a car built in 2002 will be necessarily be known as a 2003 model year, and a car built in 2003 will be necessarily be known as a 2004 model year, etc.

Most commonly the N/American new "model year" starts in about August. So 2004 model year will include cars built from about Aug 2003 to July 2004. Roughly, speaking :-)

Believe me, though, there are some exceptions, often related to marketing strategy and hype....releasing a new model a few months early with lots of hoopla. Within the next 3-4 months we'll surely see somebody releasing a new model early ....."Be the first on your block to own the 2015 GT Turbo Tarantula" ....type of thing when everyone else is still selling 2014 model year cars.

Or sometimes production under an existing model year is extended and the introduction of the next model year delayed....most commonly to duck around some sort of legal requirements that haven't been worked out. I recall that Jaguar did this with the XJS (USA market) at some point in the early 90s. I can't remember the details.

Sometimes there's no explanation given for model year oddness. My 1988 XJS was built in Feb 1987 but had a 1988 VIN. These cars were known as 1987.5 model year everywhere else. I'm sure Jaguar had a reason for this but I've never learned it.

I'm rambling, sorry......

Cheers
DD

 

X308 is always made of steel body regardless of the model year, period