Driving around town when a xj40 caught my eye

 

I had a 1992 in that same color that I enjoyed but I sold it because I have too many cars that I already don't drive.
They are reliable if you get the 4.0 version. The 1988/89 models were money pits but I made a lot of house payments working on them!!!!!

bob

 

I belive this was an 89 ive had 3 opportunity to buy a 40 a 93 xj12, 94 vanden plas, and 93 xj6 im still on the look out for one to put miles on instead of my xj8 but since craiglist now cost money to post there has been a drop in xj40 listings

 

I had '89 3.6 for many years and over 400k km, nothing really wrong with it and i never runt into any major problem, really bulletproof machine, i feel it could do another 400k if cared more carefully - i did really neglect it badly during most of the ownership

 

I never warmed to that model ..... and we stayed away from Jaguar in the late 80's. My mom had an 83 that we kept for a long time ... we had an XJS as well .. so we understood pain.

 

The only XJ40 I’d even remotely consider is a Majestic. I’ve had the pleasure of working on 2 of those ultra rare cars but as like any old car, they really needed rebuilding from stem to stern. I’d love to see an original dark red cherry metallic Majestic in person. I bet it was beautiful when it was new.

 

I know where one is. It is a 1989 3.6. It belongs to a customer that lives next to where the late Peter Mayhew lived.
I have not worked on it in a few years but they tried to keep it maintained.

bob

 

I dont remember whether it was a sovereign or majestic but one of those two in red was for sale in san antonio with higher miles a few months ago unfortunately he won't trade for my 240d

 

My friend's dad told me many decades ago that an optimist is someone driving a Mercedes 240D equipped with a RADAR detector.

bob

 

Try to offer your 240 as an portable, self propelled, waterproof 12V electric generator, perfect for powering garden shed, with enough whiskey he may not spot the fraud
Just trying to help

 

With the AC on

We had a base .. 4 speed and AC. Crank windows

 

I had a customer YEARS AGO that had a 1979 240D with a manual 4 speed gearbox.
She was a British lady that had a property that had a POLO GROUNDS on it. She loved horses.

One day she told me that she got a ticket from a Texas DPS trooper on a 2 lane highway with a lot of steep hills.
She had a long line of cars behind her on a 70 MPH speed limit road. She could do 70 on a downhill but only 50 or 55 uphill.

The trooper took a while passing cars to eventually catch up to her and pulled her over for IMPEDING TRAFFIC.
She explained that she had the pedal to the floor but the car would not do 70 uphill.

She went to the courthouse and explained it to the judge and the ticket was dismissed.

I wonder whatever happened to that car??

bob

 

Reading this I thought about how somebody here told me once that the 290hp engine found in the X308 and X100 is underpowered.

 

It's surprising how much the 4's are producing today ... my early 90's SAAB Turbo was the highest output in regular production and it made 225 .. with the auto they had to drop it to 200 as the box could not take it. Jaguar had to use the MB box in the R as no other transmission was available to take the power ..

 

Yep, they're pushing 300hp out of four cylinders. That M-B transmission actually proved to be lower maintenance than the five speed ZF counterpart in the naturally aspirated version. Too bad they didn't use it for all models. That's surprising because the 4sp ZF in the X300 was bulletproof.

 

My memory was the X300 used a GM box? ... must have been a 4 speed. Mine X300 ---- 95 VDP ---- stunning car. Flamenco with almost white interior. Special ordered. I have never owned any new car that people made as many comments ... It was a great engine/ transmission match. But, you needed to use the the transmission to maximize the S6.

I loved it until the V8 came out

 

The supercharged XJR and V12 used the GM box. Naturally aspirated 6cyl used the ZF. They used regular ATF rather than the pricey stuff the newer 5sp used.

The X300 certainly is an elegant car, especially in VDP trim.

 

I put about 100k on that car ... never any transmission issues. Even with the upgrades to the S6 engine -- mine (like many) needed a head gasket. Jaguar warranty. The X300 came out very early -- so there were many 1995 produced. I think the XJ40 got the upgraded engine the last year .. maybe even 1993. The engine changes make the later XJS's better as well ... Ford spent a bundle upgrading the XJS.