I've owned two Jaguars of the XJ40 bodyshape, the first a 1993 Sovereign 4.0, the second a 1993 XJ12 6.0.
I bought the first car when it was 6 years old. It had 97,000 miles on the clock and was in excellent condition inside and out. I owned it for 2 years, only parting with it after a collision with a Land Rover Discovery that was entirely my own fault.
During those two years I did only about 16,000 miles, but enjoyed every one of them. The car was supremely comfortable, fast, assured and an absolute pleasure to drive. It returned about 18-20 mpg around town, but could go as high as around 27-28 on a run, although the climate control would knock 1 or 2 mpg off that if used. Parts were expensive compared to a Ford Escort say, but very reasonably when compared to BMW or Mercedes. All in all, the car was a blast to own.
The second car, the 6 litre V12 was essentially the same to look at, and in many repects to drive as well. Even quieter than the 4 litre, it seemed to have sightly more feel to the steering, either becuase of the heavier engine, or the "sports" suspension, I'm not really sure. In any case, it was even more assured behind the wheel. The main difference was when the gas pedal was pressed a little harder. whereas the 4 litre growled a lot and took off at quite a pace, the V12 growled a little and took off like a rocket!! The performance for a car of this size and weight is quite breathtaking. But it comes at a price. In town economy of 12-14 and no more than 21-22 on a run eats into the finances. However, that engine is just so fantastic. I never thought that the 4 litre Jaguar would seem slow until I drove the V12 600 miles to the north of Denmark overnight. 120mph on the autobahns with the cruise control set was just effortless, and with acceleration to spare. Porsche, BMW and Mercedes were blown away, yet the car never felt anything other than absolutely stable. My wife and two children slept soundly the whole time, and the noise levels were hardly more than at 75mph. All in all, we did around 1600 miles in a week, with the return journey and the travelling around in Denmark, averaged 19mpg and arrived comfortable and relaxed everywhere we went.
I have to say, the 4 litre car was better overall. The thirst of the V12 was too much of a price to pay for that performance, the smaller engined car was still very respectable at 3 figure cruising speeds.
I have owned a jaguar from the age of eighteen,from a MK2 to a XJ6,I am now 58 and still owne a jaguar,every car has it's problems,but overall the jaguar car has been the best value for money,such a powerful and smooth ride.
I have had the pleasure of owning a 1993 Daimler Double Six for a few years now. Reworked by Race Logic from new it is as near to XJR V8 spec as you will get. 380 bhp certificated, subtly lowered adjustable bilsteins, uprated springs / bushes, brembo brakes. Same price second hand as an average few year old family Ford, but in all a very special motor. Like Steve says, there is no substitute for a V12.
I have a 1986 Daimler Series III 4.2, and I must say that aprt from being lovely to look at, and a pleasure to drived and ride in, it is an incredible workhorse. Sure, there is plastic mixed with wood and Ambla mixed with leather, but this is truly a lovely car. It is nice to be able to open the bonnet and see everything, being able to make most repairs myself.
Hi, me again! Had a 1989 Jaguar 3.6 Sovereign for (sadly) just under a year. Nothing went wrong that wasn't put right with routine servicing apart from the heater/air-con fan switch 2 days after i picked it up on a boiling hot July day last year. Phoned the specialist i bought it from and they arranged to meet me at their workshop and sorted it then and there. Cool air at last! I hate sweating on a Sunday! Yes it was a Sunday that this particular specialist turned out to sort my fan switch! As for the servicing costs, how does a 15000 mile service, auto gearbox service and new brake pads all round, all with genuine Jaguar parts for £400 sound? Very reasonable in my book! When you consider that the previous year my company paid £460 for a 30000 service on my 18 month old van and there was less work involved, no pads or auto-box service either! Regarding fuel economy, round town i averaged 18-22 mpg, depending on traffic conditions, road works etc. On one of the few longer runs i did (140 mile round trip) i averaged 27.3 mpg at a cruise controlled 75mph. Sadly i had to sell it for a give away price earlier this year due to lack of work. About 3 years from now when i change my current car (Daewoo Leganza), i'll probably get another Jag because there's nothing like it and they can be cheap to run if you know the right people. Maybe an XJS 3.6 or perhaps another Sovereign, don't know yet! Sadly Daewoo seem to have dropped the Leganza from the UK range but that's another story.....
For some cars you need to dress right before you can get in them. There's no point in driving this car in a string vest and a pair of Bermuda's. Nope, no point at all. Question is should I buy a cravat, blazer and handlebar moustache or sheepskin coat and a porkpie hat? Hmm decisions, decisions.
