1997 Jaguar XK8 from North America - Comments

Engine had to be replaced at 67,000 miles.

This automobile was meticulously maintained by Jaguar dealers and no formal explanation for the failure. $11,000 bill of which Jaguar NA contributed $4,000. Terrible experience. $72,000 car with dime store service attitude.

Should have never left BMW! What were you thinking man?

They replaced my engine free of charge!

Probably left BMW because the Jag is a beautiful car, and the Germans engineer very good machines, but have never built anything pretty in their history?

Actually, the new XK and XJ Jags are very reliable cars. The only problem that the V8 has ever had is the timing chain tensioner failure which causes damage to the engine. If you can get this fixed preventively under warranty, (Jaguar has updated tensioners to fix the problem), then the car will surely last forever. My grandmother just had her XK8 go through this, but they are having the engine replaced by Jaguar. Jaguar will honor the "Select Edition" warranty if you just stay on top of them and don't let them argue their way out of it. Great car, one fault, completely fixable though.

I was hoping that Ford had got Jaguar quality right when I bought my 1997 XK8 with FJSH at 53K, unfortunately I have been proved wrong. I replaced the tensioners straightaway and they were cracked. Since then the traction control is coming on intermittently for no reason shutting down the engine revs usually when I most need them. The final drive clutch pack is rasping/vibrating so it will be a new auto box because this is not repairable. In addition the CATS suspension has failed somewhere and so I am in default mode. After only 9000 miles I am less than impressed. Beautiful car and a good drive, but that's my 7th and last Jaguar they are all way too much trouble, I'm buying Japanese next. From some of the reviews posted elsewhere I can see I am not alone.

98 XK8 49K miles; timing tensions failure. Replaced the engine; $10K. Jaguar said too bad, out of warranty. I have copies of Technical Bulletins - Jaquar were aware of the defect - first solution was "dampener" to cover up noise, then redesigned plastic tensioners twice until a change in 2003. Dozens of other owners with same exact situation on the web. I intend to bring this to public attention through media exposure.

Hi

I just posted a review about my newer Jag, but I'll tell you about my 1997 XK8:

To start it off Jaguar builds beautiful cars (in my opinion) no matter what you say. Although the S-Type, not so much.

I got my 1997 Jaguar used with about 58,000 miles, from my uncle so I thought I was safe... I was dead wrong.

Here's a few problems I had with it.

When I had the car parked in my garage for about 3 days in winter because the snow was terrible, about 5 inches. After that 3 day period I went to start my car, nada, all the gauges would go all the way around, and the clock hands would spin completely around... Every time you opened the doors too, the windows instead of dropping a little bit for entry, would drop about an inch to two inches and stay there, and just keep going farther and farther down...

So what do I do? Of course call the local Jaguar shop; what they told me blew my head off, they don't have the electrical diagrams for a 1997 XK because the electrical system was completely revamped in 1998, and they just don't have a copy of the 1997... So what I could do would be drop the car off and they would manually try to diagnose the problem at a reduced rate of $90.00/hour... What do I do next? Call Jaguar of North America; they were absolutely no help siding with the dealership... I tried to be as nice as possible, to these people, and not be rude, just make sure they knew I was serious... All I wanted to do was get my car up and running again...

Then I had a friend who told me to take it to our local mechanic. Luckily there's a guy in my town who specializes in foreign cars; only Jag, Mercedes, Audi and BMW... I had to have the car towed to him, but once there it took him about 3 hours he had to replace the battery, and some of the harness wires leading to the battery under the back seat were loose and he fixed em, total cost $150.

Anyway that was just one problem, the ABS light would just come on and go off when it wanted, the car would sometimes refuse to start... If any car I did have had a mind of it's own it would be this.

Also the exterior lights liked to play tag. With so many lights it always seems one is burnt out. If it's not a front fog light, it's a rear fog light, or a headlamp or a tail light, or a side marker... it goes on and on.

Pros: The car is beautiful, the leather inside was still great when I got the car, definitely some wear on the driver's side, but that's expected.

The heated windshield is amazing, and I can't believe that only a few cars I've been in actually have electric windshield defrosters...

Overall good car, avoid the 1997 model year though...