Hello! I unique opportunity has presented itself to me - a good friend has offered to sell his 1995 XJS Covertable(6 cylinder) to me for $8000 (US funds). The car has been recently tuned up, and is in great shape. The car has 60k miles on it. What am I getting myself into with this car? Are the mid-90s XJS' riddled with problems like the coupes from the 80s? I am a decent (shadetree)mechanic and can do much of the maitenence myself - I was thinking of an early 90's BMW 5-series but this offer just looks too good to pass up! Ive been in love with jaguars ever since I knew what a car was... Thanks, Chris snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
Sounds like a SUPER good deal to me. Buy it. I prefer the mystique of the V12's, but that's also a weak link on the XJS, so if the V12's not important to you, then the 6 ought to last a long time.
A V12 would be sweet - but at this stage in my life (just out of college - nearly out of debt aquired while in college:)) Im willing to trade in the glory of being a V12 owner for the reliability/better gas mileage of a 6.
Chris, I'm the owner of a '94 4.0 6-cyl. As far as these cars go, I appears that '94-'96 were the best years to own, and the 4.0L models the most trouble-free. The v-12's are pretty maintenance intensive and have so many things to go wrong. As the car has had it's 60,000 mile service, the price is a good deal as long as the car has been always properly maintained. I'm assuming that the car has never been wrecked, or anything like that. These cars do have their gremlins, but I've had good luck so far, as the previous owner did take very good care of the car. (102K miles now). A neglected Jaguar will be an expensive nightmare. If the car is a good example, you will be happy with your choice. Good luck.
I have both an XJS and a late 80s BMW 5 series. The 5 series is MUCH cheaper to operate and fix. (But the Jag 6 cyl is a much easier engine to work on than the V12 and mine is a V12... wonderful torque curve but I'd take a 6 cyl.)
On the freeway the Jag is more fun. Around town the BMW is more fun.
I got the BMW after I noticed all my Jag mechanics drive BMWs. ("When you fix a BMW, it stays fixed," - my lead mechanic.)
On the price, I just declined to buy a well-maintained late 80's XJS for $2K that needed a new steering rack... That's a $1.3K repair...been there, done that. $1.3K is just the start of it all ;-) For $8K you can buy a great E34. The 535s are better than the 540s.
$1300 for a steering rack on an '80s XJS?? Why so much?? I replaced my steering rack on my '88 XJ40 for a $250 re-built with a lifetime warranty. Took 45 minutes to swap out the units and $40 to have it machine aligned.
Why would the XJS be so much more -- I thought they were about the same.
The cost is all labor. I think I only paid about $350 in parts.
On an XJ-S you have a lot more to take off and put back on. That's generally true as, even though the front of the car is huge, a V-12 completely fills it. Just changing air filters is a challenge. Swapping plugs on an HE version of the engine, which mine does not have, takes a special tool and, for someone who hasn't done it before, a full afternoon. And changing out stuff that only needs access when it breaks is proportionately worse.
That's one reason I recommended the six cylinder in my comment below.
Next year the XJ-S officially becomes an Historical Vehicle. It is one of the few black bumper XJ-Ss still driving. (The folks at Welsh's said it had been about 3 years since they had seen one actually driven.)
I have cut back to about one or two days use per week and don't fix everything anymore just what needs to be fixed to keep it driving. But I do drive it and I can walk out the house and drive it off anytime. She is fun.
But she can turn around and take a thousand dollar bite out of your wallet without any warning. A multiple personality car. (Sybil is her name '-)
My experience is you really need another car if you own an older XJ-S Jag. Even though you can make them daily drivers, it's expensive and the repairs can easily take several days to get done.
Even though he was looking at one of the last XJ-Ss made and not one of the first, if the original poster was only going to buy one car, he'd better buy the E-34 BMW "-)
Prior to 1982 the bumpers were entirely made from a special 'crush return' plastic. Below 5 mph it would deform but return to it's original shape over time.
Given the brittle nature of all the plastic parts in the wipers, dash, et.al. I doubt it works anymore.
But it looks a lot nicer than the chrome bumper models... IMHO.
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is a front shot. The headlights havebeen restored to euro specs... early xj-s suffered from quad eye.
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