A while back my dad was looking for a car to buy for retirement, having had a look at a "racy" :lol: Hyundai Coupe V6, Mercedes E-class and one or two BMW's he decided he wanted to buy "British".
My dad is more or less intrested in the XJ series and preferably one that rides comfy but I'm trying to get him to get an R, but I'm wondering whether anyone knows which is the better version I heard there was an 6 cylinder 'R' and a V8 'R', were there any differences in specs and equipment, I heard there were manual XJR's was this true? Did the last gen XJR get CATS suspension and is it comfy?

http://cool-autos.net/Pictures/Jaguar/XJR_Special_Edition01-1.jpg

I'm not really up on my Jag history, probably Vitesse_Sport's your man there.

As far as I know, the XJR was purely a V8. You could always get an XJ8 which has been specced to look like the "R" (mesh grille, big wheels etc). That might do the trick.

As for gearboxes, do yourself a favour and stick with the auto. The J-gate is what makes a Jag a Jag really, and you'd be taking something away by going manual.

Ermm they did a lot, your best going to parkers to get a rough spec but...

... up to 1994 they were a charged 3.6 iirc straight 6. I think you could get these in a manual but most were auto.

..1994-2003 charged 4.0 V8. Only auto and watch out for the infamous 'bore wear' between 1998-1999 (I think). Most Jags had there engine changed anyway so no probs :). These old barges still did 0-60 in 5.3 secs and hence used to be the fastest production saloon car in the world just after the Lotus Carlton.

2003 onwards we have our lovely current charged V8 4.2 which can get to 60mph in under 5 secs :D.

I have missed a lot of info out but a full Jag history is a must, but apart from that, they wil go for miles :).

Basically there was the X300 XJ6 model which was from '94-'97 which had the AJ6 6 cylinder engine which was replaced by the vastly improved X308 XJ8 AJ8 V8 engined. The XJ8 had a 3.2 240bhp. 4.0 290BHP and a 370bhp XJR.

Early XJ8's had nikasil engines until mid '99 (i wrote a bit about this in another thread) so if the engine hasnt been replaced under warranty be suspicious, they can lose compression and the engine is bust. Also rattling timing chains and wheel bearing cause problems. Other than that fantastic, very reliable cars

also worth noting the XJ8 runs very well on LPG so huge petrol bills neednt be a problem :)

A while back my dad was looking for a car to buy for retirement, having had a look at a "racy" :lol: Hyundai Coupe V6, Mercedes E-class and one or two BMW's he decided he wanted to buy "British".
My dad is more or less intrested in the XJ series and preferably one that rides comfy but I'm trying to get him to get an R, but I'm wondering whether anyone knows which is the better version I heard there was an 6 cylinder 'R' and a V8 'R', were there any differences in specs and equipment, I heard there were manual XJR's was this true? Did the last gen XJR get CATS suspension and is it comfy?


The XJR was launched in X300 guise in 1994, fitted with a 322bhp supercharged version of the straight-six 4.0 AJ6 engine.

When the X300 evolved into the X308 with the AJV8 engines in 1997, the XJR was offered with a 370bhp supercharged 4.0V8.

The X350's launch in 2002 saw the engine grow to 4.2 litres and 400bhp. This is the XJR I know and love :)

Go for one of the V8 ones - they're vastly superior to the old straight 6 (which first saw service in the older XJ40). The X308 was available with CATS, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't standard and was a very expensive option. The limited edition XJR 100 had it as standard though.

Being a Jag, they're all comfortable old barges, but pre-X350 XJs are quite cramped inside. Even the X308 is very heavily based on the 1980's XJ40. As far as I know, all of the XJRs were autos.

I'd see if his budget would stretch to an early X350, but if he can't manage that, go for an X308. The earlier ones aren't worth bothering with IMO.

