I had totally forgotten this thread and, in retrospect, would like to retract most of what I said in Post #77 above. That was written during the honeymoon period and my head was still in the clouds. I ditched the car after it had head gasket problems again and, to be honest, it was without a doubt the most problematic car I have ever owned. We were out of town and made a hasty decision to trade it on a new Cadillac XTS. The Cadillac had neither the panache or the comfort of the XJL, but it served us well for a couple of years with no mechanical problems whatsoever. In the interest of comfort, we recently traded it for a new Lincoln Continental Reserve. With its 30-way Perfect Position seats it rivals the Jaguar in terms of seating comfort and actually rides much more smoothly. It is equipped with all the bells and whistles and, so far at least, everything is working as it should. This is the 17th Lincoln I've owned in my lifetime and they have been wonderful cars. Is it Jaguar? No, thank God! The Jaguar XJL may be one of the most beautiful cars ever built and they definitely impress everyone who encounters it, but I cannot imagine any circumstances that would ever cause me to consider Jaguar ownership again, nor could I ever in good faith recommend one to anyone.

Dwayne

 

I post where I want to post----

 

Wow a 10 year old thread and still going... the consensus seems to be it's a good lease or Turo rental but not a good buy.

 

So far so good with mine, piece of mind now that the cooling pipes and tensioners are updated. Not sure what else is expected, so far for me everyone complements the car, it’s comfortable, fast 5.0SC, and starts as it should and gets me to where I need to go.

All cars have issues at some point, just need to pick your poison. But for a lot of buyers they prefer the fix expense of a car payment and warranty to square their expenses and limit their exposure, those were the new car buyers. But as the car ages the second wave of owners are gambling a lot more with no warranty, risk reward is at play here. You paid a fraction of what the car costs new, and if it provides reliable service you are rewarded with an wonderful machine, but if you are the unlucky one with the lemon, we’ll you took a big risk and sorry it didn’t work out for you. Try a Corolla next time. Same goes for 1st owners past the warranty period. Take the chance or trade it and let the next guy get an awesome deal on a great car.

To buy a Jaguar there are emotions that are at play, and just like a marriage, some last a long time while still in love providing mutual love and care. But some other marriages end up in disasters and take all your money, beauty comes with risks. You could have gone for the dependable person your friends set you with but instead had to go for the split personality psycho cause they were beautiful.

 

I'm the original owner of my MY2011 with only 35k miles. Overall, the car has been reliable but it clearly has issues, as most cars do. It has one of the most beautiful interiors and still looks great and not dated at all. The 5.0 liter engine has been bullet proof other than a water pump early on under warranty. Unfortunately, my car had the sunroof popping issue which was repaired several times but comes back. Now that the car is out of warranty, it's a problem. Another major issue has been with the electronics around the key fobs. I had to find an independent capable of diagnosing and repairing since Jaguar was cost prohibitive when out of warranty. They ended up having to replace the computer modules still at a hefty price. The interior buttons all got sticky and the dash plastic components surrounding the screen and shifter all faded. I suppose this happens on other expensive cars as well, but it shouldn't. The seat bolsters did not hold up. The hood release on the passenger side no longer seems to keep the hood in place (it pops up about 1/2 inch) even after adjustment. Should not happen on this car. The original touch screen was awful but I did upgrade it to the 2013 version which greatly improved the situation. Replacing the early screens should have been a Jaguar recall item - they were that bad.

Out of all the marks I've had, Jaguar dealer service is the worst by far - at least the ones on Long Island NY. I have tried 2 Jag dealers and they are both crap compared to Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and Maserati - where I have serviced other cars during my Jaguar ownership.

Overall, I will not buy Jaguar again, I wish the decision was different, but it's not. One of the biggest reasons though is depreciation. I spent $80k on this car in 2011. It only has 35k miles on it and I could probably only get $10k on trade, if that. So, to me, it's not worth trading this car in for only 10k so basically I'm stuck with it and it sits most of the time as I have other's to drive. In comparison, I had a 2009 Mercedes GL450 (that stickered around $70+K) that after 10 years and 75k miles was sold for $22,500.

 

2014 XJR about 3 years of ownership. Best car I have ever had. Beyond fast, great gas mileage and in 43K miles I have had the water pump and one O2 sensor replaced.
Water pump on Jaguar and I fixed the O2 sensor myself after warranty ran out. I was worried and shopped until I found one with a 6 year/100K mile CPO warranty. BUT turned out it just was not needed.
Raced to 180+ mph. Quality interior and looks very good for such an old design.

In fact I see a lot of cars following the styling in different area's.

Downside is big depreciation and if you can't DIY any repairs.
But this is where a good home mechanic can shine!
This forum is really the only reason I can drive such an expensive car. With factory techs and some very fearless home guys we can fix any and all problems.

I do pity the poor folks asking for a good dealer too. The cost is so high you really can't afford to use the dealer at all and if you can then just keep buying new cars.
Because you have plenty of money!
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Amazing how cars can behave so differently.
My last x351 was a 2011 3.0 diesel that I bought brand new, my first ever ( and last ) brand new car.
I had it for 8 1/2 years and 107000 miles until a drunk driver wrote it off last August for me.
In that time apart from routine service work, tyres, wheel refurbs, discs and pads the additional repair expenditure was in the region of £1000, I consider that to have been amazing.

