Hi all, I've subscribe to this forum to get a bit of advice.

Up until last Friday, I was a happy Jaguar XJ-S owner - then it caught fire, so now I'm looking for another car. <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

Only two cars fit my requirments, another XJ-S and a Porsche 928.

In the Blue corner, is the 928:
For:
Styling
Brakes
Seats
Steering
Space - much bigger interior

Against
Rough Ride (compare to the XJ-S)
Noisier
Rougher engine (on the one I've driven)
Interior is a bit bland.

In the Red Corner is another XJ-S
For:
Smooth as silk V12
Smooth ride (even with 16" wheel and stiffer suspension)
Leather and Walnut interior.

Against:
They catch fire
Looks dated
Require lots of maintenance (I do it all myself)
Difficulty in finding a decent one
Rust.

I do all my own maintenance, and from what I can tell, parts cost are similar. Insurance on the 928 is cheaper.

I've read all the pre-purchase inspection checklists, and the major problems seems very similar that require to buy a used XJ-S, if it has been well maintained (not just log-book serviced) it should be good. The 928 has the timing belt, water pump and engine mount issues, the XJ-S has the seized distibutor advance, overheating -blocked radiator and rust issues

My question is, is there any way to improve the ride quality of the 928, even at the expense of handling, I don't need a rock solid ride, as I don't intend to race.

I don't beleive that the 85-89 XJ-S were engineered as well as the 82-85 928's (similar price range for both here in Australia), hence the 928 should require less maintenance, and they are not as complicated as the XJ-S either.

It's a difficult decision, and wouldlove to hear from someone who has owned both cars, what their opinion is.

Regards

Iain Burgess
Brisbane, Australia

 

Iain, I've never owned a XJ-S, but I did own a 1982 XJ-6. I am not a mechanic, therefore, all my experience is as a consumer with little mechanical experience. They're are very different cars. IMHO the 928 is the more dependable, requires less frequent repairs (if properly maintained), more stylish, and will hold it's resale value better then that sleek cat. Again, the is IMHO.
Larry

 

Thanks Larry, I agree they are very different in some respects, but very similar in others. the XJ-S is a luxury "grand tourer" that can with modifcation make a fairly decent "sports tourer" the other is a "sports car" that I'm hoping I can make it ride a bit more like a "sports tourer" I will drive it daily and would prefer something a bit softer, maybe it was just the one I drove, so I'm driving a few more today to see if they are the same. The only reason I have not bought a 928 yet, is the ride, I've been spoilt in the XJ-S, and wonder if fitting something like adjustable shocks, although most people would probably set it on firm, what if it was set on soft would improve things to my liking?

Iain

 

Iain,
Try to find an early unit with 15" wheels, the extra rubber may make a difference to the ride. Also stay away from M474 sport suspension options. The factory tyre pressures (36F, 43R on 16") are also subject to revision. I have heard people talk as low as 34psi all around, but mine(16" wheels) is ok at 38psi
hth, good luck. Check out local landshark site in Oz if you havent already.
jp 83 S AT

 

Ian, you might want to add that the 928 has more power at all speeds and my 928 maintenance has been considerable also.

I like Jaguars: XJS and was even looking at the XK8, but it does not have a back seat and requires more investment. I also noted the same differences that you did.

Therefore, I purchased my 928 and have tried to refine mine as you mention.

I have added a tremendous amount of sound deadening material to my 87. I also put tires on that are high performance but quieter than most. I then upgraded the bland ( utilitarian ) interior.

I think I have improved it but the basic differences remain even if moderated.

I just took a 350 mile trip one way and returned late that same night. My 928 was great, however, I think the Jag would have made the trip somewhat easier but not nearly as much fun. In contrast, any time I have had a passenger they "rave" about the room and comfort of the passenger seat!

Sounds like you know all about them, next step is to find a nice 928 and drive it - good luck and keep us informed!

 

In 1992, I was a poor [like...$1000 per month-] flight instructor.

But my dad wasn't. He owned a beachfront condo in Fort Pierce, Florida...which just happened to be 10 miles from the airport in Vero Beach where I was working. The guy in the unit above me was a true Anglophile, right down to owning an '85 XJS. And not just any XJS...this was a gray market import like my current '85 928S2, and had over 300 hp.

I washed and waxed my 140 hp turbocharged Scirocco unmercifully; I guess he thought it was cute, so he would typically park his car next to mine in the parking lot. It was an ego boost for me.

