Jaguar owners, past or present (luxury, convertibles, brake, best)
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Lately I find myself looking at Jaguar XK convertibles in the 2007-09 model years as a nice weather cruiser. I am looking for those who own a Jaguar currently of have owned one produced in the past ten years for your opinions. Mainly are they dependable or do they fall in the money pit category? The car would be driven gently for the most part some where around 7000 miles a year. I figure being a luxury brand parts and service would cost more than any of the main stream car companies and I am fine with that if they are fairly dependable. Any real world experiences, good or bad would be greatly appreciated.
I would check the Jaguar forums, especially the XK section. You will find more than enough information from those members to answer questions. They have been very helpful for me as I contemplate a late model XFR or XJ as my next vehicle.
I am looking at buying a XJ6. Of course the first thing I am gonna do is gut everything under the hood and slap in a complete LS1 and tranny from a 2002 camaro I have sourced from a friend.
I know three friends who have had five XKs among them (05-11), and all have been solid cars mechanically. They are nice to drive and still look great despite being older designs. One thing though, none of them take their cars to the dealership for service when needed - all distrust the dealer and say it is way overpriced for work.
The difference is late- and post-Ford ownership - Ford really improved the company and its product quality before it sold the brand.
I am looking at buying a XJ6. Of course the first thing I am gonna do is gut everything under the hood and slap in a complete LS1 and tranny from a 2002 camaro I have sourced from a friend.
OH, the horror of doing so!
I expect that JohnUK will be along presently to chide you for doing so.
OTOH, it will be a substantial improvement to the car. The upgrade to the reliable USA electrical components and the lighter weight higher HP engine work well. Don't forget to check out the suspension mod's that you can do with the lighter weight engine in the car. Have fun and enjoy the ride.
My BIL has a Jag that has been trouble free since he purchased it, has never spent a dime on it. I met my wife over thirty years ago, at which time her brother already had a XK140 in his garage for a few years at the time, waiting until he could get around to restoring it. It's still sitting there waiting, all these many years later...
That is the only way to have a trouble free, expense free jag....
I'll start by saying I love the way the Jaguar I had looked and drove when it was actually running. Getting up to interstate speed was where it really felt like floating on butter. The wood detailing on the inside is really nice.
Now some of the bad stuff:
The Ford parts in some of the Jags when Ford owned them SUCK! I owned a 2003 Jaguar S-Type 3.0 base model and probably had to have something major fixed on it at least twice a year. All the plastic and rubber bits are cheap, get brittle and break over time. Had leaking break fluid into wheel well, cracked plastic on coolant expansion tank leaking antifreeze (fixed myself), cracked radiator hose, cracked hoses and bad coil packs that made my system run too lean. One of the window regulators broke and I fixed that myself with a new one from ebay.
Finding a Jaguar repair shop can be difficult too. I live in Atlanta and only know of two other places that specialize in working on one besides the two dealer locations (I've been to a few places that work on "european imports" and said they work on Jaguar, but were absolutely horrible when it came to actually working on mine). I'd never really go through a dealer if you can avoid it. It will for sure cost you an arm and a leg. It's just as well though as you may want to learn to turn a wrench to save some money when you need to fix the car. I was actually on my way yesterday to trade it in for an Audi A4 when it broke down on the interstate. Tried jumping the car off and it wouldn't turn over. Had to have it towed to the dealership and lost a good bit of money on the trade in because it broke down. So obviously I may be biased, but that's my experience.
One of the repair guys that I used said the best modern car as far as a reliable Jag goes is an overhauled XJ6. You will have to use premium gas whichever you get, but you probably already knew that. One good thing is you can now buy most used models relatively cheap. So I would say if you can do some repairs yourself, they can be fun cars to have.
I would check the Jaguar forums, especially the XK section. You will find more than enough information from those members to answer questions. They have been very helpful for me as I contemplate a late model XFR or XJ as my next vehicle.
I agree with this. Here's a link to the model that you want. You can find A LOT of helpful information and people here that will let you decide if it's the right choice for you to buy one or not.
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