High mileage Jaguars?

[619TF]

Personally I'd prefer this one any day..

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by jpd

Same with my '59 TR3 and MG.....English "sport" cars are wonderful toys, but need a lot of attention!

I wish I still had my MGB. I had no trouble with that one!

[unimogbert]

..........

[Tony Burns]

I use to own a 97 jaquar -nice car but I was basically laying down in it every time i drove it-
plus some of the parts for it are insane -I took good care
of it so it was not hard to sell , but i had many super low offers for it
and it was getting to be not fun to drive -so It got sold , the gentleman who bought it is happy with it,
but i look at these things like their boats -your happy when you buy one and happy when you sell it.

[Brucebubs]

Seeing that Triumph bought a smile to my face.
Released in England as a TR5 it boasted being the 1st British sports car with fuel injection.

Lucas fuel injection.

So bad that they pulled it off and supplied cars for the USA with twin Zenith-Stromberg carburettors and sold it as the TR250.

[Frostie]

Originally Posted by Crazyguitardj

So be sure to look the car over REALLY well

Hire an expert to do it. This is a high-risk proposition.

[aknow]

Had XJS (V=12) from 1988, 1992, 1997.
Get later models made by Ford if possible, the '88 caught on fire at least 4 times. Dealer mechanics couldn't keep it out of the shop. Later models were more reliable, but weren't fit as well as the '88.

[ahorsewithnonam]

High mileage and the word Jaguar together spell............financial disaster.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

High mileage and the word Jaguar together spell............financial disaster.

Old school friend had 2 and all the 'luxury' was either worn off or broken.

[ahorsewithnonam]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Old school friend had 2 and all the 'luxury' was either worn off or broken.

Yes, they are absolutely beautiful cars. Works of art. Sadly, their dependability doesn’t match their beauty. My cousin is on his 3rd one. All have been money pits. His wife wants to choke him! He had an old XKE in gorgeous red. It was in immaculate condition. Oh my, always something broken, and parts were tough to get, then no one wanted to work on it. If they did.....they charged ........well....a lot.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

Yes, they are absolutely beautiful cars. Works of art. Sadly, their dependability doesn’t match their beauty. My cousin is on his 3rd one. All have been money pits. His wife wants to choke him! He had an old XKE in gorgeous red. It was in immaculate condition. Oh my, always something broken, and parts were tough to get, then no one wanted to work on it. If they did.....they charged ........well....a lot.

Both cars (XJ6 series II - 4.2 liter 6 cylinders) rusted out around the front pillars and leaked rain water through the windscreen seals and filled the cabin with water.
Both had non-functioning A/C and heaters.
One day, while parked, one of them decided to pump all the fuel in one fuel tank to the fuel tank on the other side - which was already full so petrol just pushed out around the filler cap, ran down the side of the car and onto the street.(I wish I'd had a match!)
One ran rough and I noticed the water temp was always cold - thermostat stuck open and the cold temperature caused the auto choke to stay on - easy fix and to be fair I've seen this happen on other cars too.
One of them used 1 liter of engine oil for every 100 kilometers traveled - even your clothes smelled bad after riding in that one!
The interiors were not made for hot Australian summers - those lovely timber dashboards became just de laminating dry, bleached out, cracked wood and the cloth used for seating started to break down too.

They require dedicated ownership with protective garaging and regular maintenance.

[frazervalley]

This thread should be an effective deterrent. I think he will be buying a Toyota now.

[Silly Moustache]

Like American guitars, the '70s for some vintage British cars weren't the best as there was a big brutal battle going on between the motor (and other) companies and very destructive Union resistance.

The Jaguars were largely built for British/European use not the very high mileage and often less than ideal maintenance which occurred in the US.

We don't see many American made cars in the UK because they tend to be too overpowered, too thirsty and aren't built for our roads.
I've seen some of those comical looking Jeep Renegades around.

[hubcapsc]

My English car is about to turn over 200,000 miles, runs like a top,
I love it...



-Mike "not a jaguar"

[frazervalley]

There were a bunch of English cars around us when we were in our teens. They were used cars that survived well in our relatively mild West coast climate.
My best friend developed a love for the 1957 Triumph TR3. So he scoured the ads looking for cars that were cheap and for sale, but had better luck discovering them discarded in people's backyards. He would offer to buy them with his meagre funds and surprisingly found two within a few blocks of his home. These were not driveable which is just as well as we were only fifteen years of age. One was towed to my friends home, the other we pushed and steered along the quiet suburban and thankfully flat streets. My friend proceeded to completely dismantle one of the cars right down to the frame. Over the years and with good quality used parts he assembled the second car, rebuilt the engine and still has the car.

My other friends were driving an Austin 1100, and an Austin Cambridge. These were rugged cars that were relatively easy to repair, especially with help from fathers that had good mechanical abilities. Many fond memories of squeezing four or five of us into one of these cars and exploring the rural countryside.

I was far more sensible and benefited from the Japanese invasion of small cheap cars and bought a Datsun 510 with independent rear suspension, a rare enhancement in a budget economy car. With sticky Continental tires that little car would handle and corner very well. I embarrassed a few American muscle cars of the day that would need to slow right down on the curvy bits or to make a turn. I would just tap the brakes, downshift and gun it. Course when we hit the long straight parts, it was all over for my little Datsun.