Long gone are the days when Jags were hopeless rust buckets that broke down every other day and burnt large holes into your tweeds. Nowadays they are actually well built and reliable but the running costs are still likely to set fire to your trousers. But then who cares, if you're in the market for this class of car, you can probably afford the not inconsiderable cost of stuff like tyres, pads, servicing and of course expensive visits to the filling station forecourt.
You're more interested in whether your neighbours will be impressed, whether your golf clubs will fit in the boot, if it looks flash outside the local wine bar, and whether you will actually enjoy driving it. The answers to all of these are going to be yes unless:
A: Your neighbours are royalty
B: You have the world's largest set of novelty golf clubs
C: The wine bar is a Friends of the Earth meeting place.
But there can be no way on Earth you're not going to enjoy the driving experience.
GRACE The majestic lines of the XJ line, stretching back over 20 years are still unsullied by the passage of time. Stick this car next to its rivals and see for sure how the feline grace of the Jag compares to the Panzer -like styling of the up market Germans.
BMW 5 series, 7 Series, Merc, Lexus, Roller, Bentley - bring what you like but no other luxury car can match the lines of the Jaguar. We may dismiss it as we have become so accustomed to it, but go on, be honest, it's still the best looking limo on the market.
Alloy wheels always seem to be a problem to Jaguar, they never seem to find just the right style. Still, these at least are conservative efforts and don't look like they have been stolen off a 70s custom car or a 90s pseudo Hot Rod.
SPACE
The lines may be graceful but three beautifully shaped sets of curves are never going to offer the space of three square boxes for the same road space. The interior is a little tighter than you may expect but how much space do you need? Sure, if the good living has expanded your girth beyond the bounds of decency, the front seats may be a little tight, but for most of us averagely oversized individuals, there is room enough.
The rear leg room is reputed to be a little short, but what do I care? - I'll be sitting in the front, the free loaders in the back can like it or lump it - most, I suspect will rather like it. The boot is courtesy of the design quite shallow, but will still allow more than enough stuff to be stowed, for any practical use I can think of after all, not many of us take the kids camping in a Jag (do we?).
The interior decor is of course the usual Jaguar cliché, leather walnut and wilton and none the worse for it. Sort of what you would expect a gentleman's club to be like, (without the bar and snooker table). The seats adjust electronically and are firm but very comfortable. They're party trick is to stretch back at rest to allow extra easy access and then adjust forward when the ignition comes on. Clever but ever so slightly pointless for normal sized humans. It does allow you time to get in the mood upon first entry though. Slide in, turn on ignition, select preset driver position, relax and wait whilst seat and wheel position themselves.
PACE The last in line from the Jaguar 6 pot is a work of art, not often seen by those of use more used to Fords, Rovers, Vauxhalls and the like. Lightweight alloys fuse to the inline crank to pump out a relaxed 250bhp with turbine like smoothness. There's no rocking, shaking, or vibrating tick-over in a Jag, just the slightly elevated revcounter to tell you that it has actually started. The drive train is mated to a slick shifting easy gated, twin mode 4 speed autobox. The box reputedly has a torque converter lockout on top gear to give more fuel/power efficient cruising. I'm sure it's correct but I doubt if your wallet will notice. Either way, the box and motor combine to give you effortless ground covering ability. Foot down, the gear-box kicks down and the Six's strong torque hauls this very big car very quickly around the speedo. Click it into sport mode and the autobox will hold the gears even longer for those who just must have too much of a good thing; normal mode is plenty for most of us. It's also quite difficult to fool and you need to indulge in serious accelerator sawing to get it jumping around.
Jaguars have always had legendary ride qualities, and this one is no different, insulating the driver from all the bumps and thumps of H.M. Highways. It does roll a bit though, not to a disconcerting degree, but more than you might expect. It grips real hard though and holds its line under hard acceleration without any difficulty, and no trace of under/oversteer, just solid neutral grip.
The one let-down is the steering, which is very light and also rather arm twirlingly low geared. This is fine around town and even for just loping down motorways, but stops any dreams of tackling A-B roads in attack mode. Maybe it's just a sign of where this car is targeted. It goes very quickly, the brakes haul it up in a fuss-free manner but short distance, and it glides over bumps. Driven smoothly, it gives a rewarding and relaxing drive and still eats miles very effectively. Driven roughly it shows its age and size by becoming a little ragged at the edges. We are talking about heightened levels here though and for such a big car, it grips and steers very competently. Always bear in mind that the smoothness of the engine, the quietness of the cabin and the calmness of the ride all mean that you are often lulled into a false sense of speed and are probably going way too fast already.
