Owners have filed 25 complaints on the Jaguar XJR, covering 1995–2005. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (5 reports). Worst years by volume: 1998, 1999, 1995; cleanest: 2001, 1997, 2000. 1 reports describe a crash. On average the car was 7.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Jaguar XJR
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 25 XJR complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 5 Read
Jaguar is a great car manufacture but I believe all 98-2000 jaguar v8's should be considered lemon's if they have not yet been retrofitted with the latest timing chain tensioner design jaguar currently uses. These cars are ticking time bomb's if they have not. According to multiple forums and various jag enthusiast…
1999 jaguar xjr, the car stalled while cruising between 60 and 70 mph 3 times in 4 months. The engine would quit. The car would not restart until I pulled over put it in park and started it. This meant a loss of power steering and the brakes possibly failing if they were used to much. The car was repaired on 2-16-04.…
While driving vehicle lost power and all warning lights started flashing.*mr (nar)
Electrical System 4 Read
I was driving in the middle lane of a 5 lane freeway at 65mph when without any warning I lost all power and the engine began to coast at 15mph. Without power steering or brakes I was fortunate enough to get to the right shoulder. I had the car towed to my dealer who told me that both the alternator and battery had…
This incident started in nov. Of 2003 it is still ongoing as I write. I wish the incident date included continus.even after my 60k tune up a week ago, the failure started again. Vehicle looses power on a down grade and I must pull over and start the car again.also car holds back power and then without notice stops and…
While traveling at approximately 65 mph vehicle lost power during acceleration while in traffic. Dealership examined vehicle, and cleaned throttle in vehicle. Problem repeated itself while traveling at approximately 70 mph in heavy traffic. Dealership replaced an unknown component in throttle control, and informed…
Tires 2 Read
Vehicle hydroplaned very easliy in rainy conditions which resulted in an accident
Tire blew out
Visibility/wiper 2 Read
Driver's wiper came loose in thunderstorm on interstate--wipers clashed and bent arm. Lost forward vision and was able to pull over. Had to replace arm later. In june 2012, the driver's arm came loose again and was tightened. July 14, 2012, the driver's arm again came loose during rain. Extremely dangerous in some…
It was raining heavily and we were on the freeway. Suddenly the 2 wipers started to beat wildly and the left wiper jumped off the windshield. The right one continued to wipe at high speed; there was no way to stop without causing an accident as the traffic was heavy. Suddenly the left wiper restarted and went…
Vehicle Speed Control 2 Read
Enigine fails while decelerating from highway speeds when weather is cold and damp. Occurred 5 times
Vehicle will stall out at highway speeds when decelerating or slowing down. Contacted dealer who noted that consumer needed to come every so often to get throttle linkages and control cleaned so vehicle will stop stalling. *ak dealer stated that throttle body gets stuck on deceleration and needs to be cleaned every…
Air Bags 2 Read
The contact owns a 1998 jaguar xjr. The contact stated that she opened the front driver's door and the seat cushion air bag inadvertently deployed and knocked her to the ground. The contact lost several teeth. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was found that the air bag wire was chafed and needed to be…
May 29, 2012 airbag deployed as car was being unlocked in a parking lot. Vehicle was not running, merely being unlocked with the key fob, as I attempted to enter, the airbag of the drivers side, embedded in the drivers seat, blew, striking me in the head and bagging my head against the outer edge of the door opening.…
Seats 2 Read
Seat support bracket (driver side right rear) cracked in half causing seat to shift suddenly. Causing driver to make unintended steering inputs. Second occurrence same as above except left rear bracket cracked in half on june 10, 2012
While driving driver side seat attachment broke at the left rear. When this occurred the seat tilted to the lift side of the door. Dealership replaced the seat track and electronic assembly. This was a common problem with these vehicles
Power Train 2 Read
Consumer states having the same problem as recall#99V138000 power train transmission. Dealer will not repair because VIN was not included. Ts
Transmission leaked/failed, also went into limp mode
XJR years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2004 | Fuel/propulsion System | — | — | |
| 2001 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic | — | — | |
| 2000 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1999 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 1997 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1995 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 21 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.2 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 7.1 years |
A model average of 1.2 hides a worst series at 2. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the XJR?
By complaint volume, 1998, 1999, 1995 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which XJR years are the cleanest?
2001, 1997, 2000 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Jaguar XJR have?
25 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1995–2005. Of those, 1 describe a crash and 0 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.