The X300 6 pot was heavily revised and is a much better mill than when it first appeared in the XJ-S and then XJ40. It's not a bad motor overall although as said before you do wonder where all the space has gone when you get in. I drove a twin-turbo XJ40 Daimler version some years back which showed off the chassis rather well, the car overall can handle the power increase from the R version very easily. The V8 version is a lovely beast.

Aaaah Andy T :)... so I was 50% right :p

I would go for a late X308 personally, I would have one myself but my parents threatend to boot me out when I mentioned it last week.

I have seen the X350's down to 27k now, as Andy says its a lot better than the X308 in many many ways :).

I would have one as well but the length makes them a nightmare for parking in london and the insurance costs would be huge unless i could find a specialist policy.

X308 4.0 Sport is the one i would personally go for, 290bhp makes it very fast and im not sure about LPG converting a supercharged car.

iirc you can't convert diesels or forced induction engines to LPG - NAs only I'm afraid. So that's not a route you can take I'm afraid.

XJR - absolutely wonderful car, devastatingly quick but still a refined gentleman's carriage. I'd love one.

iirc you can't convert diesels or forced induction engines to LPG - NAs only I'm afraid. So that's not a route you can take I'm afraid.
Thought as much, 21mpg on petrol would make it very expensive to run. NASP 4.0 with a chip will run over 300bhp, run on LPG and is 3 insurance groups lower

you can actually convert diesels but its not recommended at all and is very expensive (know someone who was quoted 6k to convert his taxi)

You can do diesels? I thought the compression/ignition method ruled LPG out tbh - well that's I was told anyway. Not surprised if it costs though.

Thanks for the information so far, I've looked up the guide for the XJ on Parkers and on the car & driving website to help on the specs front.
Me and Dad are going to spend sometime scouring the Friday Ads/car mags and Autotrader till we find a good un.......

You can do diesels? I thought the compression/ignition method ruled LPG out tbh - well that's I was told anyway. Not surprised if it costs though.


i've seen it somewhere or other, plus it cleans your engine too lol
.. it gives power gains i've been told, as lpg runs a higher octane than petrol and diesel

I've found a big advantage to get an X300 XJR over a V8... they can be insured as classic cars now so insurance doesnt require NCB's so its CHEAP :)

On the subject of diesels you need to inject lpg with the diesel to give a more efficient burn of the diesel.

Turbos and LPG arent a problem either, so i doubt supercharging is a problem also.

Even with the insurance benefit there is no such thing as a cheap old Jag to run. I'd really try and avoid the X300 now as they're all getting on and as things wear out you could quickly spend what the car cost on fixing it.
If you do buy one you have to prepared mentally that a major component failure will write the car off. As long as you buy it on a throw away car gamble basis (i.e. it may give 20k of pleasurable motoring or may go down the road and you'll have to scrap it) then OK.

The X300's are well built cars which can do serious miles but are basically an early 80's car which show their age in some areas. Check suspension bushes, shocks, cats, exhaust, water pump, brakes and all the electrics. Avoid CATS as the replacement costs are high. If you do find a nice one drive a very hard bargain as fuel hungry ageing supercharged saloons do not exactly have a queue of buyers around the block.

I wouldnt worry about the age sadtosee, its the condition and how the cars been cared for that matters. Pick an X300 thats been well looked after and regularly serviced and you should get years of big smile motoring, these cars do 200,000 miles with ease. On the other hand you could get a year 2000 XJ8 thats been trashed, missed services and bodged about by a local mechanic recruited from burger king.

Of course running costs are not going to be cheap but what do you expect from a car that cost over £40k new?

Problem is people buying prestige cars for mondeo money thinking they can run them for mondeo money, BIG mistake

Fuel costs shouldnt be a problem now sequential lpg systems are affordable and filling stations are everywhere

I know the XJR-R's had wider tyres and brembo brake upgrades (more pistons than the standard calipers).

Im sure they were only available in V8 form.

Not much info - but they are nice cars. Luxury and performance when needed.

