1998 Jaguar XJR Supercharged V8 x308 For Sale

It is with a heavy heart that I put my Jaguar up for sale. I’ve had the car about five years now and it has brought joy and happiness, but also a fair amount of poverty. With a few other ‘running projects’ on the go, and also a wedding to prepare for, I’ve decided it’s time to let the old girl go, mainly because of the suspicious rattle coming from the timing gear.

As any cursory google search will tell you, there were two main weaknesses in the engine when it was launched. Firstly, the nikasil cylinder liners reacted badly with the sulphur in petrol. However, this car had only covered a few thousand miles by the time the turn of the century rolled around, at which point the sulphur content of pump fuel was dramatically reduced, meaning that this car wasn’t sufficiently exposed to the fuel which would have prompted liner wear.
Secondly, the nylon timing chain tensioners were prone to cracking up. This was fixed after a few years of production by Jaguar swapping to (I believe) aluminium tensioners. Which is why the first thing I did upon buying the car (when it had 50, 000 on the clock) was to get the newer tensioners fitted. And it was just as well, as the old ones had begun to crack up.

However, despite the precaution, there has recently developed a rattle from the timing chain on the driver’s side bank, giving me the feeling it’s like playing Russian roulette every time I start it. ‘Normally’ I would ‘just get it sorted’, but I’ve recently thrown 800 quid at the MoT, getting a reconditioned steering rack fitted and a full service. And last year’s MoT required a pair of new cats which set me back a fair bit. I’ve probably got a few grand’s worth of bills since I’ve owned it and I have decided I have to scale back somewhere, meaning it’s time to part company, and probably replace it with something awful from the 21st century with an incorrect seats-to-cylinder ratio of >1.

Despite being my (or mainly my girlfriend’s) daily commute, it has not done a huge number of miles and currently sits at 85k. Going long distances can get quite pricey as it’s not really good with fuel. If you use super unleaded and stick to 60mph on the motorway, I’ve seen it get as high as 24mpg, but on a commute it’ll hover in the mid-to-high teens. The performance is still quite savage for an old girl - I believe it (briefly) held the moniker of fastest four-door production saloon when launched, and the supercharged V8 still propels you beautifully and silently into the horizon. There aren’t many cars quicker on the roads even today, and it can give those young blighters in their hatchbacks a bit of a shock when you signal the engine room for all ahead flank. Yet being an old-school Jaguar, still offers a serene environment, from when Jags still had grace, space and pace (unlike the modern XJR with all its harshness, noise and yobbishness).

The interior is pretty decent but suffers from some of the usual x308 failings. The powerfold mirror on the passenger’s side doesn’t powerfold anymore (I have a spare but have not got round to fitting it). The headlining is sagging in the rear, and the cup-holder no longer closes. On the plus side, the automatic lights, cruise, heated seats, electric windscreen heater all still work. I’ve also fitted a bluetooth receiver so you can now listen to Elgar from your phone, and also use the hands-free kit to call your stockbroker (I set it all up with connectors so that it can be restored to original condition too, should one wish). There’s also been fitted the ‘chauffer’ option of switches on the rear of the front passenger seat, meaning the rear passenger can move the front seat forward to allow more room for reading the FT. The electric aerial retracts all the way down, too.

The bodywork has started to get a bit crusty on the driver’s side as you’ll see on the photographs, and the corners have a few scuffs on them, and the paintwork all over has a few scuffs and scratches. All in all, it’s a fairly solid car but does wear - externally at least - the patina of daily use. It’s obviously not a pristine example but this is reflected in the price.

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