My intention was to keep it " forever" but sadly it was not to be. After the accident I replaced it with a 2015 3.0 diesel Portfolio with 37000 miles on the clock , another lovely car, in the 11 1/2 months of use ( it was off the road due to Covid for 2 1/2 months ) so actual driving time of 9 months it now has about 53000 miles, touch wood no expense so far, it is due to go in for a service in a couple of weeks time as I could not get it done during lock down.

This is my 10th Jaguar XJ over the last 30 years , I am very lucky with my local dealership who I have known for 30 years and help me a lot.

 

That's not a totally fair comparison. Sedans these days are nearly as unpopular as the minivan. Everyone wants a crossover or SUV. So of course the GL is going to be worth more now.

I don't see the XJ as being out of line with s550, 750, A8, Quattroporte in terms of depreation. They are all horrible.

 

A quick search of 2009 GL450s shows that the market for them is $10-15k at best. So even with the SUV tax, they've been hit as hard as anything.

All luxury cars have been slammed with depreciation because of the move towards iPads in the dash. That's not exclusive to Jaguar or the XJ at all.

 

Any research will show that overall, Jaguar has one of the worst depreciation curves. I guess I just don't feel compelled to justify my poor decision. Signing off.

 

Any large prestige car will lose money, I agree to Jaguar does depreciate hard but as a comparison, in March 2019 I bought a July 2014 ( 2015 model ) Mercedes S500 AMG Line with 40000 miles from a Mercedes dealer with one owner , full history, Mercedes warranty, really fully loaded with options including magic body control etc, the original price with all the options would have been £99800, I paid just £33000 for it, I guess the guy that traded it in may have got under £30000 for it, I was over the moon with my purchase so that represents about 70% loss in 5 years, OK he may have got a bit of a discount when he bought it new but still a huge loss to bear.
In August I got a 2015 XJL Portfolio with 37000 miles on the clock in a private sale for £20500, again I thought this was a great price, it was to replace my written off ( by a drunk driver ) 2011 XJL luxury with 107000 miles that I had from brand new .

 

For what it's worth, the depreciation factor has nothing whatsoever to do with my aversion to Jaguar. I purchased my first one brand new and, similar to every luxury car I've ever owned, took a huge hit on it when I got rid of it. There was about a ten year gap during which we had a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur between the first and second Jaguars. Despite all the horror stories you hear about them, my Silver Spur served us faithfully with nothing more than routine maintenance. I live five miles away from an independent shop that specializes in Jaguars but has some familiarity with Rolls-Royce and they serviced it throughout my ownership. I never found the cost of having it properly maintained to be a problem. The only "repair" it ever required was a brake job and that's still just a maintenance issue - my independent shop allowed me to source the parts through vendors recommended by the Rolls-Royce Owners Club and charged me a flat fee rather than an hourly one and the entire job was accomplished for about $1800. Other RROC members reported paying as much as $4000 - 5000 for the same service! I have wished many times that I had just kept it; it was essentially perfect. Not a scratch or a ding anywhere in its gorgeous factory paint, even the leather seats looked as if they'd never been sat on and the wood inside looked like new. It always ran smoothly and silently. On the other hand, by the time we decided we should perhaps get something newer, it was approaching eighteen years old. Our primary concern was finding competent service should we experience a problem out of town and it was used more for traveling than it was locally. The most modern interpretation of Rolls-Royce at the time was the Phantom and it left me completely cold. The Silver Seraph still retained the styling charm of a true Rolls but even then, the newest of the bunch would have only been a five year upgrade from my Spur. That's when we turned out attention to Jaguar and ultimately purchased a Jaguar XJL Supercharged which, while pre-owned, had a few years of its factory warranty remaining. I purchased it from the same Jaguar dealership that sold me my first. It was beautiful, looked brand new, and priced at approximately 50% of its MSRP. I traded the Silver Spur simply because trying to sell one of those yourself can stretch out for years. Long story short, I moved into a car that was fifteen years newer for an outlay of $25000 cash and felt good about it until the mechanical problems started. I took a huge financial hit on it because I chose to trade it while it was inoperable; I was just desperate to unload it at that point. I can't imagine that I would ever purchase another one but, if I did, there are definite criteria that would have to be met: it would absolutely have to be new, under manufacturer's warranty, or Certified Pre-Owned. Leasing might be a better option but I hate the monthly drudgery of making payments. To that end I would never, ever finance one - Jaguar is one car that if you can't pay cash, you truly can't afford it! So long as I stick to these criteria, I will never be stuck with a lemon. I've also read here a litany of complaints about Jaguar dealerships. In my case, my Jaguar dealer (Brown's Jaguar in Midlothian, Virginia) was excellent! They were the shining star in my ownership of both Jaguars and I can say nothing but good about them. Alas, they are no longer in business, their Jaguar store being acquired by the local Land Rover dealer a year or so ago. Any glimmer of an idea of buying another Jaguar died when I found out about that. All vehicles depreciate - some worse than others. High level luxury cars suffer that more than main stream offerings and sedans, in particular, nowadays because of the general fascination with SUVs. That can work to the advantage of the Jaguar aficionado who is looking for a bargain and you never know, you might be one of the lucky people who happen onto an exemplary one!

 

Good to see most XJ owners happy with their cars. Ive been kicking around the idea of adding an XJR to the stable.