I just read an article that claims that the XJS is a nice weekend classic, but not suitable as a daily driver unless you own a towing company, have a fat wallet and know a good specialist.

I must be doing something wrong. Mine has been my daily driver for a few weeks now and it still runs and drives reliably. OK, I did have a specialist go through and fix the most urgent things.

Does the XJS really randomly break down, overheat or just not start?

 

No more than any other 20+ year old car. At this age so much depends on how the car has been maintained and looked after than it's design.

It sounds like the usual uninformed article repeating how "Jaguars always break down"

 

Bought mine 4 years ago and use it for weeks at a time. I park it to do some things I want to do. first I found a set of front fog lights and correct switches and the fog light covers with the growler emblems. So parked it for a month or so. Then I wanted to replace the clock with the computer, got a new wood panel for the computer and a late model computer. Again parked it until finished that project. some where along the way I pulled the battery mounting tray, had it bead blasted and powder coated. I guess I parked it for about 6 weeks or so. At no time did I park it or had it towed for a brake down. I will be doing the suspension because I want to install the rack bushing kit to replace the factory style so while I'm in there...ect, ect, ect...I call that loving care.

 

Old Jags CAN be very reliable. It's takes some effort to make 'em that way and keep 'em that way, tho. They are not drive-it-and-forget-it cars.

I've been driving Jags (including an XJS) almost exclusively for the last 20 years and only been on the back of a tow truck once....and it was my own fault

One reason ...there are many...that an XJS makes a great enthusiast's car is that there is SO much good technical/repair info for them. All the common failures modes and the fixes are well documented .

Cheers
DD

 

Mine was my daily driver until 2 years ago when I moved to the country and semi-retired.

It does depend on how they were maintained. Once the maintenance is up to date then the XJS is a reliable vehicle. People forget that the XJS was V12 supercar in its day up against the likes of the Ferrari 400i, and the XJS was 1 second quicker to 100km/h.

Any old car will have its electrical gremlins and the XJS was bleed edge technology with all the automatic electronics. Hey my wifes 2009 Ford already has electrical gremlins with the electronic throttle, I hate to think what issues its got at 30years of age.

 

I just bought a low mile car but when I was looking I found many cars over 200,000 miles. That's more than just weekend driving.

 

Mine is my daily driver. 28 miles total plus side trips in the evening before driving home. 10 months. I love it. One dead while driving event. Rotor shorted through. Otherwise the most fun I can (mostly) legally have on the way to work!

 

Daily driving is possible, but less so in Europe where the fuel prices are a 'little' higher...

 

I have owned my 6.0 V12 since Oct 2014, it has been my daily driver since I bought it.

I have experienced two breakdown in this time, the first resulted in it being trailered home, turned out to be a fuel injection Relay failure, second time was a poor engine earth that prevented starter getting power, the latter was diagnosed and fixed at the roadside within ten minutes by AA breakdown service.

I have had minor work done at local garages, tackled very minor jobs myself such as air filter change, throttle synchronised, brake pad changes

Major services I choose to take to a specialist (David Marks garages) in Nottingham, UK

Given that it's twenty four years old and almost inevitably had less extensive use and maintenance over the few years before I bought it, I consider reliability to be acceptable and improved since maintenance catch up.

For the record, mileage driven in the last four months is nine thousand miles, think that speaks volumes about it's ability to be a reliable 'daily driver'

 

My 1985 HE XJ-S, came into the fleet in 1994.

First week saw ALL that catch up stuff done and dusted.

16 years later, still the Daily Driver, but my physical challenges made in and out of it too damn painful, so moved it on. 280000kms, including 2 round Australia drives of 25000kms each time, and never left me/us stranded.

Her XJ12, Sir Arthur in my "garage" here, came along in the same year, and catch up done and dusted after a month, it was that sad, but it was then summoned to be her daily driver until 2013, when it was sold on, and had passed 500000kms. He still uses it daily, and obviously luvs it.

BUT,

ALL my Jags have been daily drivers, what else would one do with a Jag if not driving it???????, Garage queen, HAHAHAHA.

 

Once you have got her 'Up to Snuff' and providing you keep up the Maintenance the XJS is a very reliable Car.

