How financially crippling could an old Jag be?
 

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/c...ed_auto/338451

The price, colour and classic insurance all sound appealing even if I only got a few years outta it.

don't like colour, but its a lot of car for money.

fancy a jag myself and pretending to be a gangster. not gangsta (they're a bit ghey- I mean proper old school.......not estate scum trying to speak with a caribean accent!)

what's mpg- 17/18 ??

not sure about classic insurance. I thought it was for cars over 25 yrs and you yourself need to be over 21/25 yrs.

See I just like being different, which is why I bought an Alfa for my first car instead of the obligatory Saxo/Fiesta/pug pish and well this is definitely the most interesting car I have seen on my very very very small budget.

Near sure Jags are a different kettle of fish when it comes to classic insurance and it just so happens I'm 26next month with a fist full of NCBs:lol1:

a time bomb just waiting to go wrong and empty your bank accouint.

Ah but what a lovely time bomb it is.:D If it costs me less than £1800(excluding tyres) a year to maintain it, it still would effectly work out cheaper than my current motor has cost me in the past 2 years!

What size are the tyres? For reference my tyres on 19" rims on my m3 cost me £1k. And proper tyres for it will cost minimum 1600. So your budget can get eaten very quickly with this big expensive cars.

Stroll in the park compared with an alfa lol

+1

Worked for the AA for 5 years and these jags (and older ones) were always a nightmare. Whenever called out to one, always seemed to be something catastrophic wrong with it and would always cost a lot to fix/replace.

Fuel consumption (urban) 16.9 mpg
Fuel consumption (extra urban) 32.8 mpg
Fuel consumption (combined) 26.4 mpg
0 - 62 mph 7 seconds
Top speed 155 mph
Cylinders 6
Valves 24 v
Engine power 322 bhp
Engine torque 378 lbs/ft
Please note

I'd be tempted to punt on it simply as you've owned an Alfa :D

I went all retro when I owned my 205 GTi and it had a fair bit done in my ownership - taught me some mechanics anywho!

But my old luxobarge Merc, although 20 years old was absolutely faultless! Absolutely beautiful to vaft around in! Just terrible on fuel so bought a Scoob instead :D

My father in law is quite into his Jags and has had a number S types, X types and a couple of XJ8s. His last XJ8 started giving him trouble with flooding - apparently if you start them quick and turn off they won't start again (bit like an RX8 I hear) so he sold it. His current XJ8 he's had for a couple of years and its not coughed once. Not cheap on fuel but hasn't caused him a problem.

Father in law is Career Sick so these things "can" be run on benefits :)

I drive a 1999 Jeep Cherokee which are considered complete sh1t heaps by the trade and yet in 2 years its cost me a battery and a new rotor arm. Yes its 4.0L and group 17 insurance but its been bomb proof (apart from the rotor arm)

Offer £1500 and not a penny more. If it lunches itself your not going to be in dire straits losing £1500.

Thats pretty much my thinkin' right there.

That's right. I had a 2000 xkr and my hand was never out my pocket. I blew the cylinder head gasket and the fix was £1800.00 and that was with no other problems caused with the gasket going. Also, the car in that link probably has a nikosil lined engine which used to give problems when the sulpher in the petrol was higher than it is now. Usually resulting in a complete replacement engine. Another thing to check with that engine when it is older than my2000 is the timing chain tensioners as they were origionally plastic and tended to let go between 50000 and 100000 miles.
That said, it was a lot of fun when it was running well:).

go for it :)

I do wonder about this nikosil business. A friends has an E36 328i on about 180K and that has the right (or wrong if it breaks) engine that has the nikosil liners. You would think by 180K if it was going to go it would.

My FIL reckons that not all XJs have the nikosil lining - although it is an issue. He thinks the one he has doesn't have it. Its a 2002 XJ8 LWB but it's not a charger.

The problem with these cars is teh Labour and fuel costs.

Insurance is usually cheap (classic car, maybe not for the above, but worth a try), parts are fairly priced: Just get the part number and go to David Manners FTW or Black country Jags for second hand.

The problem come when it need labour to fit/replace/repair the parts that do go wrong. And if you start paying a mechnanic to do all the work, then things gets expensive very very quickly.

Having said that X300s are fairly solid, but do suffere minor gremlins, and keep an eye out on the rust. Especially the sills and subframes.


BTW forget this nikasil scare stories....thats the early AJV8 :rolleyes: look at the advert and you'll see this is not a v8, its a six pot....namely the good 'ol AJ6/AJ16...that has cast liners and is almost bullet proof (just as well, because you can't get oversized bearings as the cranks can't be reground). What you do need to worry about though is the supercharger wearing. And the clutch packs on the auto gearbox wearing out.

Anyhoo about teh V8s; If a nikasil AJv8 engine car is still running today with good compression and without using excess oil its fine. And it'll stay like that (in terms of bore/piston/ring wear, unless starved of oil/badly serviced etc). Damage was only done through excessive sulpur in the fuel , once fuel no longer contained sulphur, the damage ceased to ocurr....With the V8s that still survive at present both with steel and nikasil liners - you are more likely to suffer from a jumping cam chain or a failed water pump (plastic impellar, like the ford V6s :rolleyes: ).

Belive it or not, pretty much any Ford/Jaguar/Aston I've come across with the Ford EECIV or ECCV engine managment has a habit of doing this.

My escort did it, ex's Fiesta , mate's coogar V6, my uncles Jags, my mates Jag all did it regularly.

Basically they dump in too much fuel during cold starting and 'probably' give a few extra pulses when the engine is shut down and the ECU doesn't register that the engine has been running for a short time beforehand, so treats the next start like it was a stone cold 'dry' start - injecting too way too much fuel and flooding it.

Best way to get it running....Make sure it has a healthy battery and crank on full throttle, hold full throttle until you hear it cough or try to run (usually 10 seconds, but keep going up to 30seconds if you hear no life). Then back off to about half throttle and hold it there for 3-4 seconds, it should try to run, then feather the throttle to suit. If it dies again. Stop and try again using full throttle for 10 seconds, then back off to quarter throttle and see if it runs/fire up. If it fails, retry from step one again.

The reason for using full throttle is it activates the 'flooded engine' program and stops fuel being injected. Pretty much all cars with EFi since the 1980s are like this (but nobody realises :rolleyes: ).


Normally gets it running within a minute, or running on at least 3 cylinders at least :lol1: Then just give it plenty beans @4000+rpm ASAP and it'll soon clear and start running on all cylinders.

Thats probably the single most useful bit of information I've been told all year. Thanks :thumb: