What can I expect to spend on an XJS?
#21
05-08-2010, 04:26 PM
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Northeast PA
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
@ Jag Po':
You put a five speed in one? How hard was the conversion? That's one of the problems I have with these cars, I want my convertible to have a manual transmission.
It sounds like I will be going with 12 cylinder version then......thanks for the advice!
@ Revopop:
Indiana isn't that far, 11 hour drive. I'd travel for the right car. Do you have any pics of the car?
You put a five speed in one? How hard was the conversion? That's one of the problems I have with these cars, I want my convertible to have a manual transmission.
It sounds like I will be going with 12 cylinder version then......thanks for the advice!
@ Revopop:
Indiana isn't that far, 11 hour drive. I'd travel for the right car. Do you have any pics of the car?
#23
05-09-2010, 02:49 AM
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Evansville, IN
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#24
05-09-2010, 03:26 AM
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The usual scenario is buy the car, spend a few weekends and a chunk of cash catching up on the repairs and servicings the previous owners neglected to do, and then enjoy the car with occasional tinkering and routine servicing. If you are doing your own work the running costs are not so bad. If you are paying to have it done....well...that can be another story. On top of the expense, it's getting hard to find anyone who even wants to be bothered working on one...or who knows the quirks.
Fifteen and twenty year old used Jags, BMWs, Mercedes, etc are not cheap to sort out. They CAN be reliable but it takes some money and effort. Your "real deal" annual running costs have MUCH more to do with the care the car has gotten over the years than anything inherent in the design of the car. If you get a good one, it'll be a dream and won't cost you too much to keep it in good shape. A bad one will bleed you dry like an unforgiving bitch.
Unless you do your own work and enjoy the fun of a project, it is absulotely the best bet to seek out and pay the price for an exceptional car that you can enjoy right away without the expense and frustration of sorting out a 20-item list of repairs. Look at Sarc's post. He has it right. You want the XJS that the owner will burn your ear for 3 hours about all the love and care he has bestowed on the old girl, right down to the type of hose clamps and why he chose a particular type of brake pad. You want the car where the owner would never tolerate driving a Jag with a droopy headliner.
I've met many Jag-haters so I don't need to visit the web site. I've always found it odd that a 20 year old Ford/Volvo/Honda/whatever needing a fuel pump, starter, suspension bushings, or new radiator is shrugged of as normal and acceptable yet the same repairs on a 20 year old Jag relegate it to the "piece of sh*t" category. Nowadays when someone makes snide remarks about my Jag I just say "Yup, they're not a car for everybody" and leave it at that.
Ramble switch turned "off" :-)
Cheers
DD
Fifteen and twenty year old used Jags, BMWs, Mercedes, etc are not cheap to sort out. They CAN be reliable but it takes some money and effort. Your "real deal" annual running costs have MUCH more to do with the care the car has gotten over the years than anything inherent in the design of the car. If you get a good one, it'll be a dream and won't cost you too much to keep it in good shape. A bad one will bleed you dry like an unforgiving bitch.
Unless you do your own work and enjoy the fun of a project, it is absulotely the best bet to seek out and pay the price for an exceptional car that you can enjoy right away without the expense and frustration of sorting out a 20-item list of repairs. Look at Sarc's post. He has it right. You want the XJS that the owner will burn your ear for 3 hours about all the love and care he has bestowed on the old girl, right down to the type of hose clamps and why he chose a particular type of brake pad. You want the car where the owner would never tolerate driving a Jag with a droopy headliner.
I've met many Jag-haters so I don't need to visit the web site. I've always found it odd that a 20 year old Ford/Volvo/Honda/whatever needing a fuel pump, starter, suspension bushings, or new radiator is shrugged of as normal and acceptable yet the same repairs on a 20 year old Jag relegate it to the "piece of sh*t" category. Nowadays when someone makes snide remarks about my Jag I just say "Yup, they're not a car for everybody" and leave it at that.
Ramble switch turned "off" :-)
Cheers
DD
Well said/rambled! I like to think the 20 yr old ford etc isnt worth fixing and you rarely see them on the road in the same perspective as a 20 yr old jag.. The jag will still command respect rolling down the road whereas the average ford/chev/honda is snickered at.. those cars are barely worth the fuel pump being changed and more fit for the scrap yard to recycle to make us parts for our Jags.
#25
05-10-2010, 02:14 PM
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Kenosha, WI
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#26
05-10-2010, 02:21 PM
Veteran Member
#27
05-13-2010, 03:40 AM
Hello! I'm new to the Jag forum. I think I would like to own an XJS convertible as a summer car, late 80's, early 90's, 12 cylinder. What can I expect to spend on one in good daily driver condition (does not need to be show car, but very presentable)? I've owned older Mercedes in the past, and my daily driver now is an 03 BMW. I do all maintenance and repairs myself, I'm not afraid of working on them. Any advice would be appreciated.
And remember that every gas station is fair game for a V12, you will get to know all the employees at 50 different places, you will be there so often you will get to know the attendants by name, your wallet will be empty so much so that you will want a sticker on the back of your Jag that says "my car has a drinking problem". You will get stared at so much you will wonder what the hell is going on. Strangers will be found staring at your car in the parking lot at the supermarket, parking by it just to gawk, and twisting their necks when you drive by. If you don't mind all that attention buy an XJS, just remember if you neglect it, it will claw your entire wallet to shreds and then ask for more.
