Faults:

Heater fan broke - bad connection on relay, fixed

Clock light faulty, PCB fault have not repaired (yet)

Rear screen needed re-bonding

Central locking sometimes intermittent on rear doors.

Update October 2009:

Faulty autogearbox - rough engagement of drive or neutral

Oil leak from head-gasket (declared game over and sold the car!)

General Comments:

Excellent ride and handling, interior is a pleasant place to be, very "gentlemans club". Seating is not as comfortable as you might expect on long journeys. "Leather" interior is only leather facing on the seats, the rest is vinyl.

Performance not as quick as I expected, and is significantly slower off the line than the XJS 3.6 or 4.0. Not the sweetest of 6 pot engines, although this is offset by *very* good sound insulation.

Wind and road noise probably very good for its day, but most modern saloons can match the car in terms of noise, at cruising speeds.

Update October 2009:

It was nothing like as quiet as an XJS or series III, there was a lot of road noise from the rear tyres. However I have since found that worn pendulum bushes on the rear suspension may have been the cause of this.

Faults:

Head gasket failed twice (first time was due to poor install by mechanic).

Power steering pump failed, which resulted in intermittent power assist (unsafe). Replaced with rebuilt unit.

Power steering rack seals are leaking. Repaired once, but is now leaking again. Still unresolved.

Rear hydraulic suspension failed (SLS). Replaced with non-SLS parts and all associated hydraulics removed.

Air Conditioning leaking/failed due to rock damaged condenser. Still unresolved because I must convert to R134a in order to effect repairs, which is costly.

Oil pressure sender failure. I'm told this was a common problem. Oil pressure gauge would incorrectly read zero and the trouble light would come on. Replaced with updated sender and has not caused any more issues.

Radio arial does not retract. I was negligent in cleaning the arial. I found a replacement at a local breakers and have had no problems since.

Air thermister failure (fuel fail 16 VCM code). I tried to order a replacement from the (only) Jaguar dealer who wanted $150-170cdn for it, and I would have to wait for them to order it in from England. I called a Jaguar dealer in Seattle (across the border from me in Vancouver BC) and they only wanted $80cdn for it! In the end I pulled the sensor, flushed it out with WD40, and reinstalled it with no more faults.

General Comments:

We purchased this car because my father wanted a nice car to drive after years of agony in a minivan transporting me to hockey practice and school! We had thought that purchasing the vehicle from a local Jaguar club member would ensure little problems, but we were wrong as the vehicle had many unresolved issues that the seller unloaded on us. I also made the mistake of sending the car to a common mechanic for pre-inspection, rather than a Jaguar specialist.

We love the interior. It makes you realize how grim Mercedes or BMW interiors are. Headroom is a little tight for taller passengers, but still manageable. Back seat space is a little tight however. The trunk can swallow almost anything.

Engine performance is good for it's size. It is no match to the current AJ8 or Supercharged models, but we don't use it as a sports car.

The same applies to handling. We are a little disappointed with braking performance however... it is a heavy car and the brakes just don't seem up to the task when the need to stop hard arises.

The transmission shifts smoothly, and the Sport mode does the job, but sometimes fumbling for the button can be frustrating. The J-gate is a little too contrived... we rarely use it.

Despite all the problems, we still like the car very much. I'm not sure we would sell it because the resale value is poor, and lately it has not been giving us any grief.