Jaguar XJS V12 - today's long-nose tempter

By: Guy Allen, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 28.01.2019

Should you own a V12 at least once in your life?

Jaguar XJS offers a lot of car for the pricetag.

You can always count on a big Brit classic like this to start a fierce debate at the Unique Cars mag offices, particularly when one of the staff threatens to buy one!

It goes like this: They're phenomenal value!

And the response: They're complex to own and fix.

However you talk to people who actually live with them and many will tell a very different story. Replace the fuel lines if they're old, they say, and keep up the maintenance and you'll be pretty right.

There is an argument that these things are now much cheaper than they should be.

It's predecessor, the very elegant E-type, has seen prices head skyward, but this series has yet to follow.

By the time this car was produced, the V12 had been given a pretty comprehensive upgrade, indicated the HE or high efficiency tag. This pointed to a different combustion chamber design and better fuel economy.

It also got a handy boost in power, to a respectable claim of 295 horses or 220kW.

This example is a 1983 which seems to have received a fair bit of mechanical attention over recent years.

We're told it's a solid example and it's on the market in Traralgon (Vic) for $19,500.

Given this was once a luxo flagship, that seems like it could be a lot of car for the money.

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