1986 Jaguar XJ40 Daimler 3.6 litre from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

The XJ40 is brilliant by design, with grace, space and pace in the true Jaguar tradition

Faults:

Rear passenger roof line grab handles have broken retaining roll pins, so they fall off.

Center console digital clock must be reset each time the ignition is turned on. I re-flowed the solder joints on the PC board, which may have fixed it.

Radio would not work in FM mode. The car came from Japan, and the FM band is 76 to 90 MHz; in Australia it is 88 to 108 MHz.

Heater valve not operating; no vacuum detected at the actuator.

Auto ride leveling has been disconnected and fitted with standard suspension.

Anti lock warning stays on. Need to check and clean the wheel sensors.

Slight rust in the rear right door and the rear right fender near the tail light.

Power windows and door locks are slow to operate.

Drive train wear seems to have caused a lot of take up when shifting from drive to reverse and back.

Metric tyre sizes 390 215 60 v 98; not made anywhere.

Some plastic trims missing on the inside door handles.

Roof head liner has been replaced.

General Comments:

This car is 24 years old, and has traveled only 65000kms.

The interior is perfect like new.

The car drives like a dream, but Japanese emission standards mean it has slow response to the throttle.

The car was stored in a shipping container for 5 years.

I paid $7,500 dollars, and will need to spend around $3000 to restore it to Purrrfect condition.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th June, 2010