Jaguar XJ8, shit or hit?

[DaveAspley]

So, it's that time of year yet again when I buy something ridiculous with a big engine. Last year's superstar was an E39 3.5 litre V8 Bmw for 650 quid. Which , after cutting the exhausts off and nearly killing the engine, had to go. Now, my boring-as-arseholes mondeo is starting to grind on me. Nothing wrong with it but it's not enough...

 

Obviously I'd like another yank tank or a proper muscle car, but no can do due to life and needing a house. So....enter my eBay radar , the fine beast that is the Jaguar XJ8 3.2. They go for near scrap money on occasion, rwd, v8, job done. I won't have it long so long term service doesn't matter, I will however chop the silencers off and irratate everyone within 30 miles.

 

Currently bidding on one for £500, it seems basically fucked but with a year's ticket and 100 miles away WCPGW!

[warren t claim]

Shit. I hate the dashboard.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Save for the cutting the silencers off, which is a tad wanky, IMHO, I am liking your stylee.

[DaveAspley]

If I win one for my sub £600 budget, please feel free to come and put an axe through the dash. Kettles on

[DaveAspley]

V8's need to be felt and heard. I keep having visions of the cannonball run Rolls Royce. Spittin' and Cracklin' V8 , 6ft cb antenna and 4 cibie spotlights. Couple of diplomatic flags and a small stuffed camel on the parcel shelf , head for nearest oil well.

[Guest Breadvan72]

The V8s I have owned sounded just fine with standard pipes, ASBO kid!  Still, ÃƒÂ  chacun son goût.

 

[DaveAspley]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/151730345241?nav=SEARCH

 

The one. Fingers crossed!

[EssDeeWon]

Its being sold by someone with the username 'Bollockchop' with 97.4% positive feedback.

 

WCPGW

[DaveAspley]

Ha ha! I was unfortunately corrupted as a child, forced to watch the aforementioned 'run , bullit, Vanishing point, American graffiti, driver, etc etc. My dad refused to buy me comics but would let me read as much Street Machine as I wanted. It's all about the big potato, big potato, big potato, big potato.

[EssDeeWon]

 

 

The car will occasionally go in to restricted performance mode and cycle through various errors, none of which exist. We believe it is a sensor just below the J Gate and its a very easy fix.

 

Sooooo easy peasy to fix the owner can't be arsed.

 

The advert just rings all sorts of 'chancy' alarm bells Dave

[MarvinsMom]

i've only driven the one XJ8, it was turbine smooth and lovely to look at and drive.

 

the engine is a complexed box of madness. 

 

and it is an expensive thing to run properly, but if the objective is run it until it drops, then....

 

DO IT!

[DaveAspley]

From Salford too.... Dunno, I bought a 530 v8 bmw about 6 years ago for £400 that had been in a ditch on it's side, every n/s panel scrap. Bought it blind , train up and drove it back. Massive bucket of wob, job done.

[DaveAspley]

Father in law had until recently a mint XKR , all the warning lights came on one day in a similar manner. I traced it to a couple of duff connector pins pretty quickly.

[DaveAspley]

If (Erm.. when!!) it turns out to be a pile of donkey torpedoes, cartakeback have offered £100.

[michael1703]

I love them,nothing goes wrong with them*

 

The wings and wheel arches rust well, the lacquer comes off on the mirrors/roof/boot lid

 

The rear hub swivel bearings are often bollocksed

 

If yours clonks when you pull away it might be as bad as mine were

 

[DaveAspley]

Shiiiiiiit! They be well knackered geeza! Rust and paint I'm not bothered about , if I buy one it'll be near deaths door anyway at the small change I want to score one for. If it runs and has at least 3 months ticket I'm happy.

[dugong]

Mmmmm, a £600 X300 in Salford. Crack on, son.

[cort16]

I like them they do rust like fuck though and have some handling characteristics in line with a shipping container.

[wuvvum]

I had a 3.2-litre X308.  I really liked it - I prefer the later interiors over the XJ40-style dash of the 6-pot cars, the engine is a peach (as long as it's in good health) and I love the shape.  Mine used to keep going into restricted mode too - turned out to be a dodgy connection to one of the temp sensors.

