Jaguar XJ Buyer's Guide

The XJ is the great contrarian buy of our records: 19 tracked sales at a median of just £4,004 for what was, in every generation, one of the world's best saloons. The £225 car and the £22,308 car in our data are the same nameplate separated by condition, series and the file of receipts.

Know your generations

Series 1–3 (1968–92). Nine sales across the classic XJ6/XJ12 line: Series 2 cars at £4,500 and £22,308, Series 3 at £225 to £7,875 (median £3,902), and a single XJC coupé at £16,250, confirming the pillarless car's premium. The Series 3 is the resolved classic: the best built, the most survivable, and still the cheapest.

X300 (1994–97). Two sales at £5,500 and £18,000. The first Ford-era XJ, straight six, generally considered the most dependable of the moderns; the top result shows what low-mileage examples now do.

X308 (1997–2003). Four sales, £1,635 to £6,800, median £1,752. V8 power and banger-money entry, with the early-engine Nikasil question long since resolved in surviving cars but worth seeing in the history.

X350 (2003–09). Four sales, £1,199 to £4,905, median £2,881. Aluminium-bodied, so the traditional XJ rust story finally ends; air suspension replaces it on the bill.

What to pay

£1,500 to £3,000 buys running X308s and X350s; £4,000 to £8,000 buys honest Series 3s and X300s around our medians; £10,000 to £22,000 buys the best classics, coupés and exceptional moderns. Nothing in this market is expensive to buy; everything is expensive to neglect.

What goes wrong

Classic cars: rust in sills, floors, arches and around the rear suspension cage, and it hides well under long bonnets and vinyl. Mechanically the XK six and the V12 are durable with cooling-system care. X308: timing chain tensioners and, on 1997–2000 engines, the Nikasil history question. X350: air suspension components and electronics. Every generation: interior wood and leather restoration costs more than the median car, which is why buying the best interior available is genuine economy.

Our view

A Series 3 XJ6 at £4,000 to £7,000 with photographic evidence of its sills is the most luxury per pound in the British classic market, full stop. The XJC at £16,250 in our records is the collector's pick of the family and still looks underpriced against comparable coupés. The moderns are magnificent value as cars and poor value as projects; buy them serviced or not at all.