1994 Jaguar XJ40 3.2 from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Sheer luxury, depreciation is a wonderful thing!
Faults:
The air conditioning system was not working when I bought the car, due to a leak in the front condenser. They are prone to being hit with stones as there is little protection through the front grille. At £300 they are not a cheap item to replace and re-gas. I got this amount deducted from the price prior to buying the car.
Next was a problem with misting-up on the inside of the car? Water was leaking into the passenger side foot-well via the blind grommets high up in the bulkhead. The source of the water was found to be a well blocked drain to the wiper motor assembly, the area under the windscreen trim was awash with water. A common fault so I am informed, rectified by cutting the end off the "duck-billed" drain hose.
A replacement remote central locking and security key-fob was expensive at £100, only available from the main dealer. An essential to activate the built-in alarm system and driver conveniences.
Mysterious fault on the Jaguar in-car entertainment system, mine kept requesting the security code for the unit each time I started the engine? No wiring faults were found and the problem went away when a CD changer was fitted to the pre-wired boot??
General Comments:
At £2300 this car was an absolute bargain, although still a big risk for a 1st time Jag owner. The bodywork is immaculate and I had a friend check over the mechanical side. If you haven't experienced a ride in one of these cars it's difficult to be objective on your test drive. They are almost silent when sat inside, and the ride should be of the smooth, glitch-free magic carpet variety! The previous owner had obviously lost patience with the minor irritations mentioned above, all of which were solvable.
I use mine as a weekend car and with limited mileage insurance, they are not as expensive to run as people always assume. At nearly £30,000 when new just 8 years back, you still feel like a millionaire behind the wheel.
Reliability is not an issue with the late model XJ40's, thanks to Ford's input. Regular annual servicing must be maintained, neglect at your peril and the big cat will bite back!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 15th December, 2002
19th Jul 2005, 12:23
I find reading your review of the Jaguar XJ40 really interesting as you appear to have experienced the exact same problems I did when I purchased mine 3 months ago. When I first drove the car back from the show room, straight away I noticed the car appeared to be steaming up far too easily. I rather naively put this down to the garage giving the carpets a shampoo and it was possibly still wet. I was kidding myself as it soon became clear water was gushing under the passenger side footwell. Anyway, I had bigger fish to fry at the time as in the first week of ownership the car broke down 3 times on me. Just wouldn't start to the total bemusement of the AA. Anyway, it eventually turned out the electrics were faulty and had somehow stopped the fuel pump from functioning. Whether this was related the the leak I doubt, but hey.. I'm no expert. It cost me near £190 to have the blockage in the air con sorted out - the garage where I got the car from refused to pay up stating rubbish like it wasn't under guarantee because the job I'd had done was cosmetic. Great review!
14th Apr 2004, 15:20
The security code error is likely to be a loose battery terminal, or battery lead, I've had it happen twice on various cars when garages have kindly left a battery clip untightened. Check it ASAP as if it resets the code and you don't have it to enter, you're looking at a new stereo.