I have a 1994 XJS and I see the word facelift come up a lot = Pre face lift ? Post Face Lift?
what is the meaning ? TIA
Circa 1991-92 the XJS received a 'facelift". Briefly, different tall lights and side glass, different instruments…and a slew of other changes, including construction process.
In the USA these are 1992 model year cars.
Your '94 is a ‘facelift’ car.
Cheers
DD
Pre-facelift:
Facelift:
One of the big differences is that supposedly the facelift cars had far better rustproofing.
“Supposedly” is not the right term here. Substantial increase in the use of zinc-plated material for the 1994 and up (the ones with the plastic bumper covers and larger wheels):
The 1992 (the introduction of the Ford-ified XJS) saw the following changes to the body structure:
awesome - i appreciate the feedback Thank you
thank you so much for the education . Appreciated
Also, in the US market, they got rid of the dual headlights and went with the European single oval lights.
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There are also lots more modern style electrical bits… like blade fuses and sealed multipin plugs. Plus on ‘95 and late, an OBDII port which is handy.
Unfortunately, no V12 has OBDII diagnostic capability. Except perhaps for the XJ12s with the Nippon-Denso ignition.
Not sure why that pre-face-lift car has post-face-lift wheels on it, though … (unless it’s a European thing?) 
I don’t think it does. The last few years of pre-facelift shipped from factory with the ‘lattice’ wheels.
My '89 has them and they are original to it. Others on the forum have suggested that all or most all cars with a build date 3/88 or later were factory with the lattice wheels (don’t have a source for that date myself but my build date is 10/88).
And '89 was the biggest production year of them all so there’s those and the first few '90s as well with them.
Ha ha. I do prefer the quad headlights, but it’s easy to replace one for the other.
What I dislike about the facelift coupes, is the rear end. Looks like a Ford Thunderbird. Facelift convertible rears look ok
meh, that front bumper on the pre-Facelifts look more like a Jenga set.
I do much prefer the rear on the prefacelifts, I never did like the facelift tail lights, but the front end of the facelifts look more thought out and coordinated than the bandaided front bumpers of the earlier years.
When does this devolve into a leaper or growler debate? Perhaps then we can move on to oil?