Well, one day he decided to take me for a ride in the XJS. We had about 4 miles of open two lane between us and Vero Beach; the V12 and its wild cams was an eye-opener!

That car was smooth, fairly silent, and luxurious. It was NOT a 928, which in my opinion, despite the claims of various car magazines, was not a competitor. Really, the V8 powered Lincoln LSS was a closer match. The 928 was far more of a sporting car; the Jaguar was a fast British Cadillac with an unusual engine and far more character-

Making a 928 ride soft? Contact one of the "big three", though I doubt that softer springs exist for these cars. My '85 S2 rides like a rock- of course, I find this an endearing quality-

Normy!
'85 S2 5 Speed

 

I went from an older XJ-S to a 928. Not that much difference in noise, and I like the ride of both of my 928s.

I have done all of my own maintenance and repairs on all of my vehicles.

While working on the XJ-S, I would occasionally wonder, "What were they thinking?!" when I disassembles some of the the heritage British engineering.

The more that I work on the 928, the more impressed I am with the engineering and level of detail quality that I find. Not perfect, certainly, but very impressive. Comes pretty close to a "price no object" philosophy.

On the whole, I prefer the 928.

 

Well, I bought my 928 from a guy who was selling it because he had just bought an XJ-S ragtop. Personally, I would take the 928 over the XJ-S any day, mostly because of styling. I also own a 66 E-type so I do have a somewhat softspot for Jags, but my "baby" is the 928 hands down.

They are very different cars. You will have to weigh what's important to you.

And as you say it's tough to find a clean XJ-S, it's also tough to find a "clean" 928. The 928s have issues with dashboards cracking, interior panels warping, brains dying, etc. Obviously your are very familiar witht he Jags, but without that same experience ont he 928, I certainly would not buy a 928 (especially from a dealer) without having a Pre-Purchase Inspection done by a highly reccommended 928 mech. I'm sure someone down there can steer you in the right direction.

Good luck on your search. <img border="0" alt="[byebye]" title="" src="graemlins/wave.gif" />

 

I think that your tire of choice will make a huge difference in the ride of the car. When my GT had the stock suspension, I found it to be way to soft for my taste. I would think that the stock springs and shocks plus a set of high performance touring tires would do the trick.

I also recall that there was an acclimation period from my stock springs to the stiff ones, man they felt stiff. Now it seems that the car was made to ride this way and I do not find it rough at all any more. I suspect that you would get used to the ride and rather enjoy it.

Good Luck

 

I think that your tire of choice will make a huge difference in the ride of the car. When my GT had the stock suspension, I found it to be way to soft for my taste. I would think that the stock springs and shocks plus a set of high performance touring tires would do the trick.

I also recall that there was an acclimation period from my stock springs to the stiff ones, man they felt stiff. Now it seems that the car was made to ride this way and I do not find it rough at all any more. I suspect that you would get used to the ride and rather enjoy it.

Good Luck

 

Thnaks eveyone for the replies. I have now driven 7 - 928's autos for sale here in Brisbane from an 1982 to a 1987, and to be honest, none of them compare to my old XJ-S in terms of power and speed. All the 928's I drove would be beaten off the lights by anyone in a standard Holden Commodore (3.8l V6) as I estimate the 0-100 time of around 7.8 - 8.3 seconds based on my passenger hand timed results, which to me is not that fast at all.

Like I said, it was not standard with minor exhaust, airbox and throttle modifications, I've been timed using a 5th wheel to do 0-100kph in 7.0 seconds dead repeatedly despite its 3 speed auto and very long final drive.

I wish I could afford a GT or GTS, but it looks like I will be going back to the XJ-S, I love the styleing a looks of the 928, it braking and handling ability, but the ones I can afford, just don't cut it. I'm sure there are modification I can make to make it perform better, and that a 5 speed would be faster, but these are fairly rare here in Brisbane and I don't have the time or money to modify one.

Thanks again to everyone for their time and effort, you are a lot more friendly than the Jaguar lists when these type of question come up, as far as they are concerned, my mentioning a 928 in the same sentence as an XJ-S was akin to sacrilage.

I have found a pristine 89 XJ-S with 85,000km on the clock, paint work and leather work is in excellent condition, and with the same few simple modifactions that I made to mine, will perform the same, and its was $8,000 cheaper than the only 928 I saw that came a very poor second to the condition the XJ-S is in. I will probably be looking for a set of 928S seats for it though, they are the most comfortable I've ever sat in. I'll have to see if they will fit and how much to re-trim them to match the rest of the interior.

