Hello everyone I am new to the forum and have many concerns as all I hear are negative things about this Marque all day long. It's gotten to the point where my response is "ever own 1? No? Then shut your mouth! Lol. I am a long BMW owner and just sold my first Mercedes (a 99 SL 500) a couple of wks ago. As I started my search for the usual slew of BMW and MB I happen to notice a good friend of mines dad was driving a silver 2006 xjr. The more I looked at this car as I sat there the more I thought "wow this car is gorgeous". As I ventured to the interior of this car I was BLOWN AWAY ! WOW what a beautiful classy amazing looking car. I have to ask myself why I've never noticed how amazing these cars look inside and out especially in an era where everyone is copying each other so bad I actually considered a FIAT 500! Upon further research of the cars I've settled on a silver 2004 xj8 VDP w ivory interior with the brown piping navigation and rear entertainment.
Now after wasting everyone's time with my nonsense my questions basically are : 1- is there any problem areas I should be looking at and is this vehicle as reliable as a comparable BMW or Mercedes or this going to be a nitemare like my Alfa Romeo Milano? And I guess my second question would be is this vehicle worth 16500?
Anyway sorry to ramble on and waste your time but I'm a little bit nervous as I am supposed to pick up this vehicle on Thursday and I know absolutely nothing about Jaguar or the xj8. I just started learning about super v8's and VDP . Who would have that that they would kill bin laden and I would consider a Jaguar all the same month? .... Ok i will stop. Thanks again fellas...

 

Well, Jsedita74, what you have bought was (and remains), a veritable technical tour-de-force from when Jaguar started building them in 2003, (mine is a 2003 XJ6 Sport). Most of the car is built of aluminium alloy, with an alloy engine, alloy gearbox (casing only, of course), alloy suspension, and the most incredible bit of all, the aluminium body shell, which is similar to an aeroplane fuselage, being riveted and glued together, and by robots too !! There are only two welds on the car on the D posts, one per side. (BTW, the glue is also used in the aircraft industry). The all-new XJ saloon from 2010 is also aluminium and actually uses some of the inner panels of the previous model, (yours and mine).
The Audi A8 is another aluminium car, but uses a different principle of space frame structure with bolt-on panels. Neither Mercedes or BMW use aluminium so extensively in a car.

Being such a light car, (it weighs less than the smaller Jaguar S-type), made the Jaguar engineers decide to use full air suspension, as found in Range Rovers, and I believe, some Mercedes cars. Now this is probably one of the all-new features that was maybe a step too far, as any failures mean expensive parts have to be purchased, although after-market stuff is now around at far less cost.

The main suspension component failure is usually the compressor behind the front bumper, LH side, but service exchange ones are freely available at not too much cost, and fitting is DIY or about 45 minutes for an experienced Jag mechanic.

Other complaints have been some cosmetic corrosion on early cars, whereby some bubbling has appeared on some cars on the paint surface in some places. I had some of this, at the rear screen, and also at the leading edge of the trunk lid, (this latter is a design defect, and curable very easily), and I have now cured it, although Jaguar have a paintwork warranty and will meet claims up to a certain age of car. This problem was, in my opinion, because a painting process for aluminium is very different to steel, and Jaguar production people were still on the learning curve back in 2003, and probably up to 2005 as the problem took some time to appear.
In my view, you should find the vehicle as good as BMW or Mercedes, and certainly not at all like your Alfa, no way !

Being such a light car for its size means it drives like one too, and is very easy to sling around, although I have noticed more sensitivity to side winds compared to a Series 3 XJ I once had, which weighed the same as a battle tank or seemed so !

I'm glad you like the interior, it is traditional British and I like it a lot. Mine is in Jaguar Racing Green paint, with greystained birds-eye maple wood, with ivory leather and ivory/charcoal trim. My car is now 8 years old and on 43k miles. I have had to replace the air compressor, but nothing else so far, but I need to put on a new hood latch cable as they tend to stick with age.

Anyway, you should be getting a warranty with your car, surely ? You obviously know all about BMWs and I'll bet they have had some faults. People say Lexus are perfect, and may well be, but do you want one ?

I am sure you will love this car just like I do.

 

Thank you sir. I feel much better about this . I am really looking forward to picking up the vehicle at the end of this wk and posting some pictures. I already have some mods i am wondering such as integrating my iphone to stream pandora and the such. I thank you again sir and hope jaguar wins me over as i venture into unchartered waters for me with the jaguar marquee.....

 

You will love the car. The big issue is driving it for the pure pleasure of it and watching the miles accumulate or restraining yourself to just looking at it in the garage.

I have been putting in excess 10,000 miles a year on mine and I'm retired with no place to go. Don't ask for an explanation.

If it were not for the air suspension issues, it would be more reliable than the Merc at least the equal of the Bimmer. That is a subjective evaluation based on hanging around this Forum for 3 years and seeing what the Merc/Bimmer convert crowd has to say.

 

Thank you for your time and insight on such a beautiful vehicle. I am reading some horror stories of compressors giving out and people crashing and the car not being good in cold weather. I hope this is not true .

 

The air suspension problem falls in the PITA category. I don't regard it as particularly safety related except in a somewhat remote way.

The big issue regarding the Winter performance of the car is "dopes" who install Summer High Performance tires and don't take them off in the Winter (that means freezing weather, not just snow). Now that is a safety issue for you. You may substitute the words IQ for safety. Properly equipped the car is a good Winter performer.

Take it from me! I'm the dope who drove an XJR with Summer High Performance rubber from FL to VA in Dec. What an education that was.

 

My Jag has been as solid & reliable as anything Toyota or Honda could make. Heck, after 80K, the alignment was still dead on. Then again my Alfa GTV6 was reliable too.

A lot of people have decades old ideas on Jag and it's a shame.

 

Welcome Jsedita74. I hope you enjoy your jag. I've loved mine: it's just a great driving car and looks fantastic too!

 

Hello Jsedita74. We just got ours in January, and it appears to be the same model and color you chose.

We did get an extended warranty, and used it to replace the air compressor and the A/C control module. We have right at 39,000 miles now, so those were probably age related more than anything, but those two things seem to be common from what I'm reading on this forum. I'm finding lots of good information on here.

This is the first European car we've ever purchased and we like it a lot so far, even with the few repairs. We looked at BMW's, Mecedes, and Lexus' but the Jag is a more 'mysterious' luxury car than those. You don't see quite as many Jags as those others (at least here in Dallas).

Take care and have fun cruising in style.