So come March next year and I will be 50 - well it happens.

Anyway I have always wanted a Jaguar and thought I could buy one as a present to myself. The wife spent £1500 on her 50th party, so figured I could get away with spending the same.

Its appears (from a couple of quick searches) that old jags can be had for that sort of money. I was wondering what advice those of you that may have owned or driven them might give, or maybe you are considering selling one in the new year.

[Edited on 20/11/13 by BigGeoff]

The 6's are meant to be more reliable than the 8's.

I had a xjr 6 cylinder and it was a superb car I had it about 6 years, other than normal servicing I needed a battery and a driveshaft u/j for one MOT.

A friend of mine had the V8 version, he spent 11,000 on several repairs to the engine which didn't work and then two new secondhand engines which failed as well. I believe the later V8 engines are spot on

Everyone needs to own an jaguar at some point, it's the law!

I have run XJS's, an XJ6 and a XK8, the v8 will have a lot more complexity and return better mpg and the gearbox is far better than a straight 6

V8's
Engine - make sure it's had the later tensioners fitted, needs doing every 75,000 miles from memory. The engine should be quiet and smooth, try and take an OBD scanner and look for any fault codes, the coils go and are not cheap.

Gearbox,s on XJR's are Mercedes, sealed for life in a jaguar however Mercedes fit a filler/dipstick and recommend fluid changes... It should change smoothly, when purchased replace all fluids including the rear diff.

Supercharger is an eaton, again it should be nice and quiet, there is a small bung in the front, suck the black goo out with a syringe and replace with mobile 1, it's the same that eaton use without the price tag. If the charger is clunky then the coupler will be worn, this is not expensive to replace and you can replace the bearings etc yourself. Porting the charger and fitting a smaller pulley will greatly increase power.

The car should waft along quietly and go like a scalded cat when floored, it's deceptively fast, plenty around so make sure you get a good one, not the first one.

Parts are actually pretty cheap.

Straight 6

Less complicated, not as fast poorer MPG still a very smooth engine

Should do 200,000 miles with ease if looked after well and more of a DIY proposition.

Same applies to the supercharger as above.

Regards Mark

[Edited on 20/11/13 by mark chandler]

Thank you some really good info there - time to start looking methinks.