All generations and engines together · 10,331 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 56k
Better than most saloons and estates for its age, though about average per mile driven. Watch suspension and brakes. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating suspension advisories.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The self-levelling rear air suspension can leak down overnight, leaving the car sitting low on one corner by morning, or the compressor can wear out and struggle to keep pressure. It's most reported on the X350/X358 (2003-09), where air lines, valve blocks and the compressor itself all wear with age; the X351 (2010-19) redesigned the system and is markedly less troubled by it, though owners still report the odd compressor swap. This lines up with the measured MOT data, which shows suspension as the standout fault area for this model, though the actual MOT failure is more often a worn top mount or ball joint than the air system itself, since a bag going soft usually gets fixed (or ignored) long before test day.
On 2005-2008 XJ and S-Type cars with the 2.7 V6 diesel, a run of short journeys could load the DPF with unburnt soot and hydrocarbons faster than the engine management accounted for, occasionally leading to smoke or fire from underneath the car. This was serious enough to trigger an official safety recall for a software recalibration, so any car from this window should have the fix on record. It doesn't affect the later 3.0 diesel in the X351.
Early 4.2 V8 engines (pre-2007ish, X350) used plastic timing chain tensioners that can crack with age, letting the chain rattle on start-up and, in bad cases, jump enough to bend valves. Jaguar quietly moved to metal tensioners and Morse chains later in the X350's life but never ran a public recall over it. The later 5.0 V8 (AJ133, used in X351) has its own history of timing chain and guide wear, well-known enough to have drawn a US class-action suit, with failures reported anywhere from 80,000 to 150,000 miles; a rattly cold start on any V8 XJ is worth walking away from or budgeting for.
X351 owners report the touchscreen infotainment cutting out and rebooting while driving, sometimes alongside revs dropping, warning lights lighting up, or the car briefly losing power, most often traced to a tired battery, a failing alternator, or the start-stop system's contactor rather than the head unit itself. A fresh, correctly-specified AGM battery cures a lot of it, which tells you how sensitive the electrical system is to voltage dips. Jaguar hasn't acknowledged a specific fault; owners largely diagnose it themselves via forums.
On the X351's 3.0 diesel, carbon build-up in the throttle body can trigger a 'Restricted Performance' message, and if it isn't sorted it can stop the DPF completing a regeneration, eventually leading to a blocked filter and a 'DPF Full' warning. Inlet manifold and rocker cover oil leaks cause the same warning message and get confused with it. A clean or replacement throttle body is usually a few hundred pounds; a blocked DPF replacement runs well into four figures.
Some X350/X358 cars bubble around the bootlid seam, lower door edges and wheelarches earlier than you'd expect from an aluminium-bodied premium saloon, usually put down to stone chips and poor drainage rather than a factory-wide defect. Owners are split on how common it really is; some cars go 15+ years untouched while others need panel work by 10 years old. Worth a proper look underneath and around the seams regardless, since a full respray on an alloy body is not cheap.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 3,416 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Saloons & estates), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.