Like to hear from any Jaguar XJS owners

I've always loved these cars, and am now looking seriously at picking one up. The prices seem to be descent right now, but as the old saying goes, nothing is more expensive than a cheap Jaguar...

Looking for any buying advice I can get. Thanx.

You need to read "The Book".

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/

I donated my 1988 XJS to one of those charity things 'cause I couldn't get anyone to buy it and I was sick of working on it. It was in good running condition at the time, too. Of course, that was after the repairs for the engine fire, removing the rear suspension to replace the pads and rotors, a couple of alternator replacements, replacing all the fuel injection hoses ($2500, including repainting the hood from the fire), replacing 23 cooling and heater hoses, replacing leaking cam cover gaskets (a 3 day job due to all the crap on the top of the engine), a half day to replace spark plugs, etc., etc., etc.

If you are an excellent mechanic then you might be able to keep up with it. If not, then you better be filthy rich to pay someone else to keep up with it. If I were to buy another one (and I will not) I would go the youngest car I could find (they got better the longer Ford owned Jaguar). I'd also see if I could find one of the few 6 cylinder cars that were made (which kinda defeats the purpose of owning an XJS to begin with), since they are more reliable and easier to work on.

That's too bad. They are neat looking cars, but if it doesn't have SU carbs I'm out of my league. Thanx for the reply.

My experience with the XJS is that they can be reliable cars and are a wonderful if thirsty touring car. The problem is finding a good one. A $3,000 XJS is usually not worth buying. If you consider one make sure to have a complete compression test done before buying. It is easy to skip the rearward cylinders as the plug holes are difficult to get to.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though and no it isn't a train. The most inexpensive and easiest ones to own are the 6 cylinder AJ6 and AJ16 powered cars. The engine is super easy to service if you ever need to and will last forever with few if any problems whatsoever. Also the fuel mileage is almost double a V12 with not much loss of performance. You can get a good 6 cylinder coupe for about $4,500 and roadsters run $5,500-$7,500 and they are a great value.

real XJS have 12 cylinders!

anybody have a way to contact Group 44 racing team?? and is engine man Brian Fuerstanau still with us, or Lankey Fouchee??

i was reading when they raced at Road Atlanta in 1977 they where a full second ahead of the closest competitor(corvettes and camaros

Sadly, Brian Fuerstanau died in 1993, a plane crash, I think. Lankey is still around.

I agree about the XJS, gotta be a V12...