This kind of question is always interesting. In all honesty, this usually becomes more of a popularity contest. My favorite Jag was the silver 1982 XJ-S V12. It was an awesome car to drive and one I wish I had been able to keep. But ask me which one has been the most reliable and I’d have to vote differently. The XJ-S didn’t have a working heater and sucked gas out of the pump faster than I could put it in. The blue 1990 XJ6 (as well as the white 1990 XJ6) had their share of troubles. The sagging hydraulic suspension, inoperative heater fans, embarrassing oil puddles, and continuous electrical problems were aggravating. But when I purchased the 1995 XJ6, things were quite different. Sure, there have been problems but nothing serious. Even after using it as my daily driver for home inspections, it keeps plugging along with little to no maintenance. It has been the most reliable Jaguar I have owned. But what do the experts say?
David Muhlbaum recently posted an article at Kiplinger entitled, “15 Cars that Refuse to Die.” As you would expect, the author includes Irv Gordon’s 1966 Volvo P1800 and Peter Gilbert’s 1989 SAAB 900 Turbo. But the rest of the list might surprise you. Sure enough, one of the 15 cars that refuse to die is the 1995-97 Jaguar XJ6 (X300). How about that? Somebody actually agrees with me. Here’s what David says about it.
“Here’s our thinking: During the 1970s, Jaguar reliability was horrid. A common solution to the car’s troubles was to rip out the Jaguar motor and replace it with a good old Chevrolet V8. But in the 1980s, under the leadership of an industrial turnaround specialist, Sir John Egan, the marque started to improve. Then Ford bought the company, infusing money and development know-how. By the late 1990s, the company was scoring well on J.D. Power vehicle dependability and initial quality rankings. So that’s why the last iteration of the classic Jaguar inline-6 sedan is still motoring on, often in the hands of a second owner who’s always hankered for a Jag but couldn’t afford one new” (link).
Read the entire article and you will find that the author really isn’t talking about reliability. He’s talking about cars that keep existing long past their prime because of several reasons. Some keep running because they are well built. Others still exist because their owners refuse to let them die. I think my 1995 Jaguar XJ6 is a combination of the two. It’s a beautiful sedan with a reliable drive train. Although it does leak some oil and has been in an accident, it’s quite a leap above the others I have owned in dependability — even the heater works! While it’s nice to have something more reliable than those I’ve owned in the past, I can’t quite escape the likeability factor when it comes to owning a car. In other words, I want to drive something that I like. But it doesn’t hurt that that this one has been so dependable. It’s a definite win-win combination.
I love all Jaguars because they are the most artistic beautiful car I have ever seen. With an exception to a few of the past and most of the newer models. My favourite beauties have always been the E Type followed by the Series 1 XJ6. After that everything they did to the XJ6 did very little to enhance the original design. Until Geoff Lawson gave birth to the XJ6 X300 in 1994. He brought back the original Jaguar curvaceous shape and in a very clean and simple design, which to my eye was one of Jaguars most beautiful cars. This design by Geoff Lawson was iconic of Jaguars design evolution. The XK120-XK140-XK150. The Mark 1 to the Mark 2. The C Type – D Type – XKSS – E Type and then what most people are not aware of is that the original XJ6 design was originally designed off the E Type and there are historical photos of the XJ6 being designed that will prove that. But aside from all that, I will admit having owned one of the original XJ6’s in the seventies and knowing many other owners, that the Jaguar cars were not that dependable. But they were absolutely beautiful. By the 90’s when ford had spent 200 Million pounds on producing the X300, all of that changed and the X300 was on par with dependability with most other cars of its time. Yet the interesting thing is that many of the Jaguar lovers have not come to recognise that the last of the XJ6’s the X300 was one of the best up to date and modern XJ6’s ever built.