Hello all. I'm a life long fan of the XJS, and as the repairs continue to mount on my e39 V8 BMW, I'm considering selling/trading it in for a nice late model XJS. I'm no stranger to Jags and understand what money pits they can be, but I've read nothing but good about 95/96 4.0L XJS, and thus I would limit my search to those years. This would be my daily driver, around 5000 miles per year, and I do have a backup vehicle as well.

Just how reliable are they, and what are some known faults I should be looking for?

 

I've been using my 96 as a DD for two years now.

I got it with about 56,000 miles on it and now have almost 78,000 miles.

The engine was sputtering when idling. After a lot of investigating, it turned out that the throttle body needed to be cleaned out. That is a common occurence for these cars. My mechanic charged me $50 when he figured it out. (Jaguar wanted to replace the throttle body and TPS for over $3,000) Just assume you'll have to have yours cleaned out. Definitely a DIY job as everything is easily accessible and removeable.

My EGR also went bad. It threw me a code, so I replaced it, even though it probably could have been cleaned up.

The cruise control bellows is known for going bad. After replacing mine, it went bad again after only a few weeks. I discovered that the insulation board under the hood was rubbing up against it causing it to be cut. After replacing that with some insulating foam, the problem was solved.

I had a stripped lug nut found when I replaced my tires. You should also check the age of your full sized spare. The one I have is 16 years old, since it's original. I'll be keeping one of my existing tires when its time for a new set.

Make sure the A/C works would be the only word of advice. Don't buy into the "it just needs to be recharged" line.

Great car. I have been very happy with it.

 

Mine has run into a few issues, and some of them were very frustrating, but they weren't actually the car's fault. Even so, it's never broken down. Indeed, it seems to run and drive no matter what's wrong with it.

It spent quite a few years in storage, and that will screw with any vehicle.

Now the climate control is acting up, but I know for a fact that someone has been in the dash twice before, and I'll bet that has something to do with the vacuum leak.

I don't worry at all taking it on reasonably regular round trips that come to about six hundred miles, and I drive it around town all the time. Every day, it gets better. Now that the engine's all sorted, it's an absolute blast to own.

I'd say just try to get a good one, and enjoy. They can be rather miserable during the summer when the climate control doesn't work, though, so I'll second making sure the car's A/C works properly.

As with any slightly oddball car, make sure you've got a respectable specialist shop nearby in case you get in over your head if something does go wrong.

 

95 AJ16 owner here. The car has had occurrences here and there but has never left me stranded. Weak point of these cars are the peripheral electronics such as the ignition coils, crank sensors, TPS, CTS etc. Other than that nothing else that would not be expected on a 16 year old car.