In late 1997, the Jaguar ‘X300’ XJ6 became the car it should have been at launch thanks to the launch of the new AJ 16 V8 engine line-up.
Along with the new engine, the new ‘X308’ had a few visual tweaks – a new dashboard, better wood, clearer dials and rounder bumpers.
But beneath the exterior, which didn’t have an awful lot wrong with it anyway, the X308 was a thoroughly different beast, with a new V8 engine and heavily revised suspension, giving it delightful agility alongside the best ride comfort this side of a Rolls-Royce.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Jaguar, though, as early X308s were beset by reliability issues, all of which were ironed out for the 2001 Model Year facelift in late 2000. The second-generation cars had stronger cylinder liners and timing gear and were better finished, while they were also better specified in general.
This one is a 2001MY 3.2 Executive, first registered in December 2000 making it one of the first of the facelift cars. The Executive was aimed at Jaguar’s core fleet customers, with the smaller of the two V8 engines for tax efficiency but a level of specification not far behind the uber-luxurious Sovereign models.
This one began its life ferrying very important bums around on behalf of Jaguar’s then owner, Ford Motor Company, as was registered new to the Ford Executive Car Fleet at Brentwood in Essex. In early 2002, at just over a year old, it was sold to a private owner by the Guy Salmon Jaguar dealership in Northampton, who maintained it for the next three years.
In 2013, the car was purchased by a Jaguar enthusiast who used it for Jaguar Enthusiasts Club events for the following nine years, covering a low annual mileage and keeping the car maintained by a specialist during that period. It comes with a full service history up to 121,216 miles and every MOT certificate from new.4qzm5QvKpiRmXh0YfxDTdOy79PRCZ7roLnDveaxU.jpg770.36 KB
THE HISTORY AND PAPERWORK
Original Jaguar leather wallet, book pack and service history
Large file of invoices
UK V5C
MOT until September 2023
Originally supplied to Ford Executive Car Fleet
Fully service history all the way to 121,216 miles, 15 stamps in the book combined main dealer and independent
Every old MOT certificate from new
At last MOT advisories for perished tyres and inner wheelarch corrosion were addressed, with two new tyres. The corrosion was cut out and new metal welded into the inner arches
The X300 and X308 generations of XJ are rapidly gaining classic appeal – the last traditionally styled, steel-bodied big Jaguar saloons and, by nature of evolution, the best of the breed. A good one is a really nice car. Eminently usable, surprisingly affordable to run and with unrivalled levels of comfort, coupled to great driving dynamics, they represent a fantastic era of Jaguar engineering that is absolutely core to the brand’s DNA.
They’re at an age now where the bad ones are rapidly disappearing and the good ones are shooting up in value. This one is certainly a good one – an original, well-presented and entirely honest car that has clearly been loved, it’s a fantastic choice of charming, usable and really quite special-feeling modern classic.
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