1984 Jaguar XJS review from North America

The first thing that went wrong was the transmission. The leak was only a warning. I had to have it rebuilt at a cost of $1500,.00.

The gas tank leaked so the cockpit always smelled of gas. This is a common problem for these older XJSs I was told.

One of the catalytic converters became plugged causing the car to refuse to run, I just removed both converters. This increased the power a little and cooled the cockpit a touch.

Cockpit was very hot sitting behind that V-12.

The electronic modulator went with no warning. The car just stopped running and had to be towed. Cost of repair was less than $50.00 because a Jag mechanic who felt sorry for me told me that the modulator is the same as a 1972 Monte Carlo and snaps right in the computer box on top of the engine. He said the dealer would replace the whole computer box, not cheap.

To continue to list every problem would be too time consuming. What I remember most was that as soon as I repaired one thing another popped up. When I bought the car I also invested $1,000.00 in tools and it saved me thousands.

If you ignore the fact that the car can be a mechanical nightmare, it is just a beautiful car to own and drive. It's fast, sexy, handles very well at all speeds and is almost worth the problems.

I always compared it to having a very beautiful girlfriend who cheated on you.

The end came when my initial $4000.00 investment was up to $12,000.00. I had to cut my losses when the engine dropped two valves (due to my pushing the car at over 100 mph) and required $3500.00 to repair.

The worst part is that I'm not 100% sure I wouldn't buy another one.