Hi everyone, sorry if I've been a bit of a post ***** lately, but I couldn't resist putting this up.
I recently came across the book "Crap Cars" by Richard Porter in a local Borders, and I was surprised to find my car featured in it. It looks like they were mostly referring to the earlier XJ40's, still, I thought it was pretty funny. Here's his write up, I found it online:

"42 JAGUAR XJ6 (1987-1994) When the XJ6 was announced in 1986 it was described as a "clean sheet design." In which case Jaguar had clearly taken that clean sheet, written on it everything that people loved about their cars, and then thrown it in the trash. Good-bye to curvaceous styling, strong performance, and traditionally luxurious interiors, hello to the box-fronted horror you see here with its appalling Atari-like dashboard and all the acceleration of a tired snail. Still, there were at least two "traditional" Jaguar qualities that remained: the one that made various major components work on a strictly part-time basis and the one that allowed sundry pieces of the interior to fall off. In fairness to Jaguar, the XJ6 was developed on the kind of budget that BMW would allocate to a new ashtray, which perhaps explains why, once they'd carved the finished design out of clay and sent it away to be turned into metal, the back end melted, giving it an unintentionally saggy appearance that nobody bothered to fix. This was probably the greatest travesty of all. Because no one expects the back of a Jag to look like the buttocks of a plumber poking over the top of his slack-assed jeans."

 

Some like the round headlights and some the square. Its whats under the "skin" that counts!

 

I liked that autoher whoever he is
XJ40 is my fave model Jaguar as well lol

 

Sadly... It's undeniably true. Even Jaguar admits anything prior to 2000 is a piece of crap. Sadly even though I love the look of the XJ40's and contrary to the article the performance of these cars when they actually run, is nothing to sneeze at, they aremostly crap. I mean try to get one to run without something failing for a week or two. Talk about mission impossible. About the only thing they're really good at is sucking hard earned dollars out of ones wallet...

Funny to see the old myth about the rear end design though. I've read aboutthe clay 'melting' before and it is laughable. You can clearly see the entire car is gorgeous amd well proportioned, as jags tend to be and there is nothing wrong with the XJ40's lines.

 

I love all XJ40s for the same reasons he discredits. The only bad thing is the wallet draining maintenance liek everybody states. Other than that, it's a beautiful car.

Btw, what's with the multiple apostrophies being put when only one was entered all throughout the forum?

 

The XJ40's are stilla gorgeous car and on the rare occassions they're running well... pure joy to drive.But as with gorgeous women, these beautifull cats are extremelyhigh maintenance. Both can be a strain on the wallet, and I've found myself almost in tears when paying at the service counter. All in all I've decided it's no longer worth it and dumped the Jag in favour of a rather dumpy but reliable Subaru Forester. Oh well I can always console myself in my 2006 Mustang.