Jaguar XJR?

Does anyone here have one? I like how they look, and I keep looking at them on craigslist and they are fairly cheap (less than $6k). Would getting one be a terrible idea though?

I've got a 2001 and love it. It's been reliable (I've owned it since 2006) with the exception of the MAF failing twice, and it's fun to drive. The MAF is fairly inexpensive though (Rock Auto sells reconditioned one now for <$200, I'll try that one next time instead of an OEM one), but I find it ironic that it's the japanese electronics on a British car that are the unreliable part. You can get some weird handling when the bearings in the rear suspension or the front suspension bushings go but replacing them isn't hard, just time consuming. The trunk is a lot smaller than you'd expect though so if that's an issue you should look for a 2004+ model (the aluminum bodied cars are a lot bigger). Other than that, do some research on the timing chain tensioners - the early cars had plastic ones that failed around 100,000 miles. They got updated around 2001-2002 but were still plastic and are rumored to fail too, just not as soon. When they upsized the engine to 4.2L, they went to all metal tensioners and they apparently never wear out. Transmissions are apparently a potential issue too, with some failing around 100,000 miles and some lasting forever.

Other than that, there are a few forums with decent knowledge about repairs. Jaguarforums.com is the only one that I can think of at the moment.

If you've got specific questions, let me know.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=195961

Here is a buyer's guide. There are several buyer's guides out there for them.

I hadn't heard much about the transmissions issues though.

I've heard the gas mileage makes whales cry. Other than that they are awesome.

I'm hoping the transmission woes are just internet hysteria. The regular XJ8s have a different transmission that has issues (you'll find the cars on craigslist for pretty cheap) and there's a lot of "internet evidence" of failures of transmissions in a friends car, or a guy at work or some guy I met at Autozone who used to own one. I don't spend enough time on the other forums to know how true the stories are.

As for mileage, I average about 18-19 mpg with probably 2/3 city driving. On the highway I'll get about 21mpg. It's not great, but it's not horrible.

I'm curious - what happened to Mguar? I expected a response from him giving incredibly vague directions for building a 1200hp, 2000lb XJ12.

Schmidlap wrote: I'm hoping the transmission woes are just internet hysteria. The regular XJ8s have a different transmission that has issues (you'll find the cars on craigslist for pretty cheap) and there's a lot of "internet evidence" of failures of transmissions in a friends car, or a guy at work or some guy I met at Autozone who used to own one. I don't spend enough time on the other forums to know how true the stories are.

I've seen tow XJRs for sale on semi-local CL with transmissions failures.

Schmidlap wrote: As for mileage, I average about 18-19 mpg with probably 2/3 city driving. On the highway I'll get about 21mpg. It's not great, but it's not horrible.

That's liveable.

Schmidlap wrote: I'm curious - what happened to Mguar? I expected a response from him giving incredibly vague directions for building a 1200hp, 2000lb XJ12.

I'm fairly sure he was locked up in the troll cage. Its under someone's cement patio.....I may have already said too much.

The transmisson failure stories are the one thing that makes an xjr sound not so great. If I remember right some people said it was over $10k to have one rebuilt or replaced (not sure which they did with those) at the dealer.

I don't understand what the big fuss is about the transmission. It's the Mercedes/Chrysler W5A 580 which is very common. A newish used one is about 600$.

The normal XJ8 have a Ford transmission which are not as tough., which is why they changed it for the XJR. I think a lot of Jaguar owner get taken to town by their stealership.

Also, Mercedes used to say those transmission were sealed for life, which is a complete non-sense.

Hey Travis, are you talking V8 or the supercharged I6?

I was mostly looking at the V8 ones, but I hadn't really decided between one or the other. It would probably be a year or two before id get one, its probably about the most normal car i have thought about getting when I get tired of my mercedes, I imagine its a better idea than a biturbo or quattroporte, or another alfa haha.

Travis_K wrote: I imagine its a better idea than a biturbo or quattroporte, or another alfa haha.

Absolutely not a better idea than the above.

True, I bet a maserati is easier to work on, I know a milano would be, after driving one for almost 3 years I can't get that excited about getting another one though. I really want a Quattroporte III, I looked at one a few months ago that was almost perfect, but it wouldnt start and was more money than I could afford to spend on something like that.

I really want a supercharged I6 XJ but they are getting hard to find. In many ways they are more reliable then the V8s. I have also noticed it is much easier to find Jags with full maintenance histories then BMW or Mercedes.

Does anyone know how much an xjr windshield costs? I live in california and drive on the freeway, so windshields are in the same category as tires as far as being a regular replacement item. After having one Italian car, I don't think id want another DD with $750 windshields lol. Normal cars are in the $200-$250 range.

New windshields are $127 from rockauto. I own an '01 XJR and have been using it as a daily driver (winter beater) for three years now. My (mostly city) mileage is about 19mpg. It is the ultimate highway cruiser, with plenty of torque at any speed or rpm. Most service parts are rather inexpensive. But I did have a few somewhat major issues over the years. My tensioners failed at 145K km mark and had to be replaced, ABS module threw a code, which ended up being an easy DYI fix, and I ended up replacing all front end bushings and ball joints at about 190K km mark ($300 for the kit). Oh, and I replaced both wheel bearings within the last two years. Overall, I'm probably averaging close to $1,500 per year in maintenance. It is by no means an inexpensive car to own, but it's not as bad as some other luxury brands.