The auto-box may feature twin modes and a quick and easy manual gate but like all modern autos you can shift the lever manually if you really want to, but whats the point? - You don't gain anything by brutalising this car. It's much better to just let the car waft you along on its low down urge, leave the shifter alone and just modulate speed with your right foot. This gives you plenty of time to concentrate on wheel twirling duties.
TOYS
A flash motor like this is going to look rather cheap without all its toys. We've already mentioned the electric seats, and it would be rather disappointing for anything else not to be electric, you will be glad to know you won't be disappointed. Air con is of course included, as is cruise control. Nowadays, Jaguar doesn't show any signs of raiding corporate parts bins, and while there may be a raft of FORD parts, they are well disguised and difficult to find.
Would I have one? Well it is without doubt a brilliant car, an automotive icon. Brilliantly concieved and executed.
So, if I could afford to buy it, and if I could afford to run it as it deserves, then most probably not. It's still a little how can I put it, OLD for me. Maybe in another 5 years time, I'll be old and distinguished enough to look right in one, the sheepskin coats may be off the Jag scene now, but cravats and blazers are still de-riguer. Until the time I can afford Havana's and don't look like a prat smoking one, I'll give it a miss.
The 1988/89 Jaguar 2.9 XJ6 or, as our American friends would call it a Jagwar, does not exactly drum up images of inexhaustible power waiting beneath your right foot, ready to pounce as the motorway clears ahead of you. I suppose clear and motorway in the same sentence is a bit of an oxymoron these days anyway.
Well on this point, the Jaguar does not disappoint. It is indeed a lumbering large saloon with a kick-down that doesn’t want to and when it does, it changes gears so quickly that you want to repeat the process but really can't be bothered to.
So why did they bother? Well, it survived only 2 years and although I don’t have numbers at hand, it was probably surpassed by its alleged 0 – 60.
Why did I buy one? Please don’t ask!
Coming out of a 3.9 Range Rover made the possibility of the promised 29 mpg of the Jaguar 2.9 seem magical. And I was about to embark on our biannual trek to Eastern Europe, the fuel savings would be of biblical proportions.
You’re now beginning to understand just who is writing this review and whether it is worth continuing with the ramblings of what must be some kind of motoring maniac.
I haven’t even added yet, that this vehicle has completed an astounding 136k miles, and, although it has full Jaguar service history, even I am doubting the sanity of the adventure. And I am keeping my feelings from my wife who has always doubted my sanity and does not need me to confirm it.
Having said all that, the Jaguar XJ6 is indeed a beautiful car. A car which, when running well will give great satisfaction for its luxurious ride and general feeling. The interior comforts are indeed first class, with all switches and gadgets close at hand (perhaps the heated rear window switch could be a little closer). This reflects that the interior has changed very little in later models.
The Jaguar XJ6 2.9, when up to speed, purrs along the motorways seemingly effortlessly, quietly and gives a feeling of security. Excellent all round vision, good straight line braking, but, just that lack of power to drive it up steeper inclines. However, take it onto small side-roads and you need to be quite a bit more conservative. On local roads, the sense of security felt on the motorway is lost on every bend as speeds have to be cut well in advance to be sure you can compensate for the understeer. On exit, no amount of coaxing will get it to accelerate smoothly and quickly at the same time. You either exit slowly and smoothly or go through the horrors of the constant kick down.
Fuel consumption turns out to be a little less than anticipated at 16 mpg around town and 26 mpg on general combined driving, the best I got was 30.6 after a motorway service stop.
This is a car everyone can afford to buy but has the reputation that only the super rich can afford to run. This certainly has not been the case with mine. After 4,400 miles, the fluid levels remained constant and only the viscous fan began to whine a little. A total maintenance cost of £86.00.
I can say that it was the most comfortable ride through Europe we have experienced. Even the children enjoyed the spacious rear seating, the reading lights and a stereo system that did in fact allow you to fade away their current favourite cassettes.
So overall, the Jaguar XJ6 2.9 has, for me, been a joy to own. I had intended to trade it in when we returned but have instead decided to keep it. Even with all its flaws, not least of which is poor paintwork and a strong tendency to rust, driving this car does feel good. Relax in it, don’t try to race around and you will be rewarded with a comfortable ride, moderate fuel consumption and ownership of what is still a truly classic, Coventry-built car.
Second Opinion: Hmm some people are just never happy, they pay out a few coppers, expect to be cosseted in a Jag Gentlemans Club Interior and expect tarmac wrinkling performance at the same time.
Well think again.
This is Jaguar's answer to the Reliant Robin, a mobile tax dodge, produced specifically to side-step the law in certain European countries, its short production life only goes to prove that people who can afford to buy these cars (at least when new) can also afford the not inconsiderable running costs.
