My wife has wanted a Jaguar for years, so I am now asking you all for advise on which model to buy. Here are some of my thoughts:
1) 4-door needed, will be hauling kids here.
2) $10k or less budget, thinking a 10-15yr old car here.
3) Most reliable drivetrain & coach build wanted, this is where I thought you guys could really help me as I don't know which engine/trans is best. I don't mind spending more for a setup that lasts.
4)Which cars should I avoid ? Was the Ford buyout bad for Jaguar, do I want a pre-Ford car? What year do I want?

She likes the look of XJ Vanden Plas (1998). I see a V6, V8 and a V12 for the XJ's, which would you buy?

Thanks guys! Bill

 

Hello and Welcome to the Forum!

There should be some people come along here soon and be able to help answer your
question.

 

Welcome to the forum from Florida.

 

Welcome to the forum,

Tough choice. Good luck I hape you manage to keeep the wife happy.

 

Ill toss in my 2 cents but first off, welcome. No matter how nice a car you buy you will still want to be part of this forum and well to be honest any Jaguar forum just to gain more knowledge of these lovely cats.

Im not going break all your questions down but will touch on a few.

First it seems you are looking for the large 4 door, these are X300/308 bodies called either XJ6 (inline 6 not a V6) or the XJ8 (ford designed V8) .

Ford was both good and bad for Jaguar but in the end any 1995-2003 XJ 4 door is going to be a Ford influenced car even though still holding true to the Jaguar lines.

If you can find a clean, low mileage 96-97 L (for long wheelbase) or Vanden Plas (already longer wheelbase and a little more luxurious) I think you (her) will be very happy.

Even though I own a newer 99 V8 car and love it (have owned a few XJ6's also) they do have some issues unless they are checked first. The inline 4.0 six is a tried and true rockhard motor and I have put almost 200K on one with no engine issues. Plus the XJ6 cars had a better transmission.

I would check on this forum under the XJ6 sub forum and just see what kind of issues are normal, this way you can look for these items when checking on cars you might be interested in purchasing.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck and post pictures once ya buy the car.

 

Your criteria read like X300 or X308(with updated engine "gubbings" all the way, to me. Make sure you research the early problems the V8's had so you can avoid them or you can discount the purchase price enough to update it. LWB if you can find it. All VDP's save MY95 were long, but lwb also offered apart from VDP. No lwb in 1995 US Market.
Just recently completed 3k mi round trip in mine with 4 of my kids (3 at a time, though) and they were fine, even so one is now a 6-footer and his older brother is very close behind him. Oh sure, complaints as you may imagine when they learnt cavernous Excursion seating and cargo space to be eschewed in favor of driver-pleasure for thistrip, but they had plenty of room. If kids are small, you'll be "way fine" with standard car vice LWB.

Welcome to the forum and keep us posted on you decision.

 

I recommend a 2003-newer S-Type 4.2. It has a marvellous V8 (our 4.2 V8 XK8 has 70k and is very reliable) And the interior of the S-Type will hold up with kids better than an XJ8's (unless you go for 2004-newer, which is barely in your budget)

The S-Type has a lot of room, and drives exceptionally. The V8 gets better gas mileage than a Honda V6 and is smooth. Expect under 80,000 miles on a 2003 V8, easily under $10k.

The XJ8/XJR of my body style (1998-2003) have lovely interiors, but will not hold up well unless treated well. Kids=no.

Another downside to my XJ Sport (and the 1995-1997 XJ6, 1998-2003 XJ range) is the lack of cupholders. There are 2 flimsy ones in the whole car. The S-Type has 4 good ones.

The S-Type isn't quite as handsome as an XJ, but has better interior with regards to wear. And, you can get a good one for good money.

 

[/quote]First it seems you are looking for the large 4 door, these are X300/308 bodies called either XJ6 (inline 6 not a V6) or the XJ8 (ford designed V8) .

Ford was both good and bad for Jaguar but in the end any 1995-2003 XJ 4 door is going to be a Ford influenced car even though still holding true to the Jaguar lines.

The interior of the X300/308 body styles is hopelessly small. Cramped, for a car this size I would never get one unless it was for 2 passengers or less. LWB is better, but headroom/shoulder room isn't great.[/quote]

THE V8 IS NOT A FORD V8.

It is a purely Jaguar-designed V8, and the only ford sharings are down-tuned versions Ford borrowed for the Thunderbird and Lincoln LS.

It's an all-Jag engine with a ZF Transmission.

 

welcome aboard and I'm sure you'll get the help you need.

It'd probably be best if you can narrow it down to maybe 2 specific models and then do your full research into those two......The guys in those sections will be only too happy to tell you whats good and not so ggood.
Loads going on, plenty of very friendly and helpful members as well as some excellent tech advice......all good!

In the meantime I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the site

 

Well thanks for all the replies, and the membership upgrade. Our direction is X300 Vanden Plas in white, this car is beautiful. The 6cyl would be enough power for my wife, I drive a 455hp Dodge SRT8 Magnum.

So the 96-97 has the AJ16 inline 6 engine, is this the main reason you mention these model years? Thanks, Bill

 

First it seems you are looking for the large 4 door, these are X300/308 bodies called either XJ6 (inline 6 not a V6) or the XJ8 (ford designed V8) .

Ford was both good and bad for Jaguar but in the end any 1995-2003 XJ 4 door is going to be a Ford influenced car even though still holding true to the Jaguar lines.

The interior of the X300/308 body styles is hopelessly small. Cramped, for a car this size I would never get one unless it was for 2 passengers or less. LWB is better, but headroom/shoulder room isn't great.[/quote]

THE V8 IS NOT A FORD V8.

It is a purely Jaguar-designed V8, and the only ford sharings are down-tuned versions Ford borrowed for the Thunderbird and Lincoln LS.

It's an all-Jag engine with a ZF Transmission.[/quote]

Well beat me with a x300 door handle cable I made a mistake.......

 

happens to everyone john, for me...practically on a weekly basis. I was going to mention the same correction in the engine design, however, a bit less critical...and no caps. I could tell you had good intentions trying to inform the OP.

Keep posting, statistically, the longer you're here, the liklihood for repeat performance decreases linearly...but don't ask me to prove it with a graph or equation.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Sorry for the crudity of my FORD V8 thing... didn't mean to be a jerk. I just hate that misconception! It's too common.

I think the 6cyl is nice... and a last-year engine is always better than a first year engine... I have read a lot of negative things about the reliability of the V8 in the earlier years. We have 2 AJ-V8s, however, both of which are very good. And just so you know, you could have a V8 car from 01-03 with under 50,000 miles, a Vanden Plas if you wanted, for under 10k. Through the power of negotiation, my car was bought for less than 10k and had 41k miles. And it's the Sport, which is the rarest model in the US behind the Supercharged Vanden Plas.