2006 Jaguar XJ 2.7L Diesel · DE56 NPK

The most recent MOT, conducted on 8 September 2025 at 151,843 miles, passed cleanly with zero defects recorded. That result is significant. It shows the car presented in a fully compliant state roughly nine months ago, and the maintenance trend over the last two years is clearly improving. The 2023 failure flagged a missing obligatory mirror, a worn nearside front tyre, and a worn air suspension mounting bush, yet the June 2023 retest at 150,486 miles passed with only the tyre advisory remaining. By September 2025, even that minor tyre wear had been addressed. The trajectory from multiple advisories and failures in 2022 and 2023 to a completely clean bill of health in late 2025 suggests the last keeper invested in proper corrections rather than simply patching through annual tests. Mileage accumulation tells a consistent story. Between April 2022 at 145,604 miles and June 2023 at 150,486 miles, the car covered roughly 4,882 miles in fourteen months. From June 2023 to September 2025, it added just 1,357 miles over more than two years. That sharp drop in annual usage from around 4,000 miles per year to under 700 miles per year is notable. The car has effectively been lightly used in recent years, which reduces wear on consumables but raises its own concerns. Extended periods of low use can lead to deteriorated rubber components, stale fuel, and moisture ingress in brake and exhaust systems. The gap between the September 2025 test and today in June 2026 is approaching nine months, so a fresh inspection is warranted to confirm nothing has deteriorated during that quieter period. The 2022 failure at 145,600 miles is the most technically revealing entry. It flagged worn suspension arm bushes on both front corners, a worn nearside front shock absorber bush, and slight play in the offside front wheel bearing. These are not trivial consumable items. Worn bushes and wheel bearing play point to either deferred maintenance or a period when the car was driven harder than its condition warranted. The fact that the 2023 failure still showed a worn nearside front suspension air mounting bush suggests that corner of the car has been a recurring weak point. A prospective buyer should physically inspect the front suspension thoroughly. Check for play in both front wheel bearings by rocking the wheels at the twelve and six o'clock positions. Examine the condition of all front suspension bushes, particularly the nearside air suspension mounting, for fresh cracking or deterioration. Look for uneven tyre wear patterns on the nearside front, which would confirm ongoing alignment or suspension geometry issues. Beyond the suspension history, the shift to very low mileage use demands attention to systems that suffer from inactivity. Have the brake discs and pads been checked for surface corrosion that can develop after short, infrequent journeys? Is the exhaust system free from condensation-related corrosion, particularly if the car is only doing short runs? The air suspension system, a known weak point on the XJ, deserves a full operational check. Raise and lower the vehicle through its ride height modes and listen for compressor strain, slow leaks, or uneven corner settling. The clean September 2025 result is encouraging, but a car that has aged two decades and then settled into light use needs a hands-on mechanical inspection rather than reliance on paperwork alone.