Though lets be fair, the performance really isn't that bad, it will still out-run that other low rent big cruiser, the V6 Granada. Its real problem is with performance accessibility, via the recalcitrant gearbox. Maybe at 136k, the gear box could do with a little checkover?? (if you can afford it - ha ha)
Did some one mention fuel economy and jaguar in the same sentence, 30+ sounds really good, too good, but just as you think its going to be cheap to run, it jumps up and bites you in the backside with 16 round town. Never mind, just don't go round any towns - that'll fix it.
The Terminal Rust Bug was mentioned too. Actually, it looks pretty good with just a scab or two starting to appear, treatment now should cure it and save a lot of pain in the future. But then again, who knows? It could be like a sieve underneath.
Still, you only live once, and this looks the biz, is trimmed like only Jaguar know how and it just cruised to Eastern Europe and back, which isn't exactly like your average day trip to the sea side
So.. The Jaguar XJ6 2.9.. decent car, If you can put up with the medical term they call.....
I just bought a 1987 xj6 and love it. I replaced belts, hoses, brakes, fluids,and tires. So far it runs great! I need to do a little body work and work out a few little problems. Does anyone have an 87 xj6 with little problems? I have a list.
My car is a D registration XJ6. It has the 2.9 engine, which is fairly widely regarded as the 'duff' engine of the range. While I probably would agree that it does not give the car 'sports' performance, I would say that it doesn't really detract from the enjoyment of the car. After all, who wants to go tearing around in a car like this? What made this car really stunning was the price. For only 2000 pounds, I got an immaculate condition car, with only 85,000 miles on the clock, a leather interior that looks like new, an eight speaker factory fitted stereo system, air conditioning, and all the other electric gadgets that you would expect on a car like this. OK, so this was Jaguars first real adventure into plastic, and some of it is a bit squeaky. It manages to sink about 50 pounds of unleaded in one gulp. I would also imagine that when something does go wrong (which I understand is not that unusual on these cars), it could well be somewhat expensive. Having said that, touch wood (burr walnut actually :-) nothing too serious has come of my car so far. It's quiet, feels solid to drive and makes the driver feel great. Friends love to cruise around in the cavernous back seats, and mum's really proud 'cos she thinks I've finally 'arrived'. Few people know that I didn't spend tens of thousands of pounds on it. The ultimate used car bargain.
Owned for 1 year.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed May 2003.
Performance
Reliability
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My father bought New S3 Soveriegn V12 back in 85 for £ 25,000UK. This was just £1,200 more then a top of the range Ford Scorpio with that rather weezy 2.9 push rod. Well what would you rather drive.
The Jag has been in our clan ever since and in the first 6 years my father only ever replaced fluids and the odd brake disc. In 95 we stripped her down and gave her a complete re-make, using XJRS bushing, shocks, springs and steering components, which tightened up the old girl no end. Imagine sending Cher on a 2 month make over!
One trip from London to Milan saw us complete the Lyon to Milan part in just under 4 hours, which is even more impressive considering the Mont Blanc Alpen pass which you must complete.
Now she is looking rather tired and a complete strip down is planned (although the cash hasn't been found) and we have identified kwe jaguar as having vast experience of these babies. You can find them on:http://www.kwejaguar.co.uk
I would like to find a late model X300 V12 and use that as a doner car,fitting the 6 ltr lump, rear axel and drive train, ABS, etc. Maybe I'm dreaming. has anyone ever done this... Email me and let me know.
Hi Guys, I've had all types, 4, 6, 8 and v12. Rods and classics, Mercs, etc, but there is one sure thing, the Daimler V12 Series 3 is "the Best" of the best.
Yes, even better than a Merc or Roller.
I have a Daim V12 with a 3.31 dif and GM400 trans, stock standard, its a factory hot rod in sheeps clothing, nothing beats Jag suspension, its cozy leather and walnut interior, superb styling is timeless, docile and fast, can run with the V12 pack of Ferrari's, Lambo's, Maserati's, but most of all they are just damn pretty.
OK, so they are complex, hard to work on, bit fuelly, and can be expensive to fix (if you can't do it your self), but above all they are a real class act.
If ever in your life time, drive a V12, it truely is the only motor for a car.
Sad its now out of production.
Steve
Owned for more than 5 years.
Preloved Visitor
Reviewed July 2001.
Performance
Reliability
Parts Availability
Overall Value for Money
Had her for 4 years, it has been a lot of fun, and now it is time for a change. 87, 3.6 soverign, to 93, 4.0 Daimler. So far the Daimler is beter in all respects to the Jag. lots of fun in the future.
Owned for 4 years.
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