'88 Jag Vanden Plas

[martx-5]

A good friend of mine came across an original owner '88 Jag Vanden Plas that is for sale...approximately $2000. I know very little about these cars, but I told him that I'd post here and see if I can get some sort of concensus on how good or bad these cars are and what possible problems to look for before purchase. Engine is 3.6 inline 6 cyl. The car has 90k miles. The trans (auto) was redone about 10k ago. The suspension (some sort of self-leveling thing) was also redone. The car won't be used as a daily driver. Is this car a money pit, or are they generally reliable??

Any info would be a big help...

Thanks

 

[jessebogan]

Hello Art,

That is kinda a tough question. The 88s are the first year for the XJ40, and as such they were problematic to say the least. They had more "trickery" than subsequent years. They had tons of problems with bulb failure modules ( Boxes full of built in relays that make ALL the lights work, 1 in each corner of the car) In a car that has really been well maintained, most of these problems have been solved by now.

Same with the "ride levelling". Was the car converted to a non ride levelling configuration? (this is the most common and permanent fix) Does the ABS work? There is a screen on the dashboard that displays faults. Are any of these displayed? (There are plenty to display).

The other area is the differential. Bad ones howl like you have the ghost of Sir William Lyons trapped in the trunk. Good ones don't.

If all is well, it is not uncommon for these cars to cover 200K and still be running strong. All of the problem areas have fixes, some more expensive than others. Assuming that the first owners kept up on the car, it should be a good durable car, but it likely won't be the cheapest car to keep on the road that you have ever had.





!

 

[bmurphy7369]

I had a 1988 for a short (very short) period, and I will add that the ride-levelling was interesting. I didn't know that the car had the system until I went over a speed bump. Suddenly, I felt the rear of the car raise, both sides, one side would lower, the other would rise, on and on. The front also began this process, I drove around town thinking that there were kids with camaros that would kill for this feature, but it just wasn't working for me at my age and something about a Jaguar at a stop light appearing to try to impress the younger folks rubbed me wrong, at least they would think I was trying to out-do their modifications to their muscle cars was my thought. It was fun for a few days, but when I learned about the $1000 or so to remove the system and stepped into about 6 inches of water in the footwells after a carwash, the car was gone in a few days, and I purchased the 1993 XJ6. I never regretted that transaction, but I did miss the CB Scanner feature on the radio.
1990 and up can be had for around the same money, even going with a bit higher mileage on anything but a 1988 or 1989 may be better than the chance that the prior owners didn't work out all of the quirks. If you like the round headlight insersts compared with the 1990 to 1993 XJ40 Euro Lamps, you can retrofit easily. Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Brian

 

[bmurphy7369]

Hello again, Art,

I should have added that Jesse was correct, there are plenty of 1988 and 1989 cars that are solid and dependable, my experience isn't necessarily that of every other who has owned one.... I also believe that due to their "reputation" and being the first of a change at Jaguar, the car I believe was set for intro in the mid-1980's, but money was a challenge, it has an interesting and short-run as the first attempt at modernizing Jaguar. The values of these two years I believe will be something to watch as the decades go by, and I would guess that many are now tossed away, making them more scarce than we could know. If you find a well-maintained early XJ40 and have the time, money and patience, you may have a collector in the making.
There is a gorgeous BRG 1988 here in Columbus, Indiana that I would buy without blinking were it for sale. I keep on the guy, but nothing will make him part with it. He has done all of the proper upkeep and drives it rarely, and has had great results from maintaining it so well.

Brian