Which luxo-barge to get????

I only have experience of the Mercedes W140 and the Jaguar (I have had a late model XJ40 for many years, which is basically the same car at the X300)

Personally, I would avoid the Mercedes. They are lovely cars, if a little too big, but the one my brother had from the late 1990s to the early 2000s was unreliable and cost a fortune to fix. I cannot exaggerate how expensive it was to run. Admittedly he was in the main dealer network but he had garage bills which came to two or even three times your entire budget a couple of times! The thing was an electrical time bomb - and that was a decade ago.

In contrast, my Jag has been superbly reliable and surprisingly cheap to run. It has needed only service items to keep it on the road, rust issues aside. It is cheap to insure and more economical than you'd think - I get 22-23mpg running round and up to 29-30 on a run which is pretty amazing for a big old car. Mine is only the 3.2, but the 4 litre uses hardly any more.

The X300 isn't quite as nice inside as the XJ40, but mechanically is probably even more robust and they don't suffer the electrical problems which blighted the early XJ40s and gave the car its terrible reputation (undeserved on later cars anyway).

The thing to look for on an X300 is rust - people say they don't rust, but they do!

Particularly check the rear wings, thay can rot badly and it can be expensive to fix. The sill to floor pan join is another area, as are the front of the sill ends.

A 4 litre X300 Sovereign is a lovely car, and the Daimler version is even better if you can find one. I imagine the XJR will be very expensive to insure.

I don't have any experience running the BMW but they are an excellent car, more modern than the X300 - but with less charm. The Lexus was undeniably an engineering tour de force when it came out, but their style is too sterile for my taste and I prefer something with more charisma.

David

Have you been tempted back by an XJ40, Popuptoaster? I remember you from XJ40.com! ;D