Found an 88 XJS V-12 locally.

[jackq]

Yesterday I found this car here in town. Local guy, pretty good pal, has numerous Jags..few of these, a couple of XKEs..lots of others...MGAs. etc. and has decided he needs to sell this one car. Grey with black interior, going to try it out today. Anyhow..price is $3500..not firm. Was wondering id that was about right???

 

[Jagboy69]

Money sounds about right. Does the car NEED anything serious? Parts for these can break the bank. And you DO NOT want to pay anyone ever to work on it. I owned a 84 XJ12 while living in germany years ago. The fuel bill will eat you out of house and home. I literally got between 6-10MPG. NOT KIDDING!!! You know they did finally make the XJS with a 6cyl later... You'd lose the silkyness and sexiness of the V-12, but at least you'll be able to drive it without worrying about what the super unleaded only gas cost you.

If you decide to take the plunge, Be sure to get this book, it's free and is VALUABLE to the 12cyl owner.
Kirby Palms book
Jason

 

[tony barnhill]

Remember: No such thing as a CHEAP Jaguar!

 

[jessebogan]

Hold up here. I have had my 89 since it was new. I can get 25 plus MPG on the highway with no problem at all. In fairness, if I act like a hooligan, I can get single digit MPG too. The V12s are great cars, great engines, but the one thing they will not tolerate is hot running. And by that I mean just a couple of needle widths above the N. There are some known problems, such as the space between the radiator and AC condensor fills up with crud and blocks off the air flow. Easy enough to fix. The cam cover gaskets are known to leak, but much better factory parts are available now. The advance mechanism in the dizzy sticks, (and can help achieve single digit mpg), but a soaking with Kroil will fix that. The inboard rear brakes have their tricks too, but again, not that big of a deal. Like most cars, the condition of the interior is important. Replacements are available, but they are not as good as the stuff Jag used in the first place.

 

[LarryK]

I agree with Jesse: I got 20+ mpg at speed and 13-15 in town, just depends on the foot. Most emmisions and A/C parts are GM. Power steering pumps are GM style. Most of my problems were previous owners lack of maintenance, which was quickly overcome by doing a full service upon purchasing. Coo;ant does need refreshing every 2 years, same as brake fluid. Transmission is a Turbo 400 GM and costs about $400 to rebuild with 1 hr in out and in. Beware of low prices, these cars sell in good condition with fair mileage at $7500 to $17000. You have a lot of experience and knowledge on this site, do not be afraid of the car. V-12s are dynomite!!!

 

[Jagboy69]

Jack,

No denying, the XJS is a marvelous automobile. The XJ12 I owned was a boat by comparison and it was a heavy overweight PIG of a car. I paid peanuts for my car because taxes on 5.3 liters is murder in europe and the locals just want to offload them. I don't think buzzing down an autobahn at 140MPH is foolish either. I think being able to literally watch the fuel gage drop is total BS. Jags are amazing vehicles, But I think the company should have been killed off by the end of the 1980's. The methodology they used when designing these cars is atrocious. Jag owners will rarely admit this, but we (even me) know it's true. You haven't lived until you get to change a fuel tank on a mid 80's xj. The XJS isn't AS bad, thank god. If I wanted an XJS, I'd find one with a 6cylinder. This way you alleviate some of the grief on yourself of the poorly designed V-12. Stupid stuff like one cylinder bank will always runner hotter than the other side. Radiators that were designed by morons, AirCon systems bought because of the lowest bidding, The OPUS system, WTF? A distributor cap that will break the bank and the ever present freighting aspect of just browsing prices in a parts book! Why subject yourself to this sort of agony? For this asspain, I'd rather work on a Fiat X19.

I fit in these cares fortunately . If your 6'2" and have size 12 shoes, forget it. There is zero foot room in all the xj cars. It's fine around town or for the wife, but on a long road trip it's a nightmare. How do I know? I spent a lot of my childhood shoehorned into the xjs' joke of a backseat as a boy listening to my poor dad bitch we should have take the 560Merc. The xjs is a chick car, I'd buy one for my wife or turn one into a nasty race car and race it. I just don't believe the car is worth putting up with 12cylinders.