Regards

Iain Burgess
Brisbane, Australia

 

Uuuh, Iain, don't tell those Jaguar freaks that you are putting 928 seats into the cat...

I just wanted to say a few things about the ride:

If a 928 is lowered, the ride quality suffers greatly. Since I had mine raised back to near factory ride height, and put new shocks in (they only last about 60k miles), the car rides almost like a Mercedes. I know from past experience that if I had the standard 16" wheels, the ride would be even better.

If you did not have such high expectations in terms of power, a regular 928 (non-S) would offer the most comfortable ride.

I agree, though, that a 928 will never be a super comfortable car - that's not what it's been designed for. Nevertheless, I drove a 928 GT cross country, and despite the many hours in the car I was always excited to get back in.

Well, enjoy the new cat!

 

I have only driven one XJ-S and I'm not convinced that it would out pull or out run my 89 S4?

In the last month I've spent a lot of time out on the open roads of Texas (2k+). I ran up against one late model vette (this one was true fun), one of those Pontiac TA's with the mean looking front ends (seen from my RV mirror), one 400 (?) Lexass (AH tried to pull a sling shot move that didn't work), one late model BMW M3 (it was fun to toy with) and a few others that are not worth mentioning. I would be more than proud to have any of previously mentioned cars parked in the garage alongside my 928, but I wouldn't replace it with any of them.

FWIW the only one that gave me a good run was the vette, which I think was a Z0-?

There are many things I like about the 80-90+ Jag's.

One of which is how ease it is to pull out that oil leaking 6/V12 and trans and putting in a well built stroked chevy 400 SB with a 700R4 trans.

I get a little attached to my cars and could not handle having to worry every time I turned the key if it was going to be the last, due to a cabin fire

Cheers

Max

 

PLEASE REMEMBER...

The 928 is a cruiser. It is not designed to be fast off the line! It has 220 gearing in the rear end!!!

Now lets talk about a 928 vs that jag around 80 to 100 mph.

I don't personally like soft comfortable ride qualities in a car. I like to get some feedback from the road. The 928 does this exceptionally without fatiguing the driver.

 

I don't really want to get into a XJ-S vs 928 battle, I really like both cars, and would love to have both in the garage. If I could fine a decent S4 in my price range, I would buy it tomorrow, they are great, and there are probably son 928S's that are good as well. Unfortunately, the ones in my price range seem to be dogs. In terms of "car for money", the XJ-S is a better deal here and now. In a few years time, I might be able to afford a 928S4 as well.

I also just want to point out a few things about the XJ-S at you might not know.

If you think the 928 has long gearing, then consider that the XJ-S is geared to do 100kph in first gear, and that it is geared to pull 260kph at 6500rpm in third (top) (which I can vouch it can do fairly easily). For me, pulling away from the lights is fairly important, I at least want to go faster than the standard Australian family car. If I fit a 700R4 behind the V12, I'm into mid 6 sec 0-100 territory, changing the diff to a lower ration puts me into low 6's and doing some additional inlet manifold/ECU/exhaust work will see me into the high 5's - that also requires extensive subframe work to stop the rear end from coming loose. The fastest street driven road going car in Australia is a 7 litre twin turbo XJ-S, with over 1000hp, does a 10 sec 1/4 mile with the A/C on and will drive through peak hour traffic wihtout any problems. There were three cars built to this specification. The original owner offered a challenge which few people took up, that was to drive from the centre of Sydney during peak hour to a racetrack and then race without opening the bonnet - no-one came even close tohis times, most didn't even make it to the race track without breaking down, that included some Italian exotica and quite a few 911 turbos.

I do most of my driving around town/freeway, unfortunately doing 80-100mph seldom occurs unless I'm in the Outback Northern Territory where there are no speed limits.

As far as the V8 option - why bother, the V12 seldom gives problems, is smoother, quieter and for the amount of money it cost to do a mild V8 conversion, can easily be made to put out over 450hp. If you want to build a wild V8, well for less money you can build a 7.4lt 600hp monster V12 and is money si no object, a 1000+hp supercharged or twin turbo V12.

The main percieved problem is overheating, which is normally caused by people driving around with a blocked up radiator, which would overheat any car. The alloy block seems to produce a fair amount of scale when the wrong coolant is used, and that blocks the radiator. Fitting filters on the inlet pipes puts a stop to blocked radiators permanently, now owner has to remember to clean the filter regularly.

Thanks agian for the help and discussions, it has been great. I'll stay subscribed to this board, you guys have some interesting views on life and cars.

Iain