Car buying blog

Just been to have a look at a 4.0-litre Jaguar XJ. It was a Sovereign which means it has all the toys (if that matters) on a J-plate.

What an interesting car. Objectively it ticks all the boxes. Decent performance, refinement, lots of leather, air conditioning that seems to do its job, nice power steering (not over light, despite what the press often said at the time) and the sort of ride and handling mix that puts almost everything else to shame. I took it for a reasonably long drive over roads I knew well and it did everything I could ask without complaint.

And yet doubt remains. Some of it is doubt over the condition of the car I was driving. Nothing too serious, but a bit of rust here and there which you’d want to deal with sooner rather than later and a rather more serious question mark over the ABS warning light. Maybe the sensors just need cleaning (a common enough case on the XJ40) or maybe they need replacing? It all looked like a bit of a gamble.

Final nail in the Jaguar’s coffin has to be the colour. Metallic gold is somewhat more “pub landlord” than “young gentleman”. My search continues.