1994 Jaguar XJ40 4.0S 4.0 straight 6 from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Dream with a catch
Faults:
When I bought the car then aerial had broken off so I had to fit a new one @ a cost of £20
Took it to tyre specialist couple of times to have tracking and balancing checked.
Needed 2 new tyres on the front after 140k. costs £200.
At 140k miles got problems with acceleration. Took it to the garage for a service, where they also found exhaust manifolds, front and rear suspension bushes & wheel bearings needed replacing, as well as the lambda probe. This hasn't fixed problems however and car's still in repair. Costs so far: £587!
General Comments:
Couldn't believe I could buy a car like this for so little money. Only paid £3000 for it. I was worried at first about things being wrong with it, but all I could find was a slight pulling to the left and trembling of the steering. This despite the dealer promising me beforehand they'd have the balancing and tracking done. Took it to tyre specialist to have it checked again, but due to missing locking wheel nut wasn't able to do so untill weeks later. They found both tracking and balancing were well off, both front and back.
Apart from that nothing went wrong until some weeks ago when it suddenly started to shudder under heavy acceleration. This got worse and worse until it wouldn't even run stationary any longer without shuddering. This than caused it to completely seize. After giving it a couple of minutes it would run again okay, but only for about half 10 minutes, after which the same problem occurred.
I took it to the garage where they spend a week servicing it and correcting several problems they found. The problem still hasn't been fixed however so I'm stuck with a courtesy car for now.
As long as it drives it's a great car to own. It looks great, it's fast nd very comfortable. The performance isn't as shocking as I had expected, but it's of course a very heavy car. It still beats the performance of my old 2.9 by miles!
The interior is fabulous and I love the sunroof. Only problem is the cracked leather on the drivers side.
The stereo is great, especially now I've had a CD-changer fitted, although I haven't really been able to enjoy that. All in all it's a lot of money for the bucks, but you'd better be prepared to spend some more on it if you want to buy one because with a Jag there's always something you can spend money on.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 20th May, 2002
31st May 2002, 18:59
Hi, just like to say I have owned one of these magnificent beasts and cannot wait until I can again afford to run another. Maybe I was lucky, but I had no troubles with mine except the digital dash failed under warranty and the air con neeeded re gassing. Otherwise an excellent example, looked after by the people that supplied it. Mine was a 3.6 Sovereign auto, town use gave 18 to 22 mpg and on a run 27 to 30, performance was amazing for a car weighing near to 2 tons as was the roadholding and handling. Oh yes other minor troubles were the thermostat (can happen on any car) and the hole in the heater hose, the one that runs under the inlet manifold. Easy to fix if you perch on the the drivers side inner wing and work upside down! All in all, would I have another? You try and stop me!!!
23rd Nov 2006, 19:15
Hello, after owning more than 300+ autos at age 48 I would have to rate the 94 jaguar xj12 somewhere in the top ten.
Combine the handling, performance, luxury and fuel economy
I think it's one of the best used car values on the market.
Great automobile!
22nd May 2002, 09:08
Oops, make that value for the bucks. The car's finally been fixed now, at an additional cost of £290 for a new fuel-pump and some other bits and pieces, making the total bill a whopping £900!!
But that's the kind of bill one can expect, the price to pay for driving a luxury car like this. Compared to the original value of the car (£50.000) it isn't actually all that much of course, and they obviously didn't design these cars with the somewhat less wealthy owners 10 years later in mind..