Not being a fan of what I feel is largely irrelevant technology, I wonder why you're not looking at X300s? Less rust and simpler technology.
But then again I'm drawn to 308s!! Cheers, apax.

What is the problem here?

Just spend some time and find a good one. 

Hi there SV8 - you are clearly an optimist
I am beginning to come round to Geoffs point of view. Over the past couple of years I have probably travelled about 1000 miles to look at 15 or so cars ranging from under £2000 to over £4000 dissapointingly even the more expensive cars have some rust, some had camchain or warning light problems. I am beginning to think leave it a while and then go X350.
Cheers

Go for an X300, mine is totaly reliable, no rust to sills or wheel arches, in fact the only rust at all is a blister around the front screen pillar. The interior is as new and it has a bomb proof engine, the only way I will part with it is for an XJR 6 I've looked at a few, but so far haven't found a rust free one, still like the 40, but they suffered from rust, bulkhead, boot lid, sills, screen pillars. Have driven a few XJ8 and liked them, but are too prone to expensive problems eg timing chains and tensioners.



all the best Brian

M80XJR wrote on 05.10.2011 at 21:50:13:


And so say all of us!

i like big yank v8s in the correct car jaguars have smooth quiet v8s not brutal noisy v8 s

you buy a v12 xj  if you want noise and power 

note
i have a xj81....that is a V12.

very true there is some rubbish out there

Jacqueline wrote on 23.10.2011 at 20:56:52:


+1

Pace with grace, remember!

You really should come to the UK and look over a few cars before mouthing off so much. There is no bullshit in my post at all - it is fact. The cars I referred to are still on the forecourts and this suggests that others are finding the faults as easily as I did. I have also looked over cars at "reputable" dealers at three times these prices only to find they also had faults they should not have, including MOT failure rust where front subframe mounts.
UK law (sale of goods act 1974) states "goods must be of merchanable quality and fit for the purpose for which they are sold". These cars are being offered for sale for use on UK roads and the dealers are clearly in breach of the law because they are not fit for that purpose because they cannot pass an MOT.
The cars are clearly not well protected (not enough for typical northern UK conditions). The front subframe mount area is particularly prone to rust partially because of thermal cycling due to the close proximity of the unshielded exhaust manifolds.
As for the dinosaur comment - well that could be aplied to any old jag - including the E type but to the enthusiast it is of no consequence at all.
I would say on the whole Xj40s have no more electrical trouble than the V8s and are usually a lot cheaper and easier to fix.
Cheers

I agree that rust is an issue. My x300 had rust all along the underside of the cills. The rear arches are a notorious weak point. By comparison, I'm currently running an 11 yr old old Mitsubishi and that has almost no rust at all.

I don't agree that dealers have the best cars. Infact, I would want to avoid buying from a dealer. With older cars they have limited knowledge about what they are selling and they often don't have the best cars anyway, they rely on people thinking they are getting a top dollar car for a top dollar price, which is often not the case. As for refering to a 16 year old dinosaur with dodgy electrics, I think you are confusing the xj40 and the x300.

There may be some good X308s out there but I suspect people are hanging onto them. All those I have looked at from private to independants (non of the main dealer have cars this old) have some drawback that in my view prevents them being worth the asking price. A good prportion of them are for sale I suspect because of a number of advisors on MOTs that are going to be expensive to fix. I think unfortunately very nearly all these cars are now suffering significant extensive corrosion which occurs irrespective of the the level of care, much like the  type sill problem.
Cheers

money_one_four wrote on 22.11.2011 at 02:33:25:


What was the damage to the engine Al?

money_one_four wrote on 21.10.2011 at 23:02:54:


There's something fishy going on here. . .