Some Jags R Slags

Caution, big cat ahead...

Jags R Slags? It’s not really a ‘70s reference, but we will get there eventually, now I have some of your attention.

I was asked recently to do some used car stuff for a motoring outlet. The best bit was I was going to be paid, which is something of a rarity these days. I pinged some ideas in their direction and they liked this one. Did not want any specific on sale examples because that dates the piece. I understood that. The thing is, they didn’t like wot I wrote at all. That’s fair enough. I remain a bit baffled as they seemed to want a road test rather than an appreciation of used Jaguars. If you have any idea why anyone would not enjoy reading the following, I would really appreciate your feedback. I am never to old to learn.

What I have bolted onto the back of this piece is something that the mainstream motoring media are not keen to dwell on because it might possibly affect their JLR advertising and promotional relationships. Especially those long term loan Range Rovers. But yes, the real leaping cat badged elephant in the showroom are those engines. We will get to that shortly. Oh and I could resist attaching two more Jaguar stories, one is about them forgetting who founded them. The other is a rare old XJS you really ought to go and buy for one very obvious reason, especially if you don’t like the newer ones.

Firstly here is a harmless appreciation of Jags you can buy right now, let me know what’s wrong with it.

Jaguar isn’t dead, so buy one of these...

We live in very interesting if quite baffling times.

Just in case you missed it, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will be cancelling all Jaguar models apart from the F-Pace. The reason for this is a long stated intention to reinvent themselves as an EV-only luxury brand. That means the E-Pace and electric I-Pace, both assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria, will now be withdrawn, following on from the Castle Bromwich-made XE, XF and F-Type, that ended production in June 2024. Not only that the F Place is scheduled for retirement from the showroom in early 2025, then there is something of a lull before the new era begins.

So where does that leave us? Jaguar fans, enthusiasts and those who appreciate the heritage and whole grace, space, pace of it all would seem to be stuffed. Except that the used car market will always come to our rescue.

The simple truth is that the very best Jags have always been the very used ones. Except we are not going down the shonky, MOT borderline, mid ‘90s XJ6. Much as that would be great fun, until the flatbed is summoned of course, there’s an awful lot of exciting options. Let’s take a look at some recent registration Jaguars that they don’t make anymore, but are superb value.

Take the F-Type. It is easy to argue that JLR should have marshalled it’s sporting models much better, so they became truly desirable (like any model code of 911) but actually the F is still pretty damned good. There are also quite a few pre-registered delivery mileage examples which will look sensational on your drive. For instance a full fat 5.0 V8 Coupe which retailed from £79,895 can now be had with a generous saving. There is no need to buff up your negotiating skills as all the big dealer groups are going to save you a decent five figure sum. They have ‘24 registered examples at around £63,000.

It is ditto the 4 pot, whether you reckon it makes the right noises or not, these are also around in significant pre-registered numbers. That’s probably because it has not been the biggest F seller of all time. Around in the biggest number are the 2.0i R-Dynamics. The coupe retailed at just over £65K, the dealers are knocking a clear £10K off that. What is even more interesting is that the convertible which was £70K new is being priced matched to the coupe, so you will pay just under £55K. That really is something of an ‘as new’ bargain.

However, you are not here for the zero risk, nearly new Fs are you? What else is out there to tempt you away from a Mazda MX, when you could have a grown up (only joking) sports car with a growler on the bonnet? The entry level sweet spot is now around £20K. Of course, is vital to carefully consider exactly what you are looking at. ‘Part service history’ is not what you want to read. That’s why a six figure mileage backed up by bills, stamps and relatively few previous keepers is always the safe way to go.

The 3.0 V6 is the engine that powers all of these bargains and it just depends whether a six figure mileage frightens you and if you are happy for a dealer warranty to see you through the first year. If that’s the case then a 2014 coupe with 125K miles, four previous owners is yours for £17,000. By contrast an equally 2014 coupe with just over 70K on the clock that has all the Jaguar dealer stampage, will be £23,000 or so. Still not bad.

Want to go topless? Well again it is the 3.0 V6, also from 2014 (which is also for peace of mind, ULEZ compliant) priced at just under £18K with the mileage a tad over 90K. Again, these are with dealers who will give a year’s warranty and recovery for a bit extra and that is always worth every penny. Otherwise a two owner 2015 3.0 V6 S with a modest 30K on its odometer and nothing whatsoever to worry about is just £10,000 more which translates to £27,500 or thereabouts.

If you want the full throb of the V8 for comfortably less than retail there are 2015s with a very low 30K on the clock. Inevitably it will be fitted with some nice extras, such as a panoramic roof and maybe fancy red bucket seats. The asking price is £33,000 from the safety of a well established dealer. The thing is though, what’s the point in having lots of fun in your pre-owned Jag if some friends and family can’t come and enjoy the ride?

This brings us to the XJR which pretty much has the same aggressively musical V8 as the F. The truth is that the new model XJ on the whole and R in particular, never sold in big numbers. There is limited choice, but the prices might surprise you.

First of all, to stay on the right side of respectability, because a 2017 with just 35K miles is not going to be especially cheap. However, for circa £40K you really are getting a lot of Jaguar which at the very least has a ramped and stamped main dealer history in the glovebox. On top of that there should be a panoramic roof, plus a carbon pack, not least because it could also be a 575 limited edition. That may make it more resellable in the future, but right now that’s an awful lot of Jaguar to enjoy.

Please don’t get sidetracked like I often do into the dark world of six previous owner Rs at almost half that £40K, because it really will end in a lot of tears before bedtime. Instead, buckle up and bag yourself a proper fast saloon bargain which should have all the, ‘few careful owner’ boxes ticked. The only catch is that you must be willing to suck up a six figure mileage. In that case then an XJR from 2014 can be found with 124K on the clock and still tastefully carbon packed, for £18,000.

Then again if your beating heart still desires that a 5.0 V8 and four door is your preferred combination, the even lesser spotted XFR-S ought to be on your list. The classifieds are hardly awash with these. At any one time there are barely a handful around, quite possibly making this model a post modern future collectible.

Whether or not you care about financial things like that, don’t have the patience to wait decades and just want to drive in the moment, the later facelift model has a price point which is comfortably over £20K. For instance a 2014 in mint condition, including a main dealer history and less than 70,000 miles is £27K all day long, or rather £26,999 to make it more palatable to your bank account. You will do well to get one at that price, dial in some slightly lower mileages and low figure previous keepers and the dealer average price gets much closer to £29,999, so be warned.

The conclusion has to be that leaping cat badged coupes, convertibles and saloons, especially exciting ones are not going anywhere. They remain in showrooms and dehumidified garages waiting to be bought and driven, which ought to keep committed Jagists happy.

In the short term, we can easily buy pre-registereds and there is a lot of recent warranted kit around. In the future though it will be interesting to see whether these ‘real’ Jags will go up in value. For the moment prices are certainly soft as it is for all large engined, premium models that no one is obliged to buy in times of economic crisis. They are properly handsome though, that’s why we bought them in the past and will do in the future.

For the time being, happiness remains a warm, used Jag. Long may that continue.

Don’t like those new Jags? Buy this old one then…

https://www.justinbanks.com/

What a lovely classic on sale at Justin Banks for just £14,995 and as the website says, “This is an incredibly rare car being 1 of just 350 manual Pre HE XJS cars ever built, and according to the Jaguar pre-HE register, one of only 76 cars Worldwide recorded.  The manual Pre HE cars are difficult to find, they are more scarce than a flat floor outside bonnet lock E-Type, and are tipped to be the next big thing in collectable Jaguars, so they wont be at this price level for long!”

The bottom line is that this would be a hoot to drive and at that price too which makes it a nailed on five Slogger. Tax free and ULEZ free at the time of typing. Well what do you know, it’s gone, that was quick. Go and have a look at the Justin Banks site they have some great cars and a lovely bunch to deal with.

A Genius for Breaking down and why certain Jaguar engines seem to be full of Slag, you know the impure bits in molten metal?

The trouble with Jaguar Land Rover products is the way they have always been built. Badly.

Aside from a sorted legacy Land Rover, or certain period XJS in this feature and various S Types, I have largely steered clear of the very recent JLR products. To such an extent that my previous employers reckoned I was being rather unfair to them. I can’t remember what they changed, but it was a few years ago now. It only deepened my resolve to not recommend them at all. The last thing I wanted is readers getting into trouble. Then the elephant in the JLR showroom was the Ingenium engine which seemed to be made of cheese.

I won’t go into huge detail as there is plenty that you can read for yourself and more to the point watch blokes on Yoof Toob dropping lumpy diesels in half a day from their broken XEs to see what can be done. What I’ve learned is that in the most simplistic terms the exhaust gases get into the oil, which turns into sludge which causes all the trouble. The creative fix is to change the oil as often as you change your socks. Otherwise find someone who can by-pass the DPF valve.

Talk to anyone who is even more miserable than me and they will also tell you that there is a whole litany of hardware failures. Just guess an engine part and chances are it will cause some sort of issue in the Ingenium. That includes timing chains, balance shafts, turbos, oil pump, pistons, solenoid, thermostat, water pump, cylinder bores, big ends, etc.

Technically it is down to fitting the engine horizontally and the consequence is that the DPF is too far away from the engine. Apparently JLR knew but did not want to redesign the bodywork to fix the issue. Also, longer service intervals (their own press materials celebrate the fact that the interval has gone from 16K to 21K) don’t help. It is also rumoured that lots of engine development was done by modelling, rather than actual old fashioned test bed.

These issues affect Range and Land Rovers too, but there are also some specifically Jaguar. The 2.0 Diesel has a stretchy timing chain and there will be a death rattle that may alert you. Also the turbos will whistle and then the engine will engage limp home, or low power mode to compensate. Meanwhile, the supercharged V6 has failing water pumps and associated coolant leaks.

All very shocking and you can live with it while under warranty, after that it becomes a used Jag nightmare. Not something the mainstream motoring media is very bothered about.

Jaguar forget their heritage...

I may be paranoid, but since being ‘let go’ by Autocar, some manufacturers are finding it difficult to talk to me these days. This all started when a JLR Public Relations officer tweeted (yes I know it is X) a picture of Sir William Lyons statue on the occasion of the date of his birth. Quite right too, without him there would be no Jaguar. Except that the origins of SS Cars, Swallow Sidecars, was due to another character William Walmsley. I am sure that JLR know all that, but what an insufferable show off I am. Except that on their media website searching for any mention of Lyons, let alone Walmsley, produced this.

I asked the Jaguar PR to explain it. No response. I got in touch with the head of PR. Still no response. A couple of months later I did check back and it does seem as though some lowly tech monkey had managed to rustle up just one old news item from just over a decade ago which references their founder.

Not sure what to make of that, but the problem is that most car manufacturers have is they are run but a lot of people who don’t seem to like cars very much. If they don’t celebrate and undestand their past then they will have no idea where they are going.

And finally, Jaguar actually is, if not at Brown’s Lane, but very sadly is quite Brown Bread. I said so in Free Car Mag and back in the first Substack

See you next time.

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