Hello all, I am new to the forum because I am looking to purchase a 2009 XJ8 with just under 100k. I would like to know any and all of your honest, learned outlooks on such, as it relates to reliability and daily use. For context, I am a non-professional grease monkey that enjoys the care and installation of performance upgrades and am familiar, almost only with, JDM. I am looking at the XJ8 because I am getting older lol and do not need turbo to go to work, the gym, and the store lol. Plus I want to drive more relaxed these days. Thank you, kindly. Cheers.

 

Also, any insight on maintenance costs would be highly appreciated.

 

My 2 cents based on my 2007 XJ8 (non supercharged): Suspension can be maintenance heavy. It has air ride suspension and most of the components are aluminum For example I got a "vehicle low warning" a couple of years ago. Diagnosis pointed to the front. I replaced the front air shocks and while in there I overhauled the compressor and put in new upper control arms - $1700 or so in parts! I do most maintenance myself so that was free. The suspension is all aluminum, so replacement ball joints or even torn rubber covers leads to replacement of whole assemblies. This can get very expensive, so its really worth looking at the condition of all of the suspension. Parts choices here are reproduction or genuine Jaguar. I use genuine Jaguar for everything. Some components are shared with Ford Lincoln LS and the Ford part number (which is stamped Jaguar on the actual aluminum part) is much more reasonably priced. I replaced all the rear suspension last year for $1100 (not including air suspension units). Some people remove the air suspension and replace with traditional coil overs. It doesn't change the fact that the control arms and links are aluminum and maintenance can get expensive. Other issues to be aware of: The sunroof drain tubes are very small. It doesn't rain very often where I live so mine get blocked so I have to remember to flush them out every now and again. Gearbox is by ZF. Changing the fluid is recommended / not recommended depending on which side of the fence: sealed for life / sealed for death. Its not straightforward. Engine is basically bulletproof, but look for signs of regular oil changes etc. The Interior wears well generally, but some little things are terrible. For example the latch covers on the rear parcel shelf disintegrate after only a few years - I'm on a third set. The nav system is incredibly dated. It can support bluetooth for phone, but its limited to telephone functions only and doesn't support music streaming. Streaming adapters are available, and were often fitted on the later models. Brakes are typical modern units and work great. Fuel economy is amazing on the freeway - leading to incredible range. San Diego to San Francisco is just about doable on a tank of gas. Its a great touring car - quiet and rides nice (considering the suspension costs - it better ride nice!)

I would take it anywhere and expect it to be 100% reliable. Mine as 99K, sits outside and has a bit of sun damage. Its in the shop now having the clearcoat re-done. Why? Because I love the car and intend to keep it a good while longer. I can't think of anything I'd rather have. I find the new car electronics intrusive, and can't stand eco-mode. If it needed replacement today, I'd look for another XJ8.

I'm not objective clearly - but hopefully this helps a bit. Good luck looking, and welcome to the forum.

Cheers, Dave

 

Bought my XJ8L used at 30,000 miles from Herb Chambers in 2012. Had it shipped down to Texas (my home). I must say that it has been a pretty good car. It now has 101,000 miles and, aside from the droopy headline, it has held up pretty well. I also have a '69 E-Type and a good local mechanic that tends to them both. That said, and as a possible note of caution, several years ago, before my E-Type mechanic began working on the XJ8L, I went to the local-ish Jaguar - Range Rover dealership (where we bought a new Rover in 2014 and the sponsoring dealership for our Jag Club) to get some minor things done. To my surprise and my intense displeasure, they told me that they only do work on Jags that are under 10 years of age. So while I had booked an appointment for service a week in advance, I was left to remove it from the service bay and drive it home. I was quite unhappy and, to this day, still am. This doesn't mean that all Jag dealers have this policy but I'd make a few calls in advance to understand their service (or lack thereof)) policies.

All that said, I still love my XJ8L and am proud to drive it. It has been a quite reliable vehicle. Best of luck on your search and, hopefully, your eventual purchase!

Bt. Weatherford
2006 XJ8L (Sold)
2008 XJ8L
1969 E-Type
2010 S-Type (Sold)
2014 RR Evoque
Bunches of and a current Volvo

 

I have a 2004 Vanden Plas purchased in March, 2022 with 84,000 miles. The car now has 101,000 miles and has been pretty much trouble free. I daily drive it unless it is snowing (Ohio) and have driven it to Houston and back twice. I have had to replace a wheel bearing, some suspension bushings and a control arm, but no other real problems so far. I'm leaving for Texas again tomorrow and have no concerns about the trip.
I tracked the mileage on my first trip to Texas and the car averaged 30.2 mpg over 3210 miles. 80 miles an hour is about 2000 rpm.

Enjoy it !!!