And I would certainly drive my Car a lot more were it not for the Cost of the Petrol in the UK.

To put this in perspective about a couple of days ago, I filled up a One Gallon Can for the Mower, the cost of which was exactly Seven Pounds.

'I know these cans can vary a bit so it might have held a bit more'

This was the 'el-cheapo' stuff and not the 'Tesco Momentum' 99 Octane that I always use in my XJS.

My Average Fuel Consumption is 17mpg (according to the LED Computer)

17 Miles for Seven Pounds!

Not exactly Cheap to run but on a nice day its worth every penny.

 

I have driven my '94 6.0L V12 2+2 daily for the past 9 months without issue.

I took it once into the local Jag dealer to have them give it a once over after I had purchased it; and they changed the steering fluid and coolant. There are 79K miles on her right now, and based on what I read about the bulletproof engine, I fully expect to put on another 79K.

This car was made to be driven, not hidden in the garage.

 

You are SO right. An XJS driven daily will last indefinitely with regular yearly maintenance, and a sensible 5 yearly replacement regime of certain parts, such as hoses, belts and ignition components. In the UK it is rust that kills the XJS, not mileage.


In reality the trouble starts when they are NOT driven regularly! Then everything goes home, and fast.
Greg

 

That's what I keep hearing too about British cars: the single best regular maintenance task is just to keep them active. Mine's a semi-daily driver, in that I don't use her for supermarket runs if I can help it, but do to commute to the university a few days a week. And take her out on other days if the weather's nice.

As to reliability.... I had her in the shop 48 hours after delivery due to overheating and smoke pouring out of the bonnet. A brand-new aluminium radiator, new coolant pipes, new thermostats later, the temps are fine. The smoke was from the tranny, and the shop overhauled that for megabucks (as in, half the base price of the car). I've needed her trailered twice: once a coil shorted out and stopped providing spark to one bank, causing me to lose power (and you really notice the difference). The other time, the ABS failed. Both were relatively painless fixes, wallet-wise. Relatively.... She also had a leaking oil coolant pipe, which was fixed, plus rebuilt steering gear or something, and the next task is replacing the main engine aircon hose (plus new spark plug wires). There's been a couple of other things, too. Actually several other things. At least rust appears to a non-issue, so far. So far....

But these are all really just catch-up work that the PO neglected, and she had done very little driving in the four years before I got her. XJSs are very thin on the ground here indeed - less than ten coupés for sale nationwide at any given time. And getting thinner by the year, so I couldn't put it off too much longer. I did, however, wait until I could financially afford to keep her. And at 13 mpg around town, I do visit the petrol pumps pretty often....

Right now, she starts up first twist of the key every time, and I'm planning on taking her on a serious 2,000 km+ road trip in May. Before that, however, I do think an inspection for what might go wrong is also in order....

 

Yep, I noticed that too... Once it stands, everything starts to leak through the gaskets etc.

 

My '95 XJS 4.0 convertible was my daily driver for 6 plus years. A 40 mile daily round trip commute through the heaviest Tampa rush hour traffic and heat. It performed flawlessly, trouble free and possitively reliable. It has proven to be the most rock solid reliable car I have ever owned.

 

My XJS was my daily driver , including (fast ) interstate trips for 21 years and never ever ever , failed to proceed ( RR terminology ) . I have always believed that lack of knowledge by the average mechanic was responsible or Jags getting a bad rep , (back in the day).

 

My first XJS was a nightmare. Second I daily drove to the convenience store, work, grocery shopping, road trips, dry cleaners, you name it.

The weak spots are well documented. Be proactive with the maintenance and drive the heck out of it.

 

It takes a fair bit of time and experience to learn the XJS and/or V12 quirks. Or Jags in general, I suppose. Without the internet we'd all be lost ! Just think of all the tips, tricks, and 'must know' information we rely on but that is never mentioned in any Jaguar service manuals

Cheers
DD

 

I'd drive mine like a tank, stomp on the accelerator etc kickdown switch in city traffic daily until a rear wheel bearing failed and shredded the entire axle assy...unrelated to my leadfooted driving habits. Continued driving it daily it seems to respond well to spirited driving best to not let them sit still for long thats all I can say.