Other than that an XJS is a good choice, a dream machine to drive and the ride is sooo comfy~!~! The long front end makes the car a treat to drive, just remember to keep the nose back at intersections if you are used to driving a stub nosed car.
Myself.....when I get in my car it is hard to park it. I blast around just to blast around, worse than the guys you see on their Harleys......I invent stuff to "do" just to be in my car.....if I had a living room big enough I would park it there and watch TV from it......lol...~!~!~
Donna
#28
05-13-2010, 03:45 AM
Well said/rambled! I like to think the 20 yr old ford etc isnt worth fixing and you rarely see them on the road in the same perspective as a 20 yr old jag.. The jag will still command respect rolling down the road whereas the average ford/chev/honda is snickered at.. those cars are barely worth the fuel pump being changed and more fit for the scrap yard to recycle to make us parts for our Jags.
#29
05-13-2010, 03:57 AM
The usual scenario is buy the car, spend a few weekends and a chunk of cash catching up on the repairs and servicings the previous owners neglected to do, and then enjoy the car with occasional tinkering and routine servicing. If you are doing your own work the running costs are not so bad. If you are paying to have it done....well...that can be another story. On top of the expense, it's getting hard to find anyone who even wants to be bothered working on one...or who knows the quirks.
Fifteen and twenty year old used Jags, BMWs, Mercedes, etc are not cheap to sort out. They CAN be reliable but it takes some money and effort. Your "real deal" annual running costs have MUCH more to do with the care the car has gotten over the years than anything inherent in the design of the car. If you get a good one, it'll be a dream and won't cost you too much to keep it in good shape. A bad one will bleed you dry like an unforgiving bitch.
Unless you do your own work and enjoy the fun of a project, it is absulotely the best bet to seek out and pay the price for an exceptional car that you can enjoy right away without the expense and frustration of sorting out a 20-item list of repairs. Look at Sarc's post. He has it right. You want the XJS that the owner will burn your ear for 3 hours about all the love and care he has bestowed on the old girl, right down to the type of hose clamps and why he chose a particular type of brake pad. You want the car where the owner would never tolerate driving a Jag with a droopy headliner.
I've met many Jag-haters so I don't need to visit the web site. I've always found it odd that a 20 year old Ford/Volvo/Honda/whatever needing a fuel pump, starter, suspension bushings, or new radiator is shrugged of as normal and acceptable yet the same repairs on a 20 year old Jag relegate it to the "piece of sh*t" category. Nowadays when someone makes snide remarks about my Jag I just say "Yup, they're not a car for everybody" and leave it at that.
Ramble switch turned "off" :-)
Cheers
DD
Fifteen and twenty year old used Jags, BMWs, Mercedes, etc are not cheap to sort out. They CAN be reliable but it takes some money and effort. Your "real deal" annual running costs have MUCH more to do with the care the car has gotten over the years than anything inherent in the design of the car. If you get a good one, it'll be a dream and won't cost you too much to keep it in good shape. A bad one will bleed you dry like an unforgiving bitch.
Unless you do your own work and enjoy the fun of a project, it is absulotely the best bet to seek out and pay the price for an exceptional car that you can enjoy right away without the expense and frustration of sorting out a 20-item list of repairs. Look at Sarc's post. He has it right. You want the XJS that the owner will burn your ear for 3 hours about all the love and care he has bestowed on the old girl, right down to the type of hose clamps and why he chose a particular type of brake pad. You want the car where the owner would never tolerate driving a Jag with a droopy headliner.
I've met many Jag-haters so I don't need to visit the web site. I've always found it odd that a 20 year old Ford/Volvo/Honda/whatever needing a fuel pump, starter, suspension bushings, or new radiator is shrugged of as normal and acceptable yet the same repairs on a 20 year old Jag relegate it to the "piece of sh*t" category. Nowadays when someone makes snide remarks about my Jag I just say "Yup, they're not a car for everybody" and leave it at that.
Ramble switch turned "off" :-)
Cheers
DD
More amazing are the "mechanics" who talk the gullible out of their V12's saying they are unreliable. Horse****.....the V12 is a hardy reliable engine capable of high mileage and if looked after. And I have seen V8 conversions on the internet that have sat and sat for months and months and months and could not be sold even at a dirt cheap price cuz nobody who collects these cars will buy one with an american V8. A Jag with a V8 is a car with no soul.
Last edited by jetlag700; 05-13-2010 at 04:04 AM.
#30
05-14-2010, 08:02 PM
I just keep a "running tab" at the Jag shop.
My last bill total was: 1 Arm + 1 Leg
The boys at the shop call me "Mr Leno". With 3 of the beasts there always one in there getting "something". Today I dropped by to see how the new sound system in the Coupe was comming along.
Don't even look at the bill, just hand them a check for a few grand everytime a alternate cars in and out of the shop.
My last bill total was: 1 Arm + 1 Leg
The boys at the shop call me "Mr Leno". With 3 of the beasts there always one in there getting "something". Today I dropped by to see how the new sound system in the Coupe was comming along.
Don't even look at the bill, just hand them a check for a few grand everytime a alternate cars in and out of the shop.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)