 

I don't have that specific model so I won't comment on specifics, but I hear ya and can commiserate on getting old. After years of enjoying Toyota Supras and Landcruisers, I eventually had back surgery. I was hurting pretty bad and bought an old 2000 XJ8 as a dirt-cheap used luxo-barge figuring that I would only drive it for short time while I healed up. Now I love to just float. Who knew? I wound up daily driving it for seven years because I loved it that much (plus I never really healed up completely).

When it was time to replace the XJ8, I'd been spoiled. I drove every mid-sized sedan on the market (the X351 had grown too big for my tiny attached garage) and found them all practically unbearable by comparison. The irony is that when I was young and doing autocross, all sports cars came with suspension that was too soft for competition, a compromise for on-road comfort. I would always modify my sports cars to stiffen them up and plus-size the wheels for better performance. Then when I got old enough for a personal luxury car like a Lincoln MkVIII or Buick Riviera, I found they'd quit making those altogether and every 4-door luxury sedan on the market came race-prepared from the factory. I had to modify the suspension on the XF to soften the ride and minus-size the wheels to add sidewall for potholes. Its still no X308 magic carpet ride but its tolerable. It's hell getting old.

As a DIY'er enthusiast I think you may be a good candidate for an older Jaguar. This forum is excellent, there's lots of how-to videos online, and the Jaguar club even has a way to loan special tools. Jaguars can't compare to Toyota or Honda reliability, but they are not bad. Poorly maintained Jaguars tho, or ones that have been left outside to weather can get expensive so its better to overpay for a really good one than to buy a fixer-upper. And to repeat the Jaguar forum credo "No records = No Sale!"

 

My own experience is if the car you look at still has the air suspension and you encounter any issues, you must get a scan tool that reads the Jaguar electronics, not just a basic OBD2 scanner. You will never understand what's going on if you can't read the codes. That said, the air suspension is well beyond its design life, and unless you simply enjoy spending money with no reasonable return for value, ditch the air suspension if it has issues and put coilovers on the car, especially if you live in a humid environment like I do (Florida.) Even if you do fix a faulty air suspension system, you'll have to do so again in a few years. When I started troubleshooting mine I found it had a great deal of water intrusion, which means rusted valves and what-not, so I put coilovers on it and it's been great. A simple thing for a decent DIY'er.

Beyond that, the cars are getting old. Plastic deteriorates, and there are many plastic pieces in the cooling system. I just went through a crack in the radiator and in the expansion tank, and ended up overhauling my cooling system, radiator, tank, water pump, and all hoses. Did it myself for a few hundred bucks rather than shell out a couple grand for shop labor; it was not and easy job.

There is a vacuum pipe in the engine compartment that is probably broken. It's plastic and gets brittle with age. It won't kill the car, but it may throw an occasional check engine light.

Suspension bushings are not separately replaceable, you have to replace the arms with bushings preinstalled. I've read on here about people being able to press the bushings out and replace them, but it's not a designed service.

The electronics are generally quite sound, but the car is very sensitive to a weak battery, as even a 10th of a volt low will disable or confuse systems like the electronic parking brake or the cruise control. The battery is big, and expensive, with about 900 CCA needed for these cars. Do not skimp on the battery. The other electrical issue that's common is bad grounds. The points where ground wires are bolted to the body can corrode because the body is aluminum and the hardware is steel. I haven't had the problem, but many have.

Beyond that, it's pretty much like any 15-year-old car, albeit a generally very well-built car. The headliner will droop, if it doesn't already. You have to keep the sunroof drains clear.

 

Hi buy and enjoy.
incredible addictive cars they are , promise you.
Reliabilety is good. . Have a 2003 4.2 xj8 225000miles.
smooth powerfull supercomfy .
have it for 3 years now 20k miles driven all seasons..
Alternator was one of the repairs after brakedown got a referb done on mine for 250€ taken it out from below while changing the engine mounts plus engine /transmission mount behind the tranny.i was prepared for that hearing it long enough in advance.
second repair were the 4 heightsensors after 2 broke down ( car was super high on the right side 2 were toast). This brought a 15%of improvement on ride quality 350€.
Third now just before winter radiator done ,swollen on the bottom, loosing a little coolant.
got replacement radiator fo 330€ IN PROGRESS . PLUS ALL NEW RUBBER hoses OEM FROM Jaguar 400€ and new auxilliary pump 240€ thats approx a 1000 invested cause I love the car and in order not to have to restart to deal with that again.
WILL RUN tomorrow .
those cars are meant to run regularly
Necessary jobs that should be done tranny oilchange every 65t miles , diff oilchange as well
thermostat housing and waterpump with the valley hose.
regular and once a year oilchsnge.
the aircompressor can cause trouble after some seasons .
refurb kit can hel

 

