Having driven the XJ40, X300 and X308 (XJR) for considerable distances in one go TBH there’s really nothing between them as far as reliability goes.
I recently did at least 4000Klms in the XJR the last 800 with a failed rear bearing on the left hand hub. Bearing in mind that 700 of those klms (prior to the bearing failing) were on closed roads at speed and high cornering forces.
In the end it needs to be the car you feel comfortable in.
On a personal note the XJR (1999) is by far the most fun 
I don’t know why but my original 1995 xk6 I bought new never had the dropping headliner with 167,000 miles and never garaged for 13 years!
My others were all held with stick pins
Later replaced with a padding
I just love those cars and very relaxing cabin feel
I play classic music in my new jag but the black plastic and hard rectal seats kill the mood
Gtjoey1314
Ps the xj8 seats were even more comfortable than the xj6 but the rest was not as nice to me
I made an offer on the '97 X300 yesterday afternoon. Should hear back from the owner (via the broker) today. I like the color combination, slightly more retro look of the interior, and was impressed that the original owner had sunk a lot of cash into replacing some big items about a year ago. (Add power steering pump and hoses to the list in previous post). A photo of the headliner indicates that it was probably cut lengthwise down the center behind the sunroof to get it out, then recovered and reinstalled. This method is mentioned in one of the headliner threads here on the forum. It looks fine…very tidy job…a lot better than a sagging one. Photos of the bottom look excellent…no rust. And finally the engine compartment looks like it’s more accessible for a DIY XJ novice than the supercharged V8.
Update: The owner of the '97 wouldn’t move much off his $21K price. Even his broker/agent was frustrated and said it was too much. The owner thinks he has the best XJR6 in the world…and maybe he does. Anyway, close, but no cigar. So I pulled the trigger on the 38,000 mile 2002 XJR.I had been watching. Seems like an honest vehicle…the broker/agent put me in touch with the owner and we had a good conversation. He said it just sat in his garage because it was too nice to drive. Florida car…always serviced by the dealer. The only known issue was a bubble in the headliner. Broker is having it replaced before they put it on a trailer bound for Texas. (The rear view mirror had been replaced by the dealer, Joey)! I liked the black on black '97, my spouse likes this “quartz” over oatmeal. Anyway, I suspect I’ll be picking y’alls brains sooner than later. The E-type and the old Jeep pickup will be sold over the winter.
Thanks everyone for all the great info and advice. I might have purchased a normally aspirated sedan with the problematic ZF gearbox if left to my own (uninformed) devices.
.
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SIlver gearshift gate ??!!
Enjoy the ride….But please GET THE TENSIONERS DONE…Spend the grand now or its 6 grand to replace the motor…Thermostat housing for another 200 and you will be fine!
NICE LOOKING CAR!
GTJOEY1314
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It has the metal tensioners…wouldn’t have touched it if it didn’t. I’ll get after the thermostat housing immediately after it’s delivered. Is there an upgraded aftermarket version? Thanks.
Jaguar has the metal version and a new thermostat
Good luck!
gtjoey1314, usually they change it with the tensioners…maybe you get lucky.
Thank you again. I’ll check it (and double check) the tensioners when the car arrives.
Just check, I just reread your post, if its supercharged, it might be metal already.
Good luck.
GTJOEY1314
yeah supercharged ones all have metal thermostat housing.
maybe an improvmenet to the water pump to be had
Good…Yeah I read it fast, so another thing done.
Its funny how you remember this stuff when its in your wheel house.
gtjoey1314
I think you’re going to be pretty happy with the XJR. It’s a great open-road cruiser, quiet, comfortable with an excellent ride, and powerful but with good enough handling to be enjoyable if you hit some twisty roads. I don’t think you’ll regret it especially over an overpriced X300 XJR, unless you’ve already driven both and liked the X300 a lot more.
It’s a beautiful color, and I’m with your wife in preferring it to black. No swirl marks to deal with! If it were at all possible I’d have driven back home instead of having it shipped - I’ve done that with every modern car I’ve purchased over the past 20 years.
Only thing I would do is to have the wheels rebalanced with taped weights in the inside, to get rid of the clunky clamp-on weights on the rim. Unusual to see that done on a Euro-type luxury vehicle.
Dave
I hadn’t noticed the wheel weights. You’re right. Hope they haven’t marred the wheels.
One of the reasons I was homing in on the X300 was that I had my eye on a five speed manual that I would have swapped in. But I couldn’t hang around and haggle because I figured the 2002 wouldn’t last long. I would have driven the car back to Texas, but circumstances wouldn’t allow. So far, I’m pretty happy with the on-line buying experience. The paperwork has taken about a week including the wire transfer…but there definitely is a lot of it. The car is having the headliner installed in the next day or two, and then it does on the hauler in the Florida area that does a run to DFW. The only thing that annoys me is that there’s only one key…and I’m sure they’re expensive.
I’ve driven my ‘99 XJR pretty hard over some twisty back roads here in NZ on an event called Targa Hawkes Bay, limited to 130 klms/h but no adherence to the ‘suggested’ speeds around corners.
This was in company of late model Porsche and BMW’s one of the Porsche drivers commented at the end of one of the special stages ‘that car wasn’t designed to go that well’ I think he was surprised at the agility, speed and cornering ability of the car.
You will enjoy it.
Anyone know if there is a lowering spring kit available for the 308 chassis? Not much…maybe an inch. What about a manual transmission behind the V8? Same bellhousing bolt pattern as the AJ6? Or is the engine computer too intertwined with the transmission?
You can do what you like but…
That car has REVISED bump stops and tricky angles for the suspension.
Remember its still a 4,000 lbs car.
I guess you can slam it with an air ride suspension but…
LEAVE THE DAMN THING ALONE AND DRIVE!
IMHO
LOVE
GTJOEY1314
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As GT says I would drive it for a while before thinking about any changes, they are already a low car.
Even here in NZ where we have more normal sized cars, I have to look for the empty space along the roof lines in a car park to locate my XJR.
Thanks, gents. I will indeed drive it for a while before making any changes. Just looking around at what’s possible for now, as the car will be 1500 miles away for the next few months.
In my poking around I found that after market lowering springs (approximately 1") are available, but the damper mounting arrangement from the factory results in the use of rather short factory units. So shorter springs eat into the normally available compression stroke. Removing a portion of the bump stops recovers some of the stroke, but with the penalty of a rather abrupt jolt to the suspension at the end of the shock travel. There might be a work around for the mounting, but I’ll have to look at the suspension in person.
That said, it seems XJRs exported to some countries were equipped with shorter springs from the git-go. Think it was XJR 100…???. I’ll have to investigate further.
