1983 Jaguar XJ6 review from North America

Front brake pads.

Front calipers.

Rear pads.

Massively bad oil leak.

Flex plate.

Timing chain was super loose.

Rear axle assembly rusted off of car.

Rusty.

Random electrical problems.

I wanted something interesting so I traded my old Ford truck and 600 bucks for this Jaguar at a dealership. I really wanted a Jag and I ignored some signs on the test drive that this thing was a wreck.

First thing I noticed is the car had some sort of rattling going on when I would take off. I chalked it up to a loose heat shield. Car had been sitting for a little while, from the looks of it out in the grass since the under side had a lot of cancer.

My friend and I took it on a road trip that we had hoped would be fun. Instead it was filled with wondering if the car was going to make it back home after we had to turn around in Nebraska (started out in central Wisconsin). The car sprung a horrid leak somewhere and was losing a quart to two quarts every 40-50 miles. The engine steadily got noisier and noisier. Seemed like it was in the upper end. The rattling kept getting worse too.

The last straw was when the tire blew in Nebraska, I kept jacking the car up and I noticed the tire wasn't coming off the ground. The rear trailing arm was completely disconnected from the car. The only thing holding in the rear end assembly was gravity, a driveshaft, and good luck. The other rattling noise kept getting worse and worse until it was clear that something was wrong with the flex plate. Had plenty of electrical gremlins and the car was pretty hard on fuel. I managed to squeak out 20 mpg if I was going a steady 55 on flat ground, otherwise it was a rather trucklike 16-17 mpg. I had an old 54 Packard with a two speed automatic that got that. The motor was bigger than the Jags to boot.

Also getting a spare key was an exercise in seeing how much the Jag dealer (stealer) could rip you off. After fruitlessly trying to find a place that had the right key blanks, I went to an actual Jag dealer. They had the key blanks for the low low sum of 20 bucks a freaking key. Would have been a sweeter pill to swallow if they weren't generic blanks. Looked about the same as the buck key blanks at Wal-Mart. They wouldn't even cut the key for that price.

After giving up on the road trip, I arrived back at home and quickly unloaded the car off at a salvage yard for 600 bucks. Never missed that pile of junk.

I had an old 51 GMC that hadn't been ran since 74 I resurrected that was more reliable than that British abomination. Changed plugs and put gas in it, that was it. Best British cars are ones that have American engines in them.

About the only good thing I can say about it is the ride was very smooth. The best riding car I have ever owned.