Hi all....I'm a 41 year old 'young' in the head kind of guy from Derbyshire in the UK who has admired Jaguars since being a kid!

My dilemma is do I change my daily car!?

Currently run a 2001 Lexus IS200 Auto which is a lovely smooth silky 6 cylinder motor, which just lacks some pace and does about 25 mpg. My daily commute to work is a round trip of 20 miles on basically dual carriageway.

Have been looking at XJ6 Sports and XJ8's but would mean me getting a slightly older vehicle for the same money that's in my Lexus.

What kind of 'real world' miles per gallon would I get from the Jaguar?? Thought I'd ask the owners and see what they thought!! Are they reliable enough too?


Any help or opinions would be appreciated as to sway my decision or stick with my Lexus !!

Thank you all in advance !!

 

i average 25.7 on 60mile round trip A64 eastbound from york area

 

sorry forgot to say S reg XJ8 4.0 V8 70034 on clock

 

Small 6-cylinder engines never do well on fuel economy as the cylinder size is smaller than ideal for good thermodynamic efficiency. They don't produce much torque & need revving to get any power, which hits fuel economy. Ideally, the best compromise is a cylinder size of around 500cc. So a 6-cylinder engine would be best at around 3L & a V8 best at around 4L.

It's all to do with the ratio of bore surface area to cylinder volume. Small multi-cylinder engines have a larger amount of bore area to volume than larger engines, so more of the combustion heat is lost to the cylinder walls & fuel consumption is higher.

A V8 Jag should give around 25mpg in general driving & up to the high 20's on long cruises. The supercharged XJR models driven hard will return low 20's.

If you're going to get a V8 Jag, go for as late a model as possible-the earlier ones have many problems & weak points. You can read all about them on this forum

Going from a trusted & reliable Lexus to an old V8 Jag or XJ6 is like putting your head in the Lion's mouth-you never really know if the jaws are suddenly going to snap shut & decapitate your bank balance

If you know what you're doing & are good with spanners, then do your homework & research & go for it. If you worry easily about breakdowns & big repair bills, then stick with your Lexus. Remember that the Jags were expensive motors when new & the repair costs won't have depreciated like the vehicle value has-these cars can deal you an unexpected savage blow in the wallet if you don't do your homework thoroughly & just buy one that looks nice.

You really do need to spend some time learning all about their mechanical issues & which models to avoid etc.

 

I usually average between 18-21 (US) mpg in 70%-30% mixed city-highway driving in my USDM 2000 XJR. Pure highway mileage is around 25 mpg. And that's with me caning it at least a few times a day. The power is just so intoxicating! My XJR has been very relaible, and the repair jobs that I've tackled, some fairly major (preventative or the result of my own idiocy), have been quite cheap, but only because I can do the work myself. Shop rate for a good Jag shop, at least here in the US, is VERY high. So yes, at least the R's are very reliable (in my experience) and get very decent mileage. Not sure how applicable this is to what you're looking for, but hope it helps

 

When I still had it, I got 17-22 MPG in my 1999 XJR. LOVELY ride and fun to drive. As reliable as your Lexus? Probably not, but it gives you that Wow feeling when you drive it.

 

I just bought my 98 xjr three weeks ago. I upgraded from a v6 Chrysler LHS. You would think a v6 would be better at mpg but the 98 xjr was sold off the lot advertised at 16 city/ 24 hwy. Although mines is 15 years old, i bought it in excellent shape and it still averages about that on gas; surprised me- coming from v8. Your twenty miles each way commuting, you'll be fine on gas; it's surprisingly not a gas guzzler. Have fun driving it.

 

I just checked my average MPG -- haven't reset the computer for some time, so there's about 5,000 miles on it -- It shows 20.x miles per gallon (US). When I do long trips, I can easily get 25 or 26 MPG on the highway, but the average dips down to the low 20s because of the slower driving.

My daily commute (which accounts for most of the miles I reported above) is 22 miles each way with about 1/2 on the freeway (speed limit is 65 miles per hour). My computer now shows my average speed as around 40 miles per hour, just to give you an idea of what kind of driving I'm doing.

 

My 98 XJ8 gets 15 mpg sitting in lots of stop and go traffic. 22-25 on the highway. Using the cruise control helps. Gasoline without Ethanol improves the mileage, but it is not always available. My car has 182,000 miles on it and I have not been stranded.
I have always made it home after some roadside repairs. I would not want to be
without a "spare" car though. They are a joy to drive though.

 

I never hit 23 or more on the highway on my XJR and I'm around 13-15 in the city. I'm sure I need to change the exhaust and clean up some things, but 25-26 in the city is unrealistic for my xjr right now.