Just to introduce myself, My name is Eric, I live in North Texas. I'm on my 3rd Jag. I started out with an 83 XJ6 series 3, followed by a 97 XJ6, and now an 05 XJR. Frankly I wish I could restore the 97, as it has been a good soldier. Alas it is long in the tooth, and while it has proven to be Timex dependable, the interior & paint say it is time to move on.
My other interests include DIY of just about everything, as required by the old farmhouse we have made home. This seems like another place I'd like to call home.

 

Welcome to the forum. I like your can do outlook. Hope we'll be seeing some posts from you soon.

 

Welcome to the forums Eric,

Good to have you with us.

Follow this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-x350-x358-28/ to the X350 forum for help, advice and information. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Southwest Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-southwest-37/ to find other members in your region.

I've added vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. If you want to change these, go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

Thank you

 

Welcome neighbor. I can relate. I too retired the XJ8 a few years ago and bought a much newer XF with about one fifth as many miles thinking it would be less likely to break down and I wouldn't have to spend much time working on it, at least for several years. So far its not working out as planned. But cars get old and eventually it doesn't make financial sense to keep throwing money at them anymore. Maybe do like I did and keep the XJ as a backup because as a fellow DIY'er with an old house to maintain too, if a professional mechanic could fix my Jaguar in a day, it takes me the next three or four weekends.

 

Welcome aboard Eric.

 

I'm tempted, I'll give you that the later ones are just too complicated to not be high maintenance. I've bee sorting the 05 since I purchased it, The suspension is up to snuff, got the worst of the oil leaks, now on to finer points. Took it to Dallas the other day, & it behaved nicely, except for a slight antifreeze smell when the heater is on. I bought some compatible (GM) antifreeze UV dye, hopefully that will highlight the `problem. I'm even optimistic enough to assume I'll get on to appearance items soon.

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!!

 

Hello, Eric,
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Should have kept my X300 also, but you do what you do, and thats life.

Good luck.

 

The only reason that is a no go, is that I seldom if ever accumulate over 5k miles per year on the one designated daily driver at the time. All cars go away sitting, & short of buying a sealed container and making a time capsule out it, I'd lose it to neglect anyhow. 1 reason I moved up-year was; getting my leg out of the door was becoming increasingly more difficult. I have a trough in the carpet from the foot well to the door from the heel of my shoe in the X300. The X350 has better ingress / egress, it is nearly like exiting a pick-up, just closer to the ground.

 

welcome Eric. Most are addicts here, but our 12 step method amounts to trips to the tool box. I do the old house thing too, ours is/ was a schoolhouse built in 1888- also allowing many trip to the tools.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Eric,
Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

lol how troo!! How troo!!
(';')

 

Indeed, the X350 was a better design in many ways. It seems as if they had some marketing focus group list out all the complaints about the X300/308 and addressed them all in the X350. I don't know why it didn't sell better except that they must have lost all the X308 lease returns over the aesthetic design compromises. I thought they did a pretty nice job on the design and would have updated to a 350 except that by 2017, I had an alternator go out on the way to a meeting where I was the presenter and so I figured that I needed something much newer. The 351 had gone full Elvis and wouldn't leave much room in the garage so I went with the X250 instead. And I was really thinking to get something only two or three years old, but being a DIYer, I went back to 2012 because it was the last year I could get the naturally aspirated 5.0L and not have to worry with supercharger complexity. Just took several months before one turned up for sale in Texas with low miles.

But even in the modern Jaguars, they've sacrificed a lot of practicality for design. The X250 fastback styling looks great but its a pain to try to get anything in and out of the trunk. If I let the door open all the way, I have to get out of the car to reach the handle to close it and with the door open only halfway I have to carefully turn my feet to get out or I scuff the door panel (tho I had to replace the speaker grill on the X308s driver door because I accidentally kicked it getting out once). I wouldn't be able to back up at all without the rear-view camera. And the pillars obstruct so much I bet I have less than 250 degrees around. I often think I'd rather be able to see what's coming at me so I can avoid it than rely on an airbag to protect me from what I can't see.

I was originally planning to sell the X308 to make room for another classic car in my collection but for no more than I could get for it, I kind of still like it too much. Now my office is moving next April and I won't have a parking garage during the day anymore so I'm thinking the X250 will go in the Spring and I'll buy some kind of late model "beater" to drive to work that I can leave outside at home too to free up a garage bay. But sadly, here in North Texas, if I left the X250 outside, the dash would shrivel up like a strip of bacon by August. That's one of the big problems with luxury cars is that they aren't designed to retain their "luxury" for very long if parked in the Texas sun.