1990 Jaguar XJ6 Sovereign 4.0L I6 from North America

Summary:

The only car I will ever own

Faults:

The only issue I have had thus far is a power steering hose that needed to be replaced. Now the only reason this happened was because the doh-head mechanic who was working on the car in its previous ownership, decided to mount it to the scorching hot exhaust, which caused a leak, and eventually a very embarrassing moment outside of my school one Monday morning (last Monday in fact). But I've had the car back and fixed for 3 days now, and it is running beautifully. Everything feels smoother and more luxurious.

General Comments:

Words cannot describe the way this car makes you feel. Pictures cannot tell you how beautiful the car is until you see one in person. You can never understand how comfortable the seats are until you sit in one.

I'm 18 years old, and this is my first car. As soon as I turned 16, I did my research on cars from every company. I knew what I wanted as soon as I came across it; a Jaguar. Nothing beats Jaguar when it comes to style, performance and luxury put together, and depending on the model, reliability!

I am the third owner of my car, and I live in Canada, and it has been pretty well maintained. The first owner was a rich doctor out in Vancouver, and it made its way over to New Brunswick with the second owner, and it was pretty evident it was winter driven, due to the studded tyres on it! And I WILL be driving it in the winter, but only with special steps taken to prevent rust and corrosion.

The condition of it was overall very good. No mechanical maladies, A spot or two of fixable surface rust, a few light bulbs needed replacing, and a very thorough cleaning!

Well from the 3 weeks I've owned it with less than $100.00 spent. I've brought it up to EXCELLENT condition (minus the new power steering hose, which still only cost me $150.00)

The parts are inexpensive on these cars and are easy to find. All the little niggly things that can go wrong have been made SO easy to replace by Jaguar. Some cars you have to tear apart to fix the tiniest things. Well just by manual-less trouble-shooting, I managed to fix a lot of tiny things in the interior and replace the speakers. The only real expense is the gas.

Highway driving is great, The car weighs about 3 times as much as a Toyota Yaris, so when it gets rolling, it goes along very nicely. But city driving isn't very pleasant for fuel economy.

The car is a head-turner. I have people from all walks of life showing their appreciation for Jaguars. I am probably one of 15 people in my relatively large city who drive a Jaguar, so just when you think nobody feels the same way about these cars than you do, you get people crowding around it at gas stations and parking lots.

I want people to enjoy my car as much as I do. I don't care for parking it at the very back of the parking lot at the mall or grocery store, I park it where people can see it and enjoy it.

This car really is something different. I have old men, foreigners, drug dealers, women, teenagers, kids, rich people, and poor people, ALL enjoying my car and giving me thumbs up or compliments, and they yell at me as I drive by. I feel like if I left my car in a bad part of town, nobody would hurt it. It's respected by all, and you can't do that with just any car of this caliber. If you park a Bentley overnight in a bad part of Toronto, you can say goodbye to your tyres and paint job.

Truly this is a good buy for anyone looking for a cool car for good money. This is my first car and I couldn't picture myself owning a Chevy Cavalier, or Pontiac Sunfire like all my friends.

But if you buy one, buy a good one. You don't even really need a service history as much as you need a trusted mechanic to look over it. Mind you, I did NEITHER, but I lucked out. The gentleman selling it wanted $3500.00, and I talked him down to $2500.00. I looked over it myself with the knowledge of cars I have gained over years of careful studying. Buy a good one, and take care of it.

Now I wrote this review to talk about the actual ownership of this car, which is what you people are looking for. You all know how well a Jaguar rides and performs, but I know you want to be informed about what it's like to own one, which is why you are here. If you have any questions at all, feel free to comment. Thank you.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th June, 2012

14th Jun 2012, 18:40

Your first car, that you've owned for a whole three weeks, and you have already decided you will never own any other car?

4th Jul 2012, 19:46

Of course I have. I've driven many cars from all around the world, and nothing beats the value of this car versus how fun it is.

26th Jul 2012, 00:43

Update: It's been 2 months and I've put 5000KM on the car already! Nothing to report but tons of solid, reliable fun!

15th Nov 2012, 22:50

It's been 7 months and I still love my car. It had a small leak coming from the engine, and with much prayer that it wasn't a head gasket, it was just a slightly shrunken head cover gasket. $42 later I have the part on order, ready to be installed!

Some parts can be pricey for these cars, but they are generally good; still cheaper than a new Mercedes or BMW!

I have about 8000KM on the car already, and I'm preparing for much more!

28th Nov 2012, 16:22

Scratch that, 10,000km on the car, and the installation of the gasket was $75. I was told that the steering rack is gonna need a seal replaced. I've found replacement racks online for about $275. But my mechanic told me to get the seals, and he'll recondition it for cheaper.

11th Feb 2018, 02:25

Pretty uncommon first car review for a teen, even an 18. How’s your car insurance? I remember most of us starting driving very commonplace teen cars like a used Nova. I should have found a running XKE back then after reading this.

11th Feb 2018, 14:35

Apparently the "years of careful studying" did not divulge the fact that a 22 year old Jaguar has a high potential to be a money pit, as the hapless reviewer no doubt has since discovered, hence the lack of updates since 2012...

1990 Jaguar XJ6 Sovereign 4.0 litre 6 Cylinder from North America

Summary:

Fast, but not trustworthy

Faults:

Head gasket blown at 111000 miles.

Faulty power steering pump.

Automatic door locks stopped working.

Torn Rack boot.

Has developed 3 different coolant leaks.

Slight stutter in transmission.

General Comments:

When this car is running it is a dream to drive.

It is a large fast vehicle with imposing looks.

I am 6 feet 5 inches tall and the cabin of this vehicle is simply too small for someone my height.

I drove the car about 5 thousand miles per month with perfect maintenance.

I may have weakened the vehicle with constant speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour when on the freeway.

These cars are amazing to drive and are very comfortable, however reliability is a weak point.

Jaguars are very fast cars; high speeds tend to ruin them though.

Even after 15 years the interior is still perfect and the paint is glossy.

Excellent car if you have it checked out before you buy and you have large disposable income.

Averaged 16 mpg with occasionally flooring of gas pedal.

Looks great with 20 inch wheels.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 6th April, 2005

8th Feb 2018, 17:25

High speeds will wear any vehicle out faster. I bought a BMW 5 series in Germany with 78,000 miles on it. It had a factory new engine. Why? Because the old engine was blowing blue smoke - rings. The only explanation was cruise speeds on the autobahn exceeding 100 mph.

8th Feb 2018, 19:07

High speed usage doesn't wreck engines, poor maintenance does.

11th Feb 2018, 02:07

Sounds pretty typical of any BMW of that mileage.

12th Feb 2018, 11:53

My car is easily set on cruise as an example running 100 mph at under 2500 RPM. And it's not the only modern era car capable of that. It’s all in the gears in overdrive.