Best comment ever! :-)

Needy in what way, maintenence, wear or things breaking that shouldn't? How frequent did you need to be messing with the thing?

 

It was intense on scheduled maintenance but that's planned and I don't hold that against it. So needier than a Ford Taurus, but par for the course.

Things broke. I had a lot fail in the 24k miles I've owned it:

-Rear sunshade
-Front ashtray spring
-Knob optical encoder used by the MMI Knob that controls everything from suspension to radio failed. I researched and bought the encoder, everyone else buys a whole new panel.
-Sunroof motor
-Pass rear Window regulator
-Driver's Seat heater
-Ignition Coil
-Battery Management Module
-Throttle Body
-Variable plane intake linkage arms (snapped in half, replaced with aluminum ones)
-Starter (requires subframe drop to remove)
-Transmission pan gasket leaked bad
-G28 Crank Position Sensor
-Dash Blower Motor Resistor
-Solenoids for electric water pump stuck open making full heat stick on in summer
-Wiper motor
-Trunk Motor
-Rear driver's vanity mirror
-Parking Sensor
-Headlight switch

That's what I can recall offhand. I never went an oil change without fixing things. I am 100% DIY and could fix most of this stuff quite affordably by rebuilding the component itself, or at least saving the labor on everything.

This was bought dealer serviced and well maintained, with a full timing service and new tires at purchase as a 7 year old car and all this stuff worked. The worst thing is the electrical connectors; they sometimes just break while trying to disassemble, and I feel given the number of electrical component failures, that they just were made poorly.

 

Good grief. That's too bad, because that's the only gen A8 that I actually like. Very similar to the VW Phaeton.

 

You know I've pondered this thought, reminiscing on previous cars I've owned. The only one that was comparable was a 1994 Mazda 929 it had somewhat similar lines & the ****-pit lay out on the inside w/ proper handling via rear wheel drive. In fact I remember some even calling it the "Japanese Jaguar" lol.

That was a quality car w/ surprising pep for a V-6. Wonder what became of that gem, I sold it in 2009 w/ less than 50K on the odometer.

 

The Japanese just have a different attitude towards flagships. They'll tend to be a little more conservative on the tech toys until they make them reliable. My grandfather worked for Kawasaki and you were embarassed if you made something crappy; and reliability issues and longevity issues definitely were part of that definition. I've worked with Chinese and Indian plants that are fine personally with making meh stuff.

 

Yes Mazda would've done well to continue on w/ the 929 IMO. I mean they went to the Millenia which was an attractive car but it was less stout. The 929 was bulletproof w/ reliability I don't think I had any issues ever with it minus user error inflicted ones lol.

Ok now I'm on a unsung heroes of older Japanese cars semi-rant lol. I also owned a 1995 Mitsubishi Diamante that was a blast to drive & easy on the eyes. Once it got up there in mileage I had my mechanic/drinking partner do a Frankenstein experiment on it & added twin turbos . Now that was a traffic light sleeper indeed.

 

But, if you're considering to mortgage the house, then you CAN have your beautiful and wonderful XJ12C. Just look for one in fairly decent shape and invest on it; make it something that you believe you deserve. Frankly, in that respect the sky is the limit. You can either completely overhaul the V12 (or replace it with an overhauled 6.0L version) and add a 5-speed stick. Or, better yet, you can drop a supercharged 5.0L V8 from a wrecked new Jag. with the six speed auto. There are places that do this, only that not necessarily in the US.

You can add so many innovations and upgrades and make it a modern and comfortable machine with the perfect vintage looks of those wonderful XJ12C, including a new and mirror-like color-sanded paint of your preference. I mean, really, the sky IS the limit. You'd have the best possible of both worlds.

BTW, somewhere in my laptop I have a word doc titled "My lottery XJS". It describes a listing of all the possible fixings, upgrades and improvements that I would incorporate to my already show car XJS, should I win the lottery. It is nothing short of a Utopia car fable and that's what your XJ12C could be, too.

If people are willing to invest some $30K to $50K or more in a new car, what's the problem with creating a like-new in every respect vintage model investing similar $$$?

Cheers,

 

I would like some vintage Japanese oddities, a Toyota Century, a Mitsubishi Debonair, Nissan President, etc. Not modern versions, but ones actually importable under the garbage Mercedes created 25 year old plus import rule.

I really love when the Japanese do their own thing. I love the style of my CB750 and GSXR1100; they aren't copies of american bikes, they are doing their own thing and doing it beautifully.

 

How does a vanity mirror break?! Your A8 reminds me of my old Cadillac Catera - Google for all the horror stories - all Cateras are lemons, every single one, no exaggeration. The irony is that they are like the A8, drives excellent when they work and has an exceptional interior. The rear suspension had a leveling device that works like modern magnetic ride controls and the power steering was speed sensitive, and would totally deactivate at higher speed (intentionally by design, lol), giving the old sub-$40k Caddy much better handling than my VDP - but wow, what a headache that thing was.

What about a Range Rover as an alternative?