Air conditioning system - new compressor, evaporator, condenser...
Doors and lower rear quarters rusting fast.
Speedometer transducer failed.
Headlamp wiring breaking up.
Intermittent mis-fire.
Central locking comes and goes, as does the passenger electric window.
It's a super car. More than fast enough - 120mph comes up quite quickly, and more is availble if you are determined enough! I've seen 135mph and it was still accelerating. Handling is beautifully balanced, and it doesn't betray it's weight, even on a race track. The ride, though, is a lot less comfortable than older Jags.
It's very comfortable, though the back seats are useless - more so on the later cars which have 'fatter' seats!
It still causes comment. Several people have stopped me to say what a beautiful car it is.
Sadly, the number of seemingly incurable faults is driving me mad. I have no idea what to replace it with. I've run a Mercedes 500SEC, Range Rovers, several Jaguar saloons, even a Rolls. The XJ-S is a superb design - but even when maintained 'regardless of cost' they still suffer unreliability. I've covered over 20,000 miles in the last year, and spent perhaps £4,000. And still the air conditioning is broken...
I agree with you 100%. For this reason I would never buy anything other than an immaculate example. I bought a 3.6 1987 and whilst I loved it, the cost of replacing the heater matrix and curing the various faults and rust associated with a c. 1987 British Leyland car just ended up depressing me. When I retire I have promised myself a nice V12 to keep for high days and holidays. This will be kept in my hangar of toys.
I have just bought my second Jag. A 1988 XJ VDP. It has 173,000 miles and when I got it last month, the first thing I did was to invest a couple of hundred dollars in replacing the original valve cover gasket and clean the engine bay. It is a beautiful classic design with a most comfortable ride.
This Jag came with very thick maintenance receipts. It seems that the original owner had replaced all the parts that had gone bad, and I'm the lucky one to claim a Jag that's been fixed of the bugs!
It's in immaculate condition. According to the Jag mechanic the car should last another 100k miles with regular maintenance.
I do have one qualm about this Jag and that's it's acceleration. I've read and seen a video in YT how fast and or nimble this 3.6L engine is, but mine seems so slow going from 0-60. This despite the YT video showing that the same '88 3.6L model burning rubber in a standing acceleration. I don't believe something is wrong with the engine, because when I accelerate in freeway speed it has a good pick-up.
All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase. My advice is get one before they all rot to hell and there will be no more of these cars.
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