[Bren]

A guy on RR had a thread which ended today, coincidentally just like his XJ8, getting stuck in traffic killed the engine.

 

People claim beyond 100k potentially the motor is on borrowed time.

 

I fancied one but I know I will never do it because it usually ends badly for car and owner.

 

If the ka is a disposable shopping trolley, the XJ8 was the first throw away luxury car.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

They're very nice things when they are running right - the V8 is an incredibly smooth, free revving engine and more powerful than the six cylinder Jaguars.

 

I'm not sure they are a car to run on a small budget though, since they are nothing like as robust as the XJ40 or X300. Six cylinder Jaguars die slowly and are good candidates for 'managed retreat'. An XJ40 or X300 will drag itself round half-dead for years - and many of them do.

 

Not so the X308. The early V8 is fragile with three serious inbuilt problems, all of which end catastrophically. Nikasil, which is a problem of the past, a plastic water pump which can disintegrate from about 100,000 miles, and a ZF5HP transmission which can be short lived if neglected. I would suspect the XJ8 on Retro Rides lost its engine due to the water pump failing.

 

They rust too - but not as badly as the XJ40 or X300. I assume you're going to play the Autoshite Roulette and not actually view the thing, but if you do then look for rust in the front of the flooron both sides, both sill ends and all along the sill down the whole length of the car on the floor pan side of the pinch weld - this is where the X308 rusts. Also with the wheel on full lock look behind the front shock absorber -  the X308 can rust badly here and it is a difficult and expensive repair. Check the bulkhead behind the engine all the way along too. Rust there can be horrible.

 

Rust, unless it is terminal already, probably isn't that much of a worry for you though since you are not planning to keep the car long-term.

 

Suspension-wise they are basically a firmer XJ40 - but with much less good quality components. Remarkably, they seem to suffer quite bad suspension rust, particularly at the rear with a cars suffering failed 'A' Frames. This car obviously has some wear in something - it shouldn't wander about (or handle like a shipping container!!) It could be the steering rack - or the Vee mounts for the front cross member.

 

I am a bit scared by the XJ8 - I don't trust them like I do the XJ40 or X300. But then I know a lot less about them too.

[Junkman]

The advert just rings all sorts of 'chancy' alarm bells Dave

 

I actually find the ad better than the usual totally random horseshit I read on Ebay. Sadly it couldn't do entirely without some

Will be sad to see this motor go!

bollocks.

 

Come on, there is nothing wrong with the bloody motor. Buy it!

[Volksy]

I love mine, bought criminally cheaply for that much car. Has a couple of issues, the timing chain tensioners need changing as there is the tell tale rattle on start up. The ASC sometimes has a hissy fit and it's starting to rust a little. But what a car for the money, I absolutely love it apart from the fuel consumption around the houses. On a run it's not that bad, I've seen 29 to the gallon on a sedate run.  

It's an exceedingly comfortable, and relaxed way to travel about. But it can hurl itself towards the horizon in quite an alarming manor. 

I never thought I'd like a Jag, but I'm definitely a fan now. 

 

 

 

 

[cort16]

I turned the traction control off on my XJR once and and floored it at about 10 mph. I never did it again.

[LC Torana]

I turned the traction control off on my XJR once and and floored it at about 10 mph. I never did it again.

Did this happen?

[cort16]

No, a little bit of poo came out.  If it was wet it just wouldn't move off the line with any more than 1mm pressed on the accelerator.

[DaveAspley]

Ouch , looks painful!

 

Just read through that post on the blue forum, surely everyone knows that if your v8 jag-war overheats you remove the bonnet and drive through a car wash? (As per Roadkill)

[DaveAspley]

[PiperCub]

I've enjoyed some of those episodes of 'Roadkill' on YouTube - it passes the time on a quiet nightshift (when I should probably be doing something useful). Like all those things, it's a bit staged but it's fun anyway.

 

Must own a Jag sometime in my life too.

[sierraman]

I got married in an XJ6. Not the actual service, just the journey there. Lovely cars, really nice to sit in.