Used Car of the Day: 1996 Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas

by Tim Healey

Published: August 25th, 2023

used car of the day 1996 jaguar xj vanden plas

Scanning the used-car forums today, I saw several of the usual Volkswagen offerings -- and then I found this 1996 Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas.

It seems to have a few flaws -- a non-running sunroof motor, worn interior leather, and a currently non-functioning radio. Oh, and a dent on the rear.

The car is factory with new tires and new lighting, and if you can get that radio working, it's Harman Kardon. The battery is also new, and the seller says the A/C blows cold.

So here we have a Jaguar from the 1990s that's aged well, is apparently in good condition and needs only a few things, and hasn't been modified.

If this tickles your fancy, the seller wants $5,900.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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3 of 33 comments

28-Cars-Later on Aug 28, 2023

I really fancy a '95-97 X300, just not this example (also possibly a post-Nikasil MY02-03 X308).

2 Reply
Lorenzo on Aug 28, 2023

Such beautiful cars. Such testy mechanicals and electricals. I'm surprised someone didn't work out a drive train/wiring harness swap to make them more reliable in their post-warranty years.

1 Reply
- 28-Cars-Later on Aug 29, 2023
  
  The MY95-97 X300 with AJ16 and X308s built after July 25th, 2000 to 2003 are the most reliable as they get in this period. Supposedly the MY05+ 4.2 V8 (AJ34) X350s and X150s are pretty solid.
  
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Recent Comments

1995 SC This seems a bit tonedeaf.
1995 SC Well I guess that will be the final nail in the Mini EV's coffin here. It was already not especially competitive, had no range and was way overpriced for what you get, but I like to get stuff like that used and well depreciated on occcasion though I likely would have passed anyway due to the Chinese manufacture.
MKizzy If China-branded vehicles arrive on these shores filling the gaping hole of sizes, body styles, and price points largely abandoned by established automakers, they will immediately find an interested customer base among those low/middle income consumers whose parents were (un)happily puttering around in old Hyundai Excels and Yugo GVs. Personally, I do think BYD or another of their major automakers will eventually circumvent the tariffs by building in Mexico and sending vehicles north.
Lou_BC Are you not entertained?
Urlik Why it isn’t smaller like the CX-7 was compared to the CX-9. The size is why we passed, they need a tweener again.