Dang, I wish I had some money right now...

Why would you want that?

 

Probably the quietest/smoothest driving car on the road. Nothing but a slight bit of windnoise and transmission hum at 100mph.

Jim

 

Leave it alone!

Just the few problems that are mentioned will result in a huge "walletectomy". This car has all of the typical problems and is no bargain.

With sagging headliner and tired looking interior your friends will not be impressed.

The leaking steering rack is common and expensive to fix.

The fuel mileage (probably 12 mpg) alone makes the car nearly worthless.

 

The steering rack bushings wear out because of the weight of the front end, and I also believe from the heat of that v12 engine. There's just not enough hood ventilation for that v12, and it seems to cook everything from bushings to the electricals underneath the hood. This I believe is the reason for a lot of intermittent electrical problems with these cars. Anyway, as far as what happens when the rack bushings go, is you start to get uneven tire wear, the alignment goes off slightly, and then the rack starts to leak power steering fluid everywhere. There are upgraded polyeurothane bushings for the steering racks, which give the car a more responsive handling, but after a few years, these go as well.

Speaking of heat, I had my transmission rebuilt on my XJS V12, and the exhaust manifold was mounted too close to the transmission. The heat from the exhaust manifold actually BOILED the transmission fluid, pushing the dipstick up out of the tube, and trans fluid leaked into the engine compartment.

Jim

 

Looks very needy.

 

How about one of the 4-door sedans (XJ12)? Maybe they have a little more room under the hood...they are certainly cheap enough.

My sister-in-law was talked into an XKS 12 cabrio right at the end of production. They convinced her it was going to be a classic and worth a lot of money. It depreciated from about a 65K car to about the cost of a new Miata in just about two years. She had it at her second home; it had just about 750 total miles when I was dispatched to go put a new battery in it, drive it back from Sacremento to San Jose, and sell it back to the dealer.

Well, I guess that the V8 version to follow may not have done much better under the circumstances.

 

I don't have that Jag anymore. It was ferrari expensive to maintain, without the performance or resale value. I do miss it though, but not the gas mileage, or the fact that it needed a lot of work, and the 10mpg really sucked.

There were a lot of problems with these cars, and if you go to jagbits.com and read the Kirby Palm XJS manual you'll see how many problems out of the factories the XJS had. I'm sure the XJ12 had the same problems, they used the same engine and electricals. They did upgrade as the years went on, but I've always heard of the V12 cars having electrical problems.

As far as the XJ12 having more room under the hood, I don't think it really the room, but the ventilation. The small grill looks good, but doesn't really help any, and then theres really no ventilation for the engine compartment. The driver and passenger footwells would really heat up from the engine compartment heat. A known recomendation for these cars after driving was to open the hoods to let them cool down to keep from cooking the internals.

I still missed the XJS nightmare that I had. I really think I missed the cars mission, and the potential it could have had. So in December needing a daily driver bought a used XK8 coupe in December, and that car is SO MUCH BETTER. Maybe you should look at the XJ8.

 

I remember you Omar. How do you like Philly? I should be back in the area mid may. We could do lunch/drive sometime. Have you done the coffee thing on Sat?
Well you know BMW did make a 12 cyl. I think they had a lot of electrical problems too.

 

Yes, older Jags are a PITA to keep on the road.
Like a needy friend, there is always a list of things a few more dollars could fix.
They are beautiful cars, great lines, nice sounds, fun to drive. Very tempting, hard to resist.
But like the post mentions above, no realistic ROI in terms of holding value compared to on-going maintenance costs.
Here is a pic of my "personal contribution to the world" of keeping an old one running.
(and I'm only paying to keep 6 cylinders working)
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

At least the 6 cylinder Etype (particularly the Series 1 roadster) has a real following and a significantly appreciating resale value.

 

Agreed.

Care and feeding costs will be > than appreciation, but at least you don't have to see the value drop.

 

I'd say an E-type is worth it.
Very Nice car!

Jim

 

It dose look classy, I like the style very much.

 

There seems to be more and more 12 cyl cars that will come to market that are easy to be smitten with but the realities of owning them are a disaster. The 12 cyl Jags are a good example. Even though the BMW and Benz 12's are more stable than the Jag they too present huge problems after warranty and with some time on them. Sadly, I think most are best left to fantasy and not reality.

 

The very late E-type V12 cars are now starting to climb in value - probably about on a par with low-to-mid range inline six E-types.

I have always thought it strange that none of the four-doors ever found much of a niche market as a classic...except, I guess, for the 3.8 model like Inspector Morse used to drive.

Weird maybe, but I always had an eye for the old 420 sedans, with that forward thrusting front grille and the cool roofline.

 

I guess you could compare the costs of owning a Jag v12, the same as the costs of owning a Ferrari 412, for cost reasons. The jag doesn't have the suspension of the Ferrari, but it just seems to leak everything, and eat brakes and rotors, on top of the electrical problems.

 

Nice, I always liked the old 6 series. My neighbor used to have an M6. I think he had close to 500K on it. Not sure whatever happened to that car.