The 1998-2000 XJ8 has a secondary tensioner issue. They made it from plastic! Guess what? It fails regularly. Jaguar/Ford knew this but did not recall the cars and only offered to update the tensioners if the customer complained while under warranty. The repair is less than $2,000 if you only replace the secondary tensioner. However, you should just go ahead and replace the other crap with the third generation updated tensioners and guides while you are in there. I recently purchased the tools to do this job because Jaguar was unwilling to repair the car and would only replace the $13,000 engine. What a complete pain.

I don't like the single row timing chains, at all. Mercedes learned their lesson with single row chans a long time ago. I'm surprised Ford/Jaguar didn't follow suit.

Other than the secondary tensioner issues, it's a pretty nice car. The interiors are a bit cramped but the leather and wood are out of this world.