I wouldnt worry about the age sadtosee, its the condition and how the cars been cared for that matters. Pick an X300 thats been well looked after and regularly serviced and you should get years of big smile motoring, these cars do 200,000 miles with ease. On the other hand you could get a year 2000 XJ8 thats been trashed, missed services and bodged about by a local mechanic recruited from burger king.



That's true although on complicated cars age is still a factor. It's not usually the basic mechanics which cause a problem but as cars get older expensive and awkward things like ECU's, motors, electronic displays, solenoids etc. do begin to fail just through age and use. It is often the non-obvious things which finish of large old execs rather than the engine blowing up.


Of course running costs are not going to be cheap but what do you expect from a car that cost over £40k new?

Problem is people buying prestige cars for mondeo money thinking they can run them for mondeo money, BIG mistake


Agreed, that was the basic message I was trying to get across. I known of so many people who buy a used large exec for £5k and then are totally overwhelmed by the fuel consumption, complication and costs of the car. It always sounds great in theory but then the reality of £70 worth of fuel for 300 miles kicks in along with £2k for a set of catalyst etc. On top of that, they pay £5k for the car and then try to sell it after 3 months and are offered £1500.

These cars are superb value but please, please go into it with your eyes open and a full appreciation of the reality of running one.

Fuel costs shouldnt be a problem now sequential lpg systems are affordable and filling stations are everywhere

A car doing say 1000 miles per month using £250 of petrol (£9000 over 3 years) to do it would have it's bill halved by LPG. So, the driver saves £1500 per year. What is the price of a fully fitted lpg kit?

Just say for arguments sake it cost £1500 to fit the lpg, you get a saving over three years of £3000 in fuel costs if the gov leaves the duty alone. You spend £4500 on fuel + £1500 for the LPG fit.

That's quite interesting, but to do that more than that mileage my L-series powered car used less than £2500 worth of fuel over 3 years, so even with an lpg fit the big motor would still cost me another £3500 to put fuel in.

kin' ell!

My conversion cost about £1900, you can get them for less but its best to use an lpga approved fitter. Since the conversion i've covered 15,000 miles with no problem, at 18mpg and a 50p a litre discount you can imagine the savings! Re-sale value is improved as well

My conversion cost about £1900


!!!!@#%$ That's about what my car cost.

Sure, its not cheap but if they were fuel efficient would they be selling at these prices?

Over a few years you'll easily have saved the money and fuel costs will be similar to that of a normal car

Sure, its not cheap but if they were fuel efficient would they be selling at these prices?

Over a few years you'll easily have saved the money and fuel costs will be similar to that of a normal car

Fuel prices are obviously a factor but the whole large executive sector is in decline both new and used (not to mention saloons of all sizes in general). The main reason is that (a) people's tastes are moving away from conventional designs and (b) the improvement in the smaller execs means you can get similar gadgets, comfort and performance in a smaller package for less money.

The other reason is that even if you ignore the fuel costs maintenance on these cars is very high if anything goes wrong - sometimes 10x the cost of a mid-sized family hatch.

As for the XJR I'd be inclined to look for a XJ8 Sport - similar in many ways and although lacking the outright performance almost certainly cheap to run.

Fuel prices are obviously a factor but the whole large executive sector is in decline both new and used (not to mention saloons of all sizes in general). The main reason is that (a) people's tastes are moving away from conventional designs and (b) the improvement in the smaller execs means you can get similar gadgets, comfort and performance in a smaller package for less money.

The other reason is that even if you ignore the fuel costs maintenance on these cars is very high if anything goes wrong - sometimes 10x the cost of a mid-sized family hatch.

As for the XJR I'd be inclined to look for a XJ8 Sport - similar in many ways and although lacking the outright performance almost certainly cheap to run.i had a xjr for two years ,superb car true there not cheap to run but the smiles per gallon are incredible, id swop my 260 for one tommorow