I owned two X350 XJ saloons, one after another. The first was a 2003, bought 2010 on 30k miles, and the second a 2007, bought 2016 on about 40k if I remember. The best car was the 2007. I had far more trouble with the 2003, its first year on sale here in the UK. This is typical of cars from the first year of production. However, this all-aluminium car, that must have cost Jaguar, (and Alco) a shedload of money to develop, was late on sale. The X350 project development manager actually was fired by Ford because of this, the poor sod ! I'm convinced that this meant a lot of things were either rushed in development, or never properly tested.
In 2003 I remember reading about the car, and admired it greatly. The air suspension was originally not intended for fitment on all the cars, only the V8s I think, but Jaguar changed their minds and fitted them all with it. Although I had little trouble with the air suspension on my two cars, it was always something of a Sword of Damocles hanging over me in case it went wrong, because the components are very expensive, the Bilstein air shocks are eye-wateringly expensive. The stupid thing is that the air spring diaphragms can be separately replaced and it is possible to buy service exchange items from one or two suppliers. However a lot of people just junk the air system and converrt to coil springs. On the last of t he XJ saloons (the totally restyled X351), Jaguar put coils on the front and only kept air on the rear wheels.

My 2007 which was the slightly restyled car was very good and I liked it a lot, driving it to Berlin one year, and Nuremberg the next year. We enjoy holidays in Germany ! Main trouble I had with this car was the need to replace the heater matrix. Symptom is lack of heat coming through due to the matrix clogging-up and the only real cure is replacement, Flushing doesn't really work very well, and if it doesn't you've spent money needlessly. It's a simple job to do, the whole dash does NOT have to come out despite what a shop may tell you.
One unusual and annoying repair I had to do was replace the fuel tank straps on my 2003. These, believe it or not, are mild steel with a very thin coat of paint. One of mine broke, with the strap making a noise on the road. Replacement is easy, and you can now buy stainless steel ones on the aftermarket.
As others say the ICE is now way out-of-date, but I'm not a big fan of complex entertainment facilities in cars. The sat nav is also no longer supported so you can't get updates any more.

So why did I buy an XE ? Well, I no longer needed a big car, and I got my 2017 XE Portfolio AWD with 10k miles on the clock and 18 months old for half the price new. It was a steal !! The much lower Road Tax for my diesel XE was also a fairly important factor. Here in the UK I was paying well over £500 a year. With the XE its £165, and I get 46 mpg as well.

 

After 5 years of carefree X358 ownership, and at 90k km, I suffered the dreaded suspension bushes and air suspension issues. They will almost certainly need doing at some stage if not done already.
If the air suspension pops, it's a transporter job.
Whilst I'm happily keeping my car, I'd be too chicken to buy another one.

I couldn't even enjoy a luxury ride to the workshop, because they stuck it on backwards!

 

Not riding in the towed car here, no matter the direction.

 

Fantastic car we all love them.

I have had mine for 16 years and it's now 20 years old

Biggest repair job was new rad,plastic thermostat housing, and water pump

which I did myself at 113,000 miles

 

Our cars seem to have, or will have the same the same basic needed repairs.
That being said, they are a real pleasure to drive, when completed.
Compaired to the way more practal, grocery getter setting in the driveway.

 

Be sure the differential is quiet. There was a TSB issued in 2010 affecting all X350 and X358, 2004-2009. The differentials were replaced in some cars and it is random. I had to replace the diff in my 2009 right after I bought it. The left side axle shaft bearing was bad. I was lucky to find a good used replacement on ebay and had help replacing it. The new design requires a different driveshaft and axles. All no longer available. Just be sure there is no noise from the diff when you drive it. Can check positively by placing the car on a lift and listening to the diff with a stethoscope as the car idles in gear.
Otherwise, with all the items mentioned in the other posts, I have 2 and love them. No more unreliable than other European cars and probably less so. Find a good independent first if you aren't going to work on it. Dealers don't want to see them.

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I am in the same position as the original poster (91galant...) and greatly appreciate the information. I've spent quite a bit of time moving this way and that around the site looking for answers to this very question. Everything I've picked up from previous threads over the years seems to mirror the sentiments expressed by the experienced owners above and it is comforting to know the issues. Obviously, not all small items but also not insurmountable if I go in eyes open. I am certainly looking forward to joining the club when the right XJ comes along with some good maintenance history.

I do have one additional question to the above. Can anyone comment on the pros/cons or reliability/maintenance issues created by the supercharged 4.2 on the XJR/SuperV8 version?. Obviously the pro is the horsepower. But, is there a reliability knock? I haven't really come across many issues in past posts with respect to that question. Also, I am in Mississippi and we don't have a Jaguar specialist shop that I am aware of. We have several very good classic/foreign repair shops (from what I've been told). Does the supercharger create a maintenance/repair nightmare where a generalist mechanic would be totally out of depth if issues arise with the SC 4.2.

Thanks again to all,

Tom