1996 Jaguar Vanden Plas X300 review from North America

Right rear wheel bearing had to be replaced. A common problem with these.

Front wheel bearings were also marginal so I replaced those as well.

The driver's seat memory didn't work when I bought the car. This is a fairly common problem. I bought a replacement module.

The radiator mounts disintegrated. Another fairly common problem, but it's a very easy fix.

The headliner started to fall down.

The Harmon/Kardon sound system is tricky, the volume changes slightly as you're listening to CDs and the rear bass speaker failed.

The paint on the top surfaces (roof, trunk, hood) fades with these cars, especially the darker colors. A good body shop can fix this for $1,800.00.

This 4.0 liter engine and the automatic transmission that Jaguar uses in these cars are probably the best they've ever made.

Other problems with these cars (which I have not experienced yet) are:

1. Automatic rear view mirror starts to leak fluid

2. The clock fails and you can no longer read the display

3. The small bulbs that illuminate the odometer blow out (a relatively easy fix)

In spite of the minor annoyances I listed, these X300s (1995-1997) Jaguars are one of the best they ever made! My car is going on 12 years old and if you ask me, that's a better than average track record for a car of that age compared to any other makes. NO MAJOR ENGINE PROBLEMS, is the big advantage which far outweighs the small problems!

The car handles well, the engine and transmission are perfect, the climate control system is so much better than the XJ40 (1988-1994 XJ6) or earlier Series III XJ6s.

I paid $7200.00 for this car in May of 2007 and don't regret it one bit.