Remember, EVERYTHING on these engines is now a multiple of practically double. Double the parts, Double the cost and double the time it takes to fix it. You'll be paying Ferrari prices for Jag panache?! This just doesn't make sense to me. Just think seriously about adjusting the valves on this thing. There is a REASON Kirby Palms book is 736 pages long and comes with tons of revisions! Buying the V-12 is the easy part!

Jason

 

[jessebogan]

No offense to Kirby, or all the other contributors to the "book", but that thing would scare you off of driving if you took it seriously. Those people spent a LOT of time trying to re engineer their cars to solve problems that their re engineering caused in the first place. I am 6 feet, and 250 plus pounds, with size 13 shoes, and I fit the S just fine. Putting anyone in the rear seat should qualify as child abuse. Convert the rear seat area over to the cabriolet storage area and be done with it. I have driven my car 155 thousand trouble free miles. I have replaced a steering rack or two, but now have a ZF , and no more problems. Like most complicated cars, maintainence is key. Correctly maintained, the cars are bulletproof. 88 and EARLY 89s with lucas ignition are, in my opinion the best cars. They has the nicest wood, more chrome trim inside, etc. As the cars get newer, (or decontented to 6 cylinders) they lose the book matched wood, and begin to get cheaper and cheaper. I have a 94 6.0 liter V12 here, and it has vinal covers on the covers for the inside handles (Chrome before) Painted mirrors, plastic speaker covers, and so on. The earlier cars were the way Jaguar wanted them, not cost cut as Ford made them. I also had an 85 XJSC with the 6 cyl and 5speed. That was a proper sports car, and it went like stink. I probably should have kept it, but hey, I have had the V12 too long to let it go.

 

[equiprx]

No offense to you Jesse,
I think someone was screwing with your 94. My 94, 6.0 Coupe has the nicest wood and nearly everything is covered in leather. I do know that the 4.0 cars were done with vinyl but not the v12s. I also disagree with the general quality of the earlier cars. They rust easily and leak badly. No one wants to work on them and the resale is insulting.

 

[maynard]

My 94 V12 also is all leather and it has beautiful wood. The 6 cylinder cars had leather facing on the seats but everything else was vinyl. The mirrors and headlight surrounds were chrome on the 6 cylinders, but were painted body color on the 12s.

 

[jessebogan]

You guys missed my point (or more likely I was not clear) I think that things like this are well... cheaper to make. What I was talking about is the little doo dad that covers the screw that attaches the leading edge of the inside door handle. On older cars this is a chromed part. On the 94 it is covered in vinal to match the door panel. It just looks weird to me. They could have designed another part , but to use the same part and just cover it up bugs me ( Iknow, I know, but it is a "thing" with me, I like the jewellery) The speaker covers in my doors have a chrome ring, again, I like the accent. Finally, the "book matched" wood. This is an old cabinet makers thing. If you drew a line down the center of the car, the wood on each side was a mirror image. So my end vent wood grain parts are mirror image, and the center console is split right down the center. Again, a little thing, but I like it. To be fair, it is possible that the console wood on this car has been replaced (so many have been), and someone used the more common 6 cylinder part. Don't get me wrong here folks, Had I stumbled on this 94 before my customer did, I sho' would have bought it on the spot. ( This guy just about stole this car) I love the increased oomph of the 6.0, the 4 speed auto, and the 3.54 rear end. It perks up the performance nicely. I like all of the XJSs, even the pre HE cars. They all have their charms, and they all have their negatives. They are , after all, Jaguars in the first place.

 

[Jagboy69]

Jesse, it's just a sign of the times. Make everything cheaper and faster and charge more for it! When ford took over they did actually help Jag. (in terms of sales) Personally I find the new jags disgusting. Most of the cars are nothing more than versions of a rebadged ford contour. YUK. I have to laugh when I see some joker at a stop light in a x-type and man do they really think they are the cat's ass. Little do they know. Pathetic.

 

[equiprx]

The trim that cover the front of the armrest fastener on my 94 v12 is covered in leather. Look totally fine to me, but difficult to slide back to remove the screw without damaging the leather, so I replaced the philips screw with a hex bolt.