Buying a cheap XJ40 in 2019 - still possible?

[Gooly]

Used to walk past two XJ40s every day when I was a kid, always loved the shape. These days you never see them on the roads and the days of seeing them coming up for £300 running seem to have gone, likely due to rust and banger racers. Question is, are cheap XJ40s still around? And are they all rotten? Theres a few floating around for £1500ish, what are they like mechanically? Any big issues to keep an eye out for? The AJ6 engine seems bulletproof but do they have common rust spots, common other ancillary issues, etc etc? Anyone here still run one daily or frequently?

Would love a manual but I'd imagine they're thin on the ground these days. I'm told early 3.6 cars had issues with electrics - can anyone shed any light?

I've never owned a jag before, always been a BMW man so I have no residual knowledge at all about these cars really but would love to own one before they all disappear

[Jaguar steve]

Good cheap XJ40? Unlikely now - but you never know.

XJ40s rotted like old pears and mostly will all have been scrapped. Like any other older XJ saloon the few remaining good ones are gently appreciating and you'd probably be looking quite some way into four figures for one.

Look on the Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club classified pages, classic car auctions and carsandclassic.

A later X300 or X308 XJ in good condition might be an easier car to find and live with.

[Carsie]

A wealth of knowledge across on XJ40.com

[Phil5343]

My Mrs just sold her 2004 Audi A4 1.9tdi..it did everything perfectly and never let us down. The reason behind selling....she's bought a 1994 XJ40 3.2s for £675 that is fairly decent condition with a long MOT. Its now in daily use, and fingers crossed it hasn't let us down yet.[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/RIfb0YqD[/url]

[groomi]

Rot at the base of the A-Pillar was the big killer - not the easiest of places to 'just get a bit of welding done'.

I'd love another one myself. Should never have got rid of my 4.0L Sovereign.

[300bhp/ton]

Gooly said:

Used to walk past two XJ40s every day when I was a kid, always loved the shape. These days you never see them on the roads and the days of seeing them coming up for £300 running seem to have gone, likely due to rust and banger racers. Question is, are cheap XJ40s still around? And are they all rotten? Theres a few floating around for £1500ish, what are they like mechanically? Any big issues to keep an eye out for? The AJ6 engine seems bulletproof but do they have common rust spots, common other ancillary issues, etc etc? Anyone here still run one daily or frequently?

Would love a manual but I'd imagine they're thin on the ground these days. I'm told early 3.6 cars had issues with electrics - can anyone shed any light?

I've never owned a jag before, always been a BMW man so I have no residual knowledge at all about these cars really but would love to own one before they all disappear

I can't see them being any different to any other car tbh. Meaning there will still be good ones out there. And some that aren't. And pricing will be inconsistent.

Early ones had a "digital" dash. Which may be more troublesome today, I have no idea what spares are like.

I know they had things like soft touch indicators and required a control model for it to actually blink the bulb, rather than wired directly through a relay and flasher unit. I don't think it was CANBUS strictly speaking. But was probably a step towards that kind of setup. Again no idea how available these bits are, they used to be very expensive to get a new one.


The AJ6 is lovely. Either the 3.6 or 4.0 litre, they make almost the same HP (2hp in it). Some say the 3.6 isn't as refined, but in truth is just a little more racy and eager rather than unrefined.

The 2.9 is smooth, but very very slow. Probably best to avoid unless the rest of the car is superb. And I'd also say avoid the 3.2, it was a big improvement over the 2.9 and I know dealers used to push it as being as good as the 3.6 was. But as said above the 3.6 and 4.0 litre perform equally. The 3.2 is a long way behind performance wise. Still nice, but wouldn't be my choice.


Manuals are brilliant, wish we never sold ours. But hugely rare even back in the day.


The best engine was the 6.0 litre V12 though. But they do demand the money.

Lovely cars, all of them.