1998 Jaguar XJ8 xj8 from North America - Comments

I am currently in the market for a 1998 xj8. today

i test drove it at carmax, what a great car to

drive, handles like a dream!. the car currently has

61k on it, and I can buy an extended warranty for

3yrs 36mo. after reading all of these reviews on

this site I am now terrified to purchace this car!

My wife, and I also have small kids, and I don't

won't to be stranded on the highway waiting for a

tow!. I don't know if I should pass on this car, or

take a chance?...thanks!

Oh my. What can I say. As the song goes, "You can't always have what you want."

Also sounds like the original poster should not be buying a luxury car at all. They require more expensive maintenance, gas, and other essentials. You can't take it to Jiffy Lube or Midas for service.

Jaguars depreciate significantly more than other luxury cars so are always a bargain in the used car market. But just be aware of what you're getting into, especially if you take a loan out to purchase the car (meaning you might end up with a nonrunning vehicle you making payments on)

I simple word of advise to all present owners of 1997-1999 Jaguar XJ8 as well as XJR8's. If you still have a vehicle that runs, take it to a reputable non dealer authorized repair shop and have the timing tensioners replaced. This dreaded event has occured anywhere as early as 45K miles on through 125K miles too many Jaguar owners throughout the USA. The tensioners are a proven engineering failure, revised from original plastic to a more durable plastic and then finally to a metal component The manufactures have issued two service bulletins to dealers and yet the vehicle owner was not considered at all and left out in the dark. The fix required mind you only if a Jaguar owner complained of rattling emanating from the engine upon start up, was to replace these defective tensioners. A complete failure of this tensioners (two one per engine bank) leads this 0 tolerance engine essentially to self destruct. The repair can vary from 5,000- 10,000 dollars. If you own this vehicle do yourself a favor and have it rectified with the upgraded tensioners, possible timing chain & related gaskets. If you are considering buying one of these vehicles at least one is now fully aware of this potential early catastrophic engine failure take necessary steps to prevent this from happening. Or essentially one can opt to have no part of this horrific experience and not purchase the vehicle at all. My only regrets are that I was completely unaware of this situation and extremely disappointed in the manufacturer and dealers for not assisted their loyal vehicle owners with the preventative maintenance. Good Luck!