By: Gordon Wright

Gordon Wright stakes a claim for classic status on behalf of the ‘X300’ Jaguar XJ

Jaguar Sovereign XJ (X300) 17 years old, looking good and driving beautifully.

My Cars:

1950 Series 1 Land Rover

1959 Jaguar XK150

1995 Jaguar XJ Sovereign X300

My Jaguar XJ Sovereign X300 is 17-years old this year and is in remarkably good condition throughout. Despite the car’s great looks it currently has a value of little more than £2000, a lot of lovely Jaguar for such a low price. Not that I’m intending to sell her.

It was originally purchased from Tony Ridge, a director of the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club who had owned the car from new. As a concours champion, Tony was intending to keep his X300 up to scratch for future events, but changed his mind in view of the long time it would take for the car to achieve classic status. However, the Sovereign had got off to a good start, even the engine bay had been regularly cleaned, so I received the car in the sort of immaculate condition that can be expected from a concours champion like Tony.

For the first two or three years I struggled to maintain Tony’s standards and the engine cleaning eventually fell by the wayside. Nevertheless, I like to think the car was well looked after and was regularly used until I discovered that my daily journey (two miles down narrow, twisting, country lanes... and back again) was inflicting too many hedge scratches on the bodywork. It also didn’t make good sense to use the big Jaguar, which was better suited to long journeys and certainly not economical on fuel on constant short runs, so I bought a MINI and kept the X300 for big tours and Jaguar events.

In the end I was using the Jaguar so infrequently that I sold it to the company, Kelsey Publishing, for use on Jaguar World Monthly magazine. After about four years the Jaguar was becoming a company hack, so feeling pangs of guilt I bought her back. The Jaguar was also by this time carrying my personalised number plate J60 GDW. I am not into personalised numbers, but the Kelsey staff clubbed together and bought it for me for my 60^th birthday, so it would have been churlish to refuse it – they must have gone to a lot trouble to find it. You could say the plate paid off because it strengthened my attachment to the car.

The interior is in amazing condition.

A THOROUGH FACE LIFT 

When Jaguar J60 GDW came back into my ownership it was, not surprising, looking very sad. When a company car is being driven by many different people, none of them ever have the time or inclination to look after it. I had a lot do to return the XJ to her full beauty.

The windscreen was covered in chips and scratches. There was a few nasty parking ‘rubs’ on all four corners and the bonnet was a mass of chips from company car motorway driving. The computer crystal display on the dash was missing elements, making it unreadable.

Fortunately the interior was still in surprising good condition and all the tyres had been renewed just a couple of thousand miles previously.

The windscreen was replaced, the corners and the bonnet prepared and re-sprayed and the computer crystal display replaced. Having serviced the car it looked and felt a million times better. The total cost was just over £2000, which in Jaguar terms was not excessive, but of course it could not add £2000 back on the car’s value, which by now had probably reached rock-bottom. But it made me feel good!

ARE THEY A GOOD BUY?

The X300 model was my favourite Jaguar and the most reliable I have owned. In its youth the model came top of the JD Power’s list for reliability, ahead of BMW and Mercedes (the first time for a Jaguar model). As I’ve said previously, the value of my 17-year old X300 is probably only about £2000, so it’s the type of Jaguar that’s within the reach of many and driven carefully on long journeys isn’t that bad on fuel.

However, while you may pick one up for around £2000, and a good one at that, the rest is up to luck... If anything goes wrong with the engine, drive train, suspension (or the tyres need replacing), the ultimate cost of ownership could soon be several times the purchase price. So it’s a gamble!