Jaguar XJ8 vs Mercury Topaz

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Jaguar XJ8	Mercury Topaz
Complaints on file	235	581
Model years covered	1998–2006	1983–1998
Worst model year	2004	1994
Best model year	2005	1995
Crashes reported	22	27
Fires reported	6	59
Injuries reported	7	12
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	14.9%	17.2%

Jaguar XJ8 by year

100 11 20 4 3 83 10 4

98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 57 24.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 32 13.6%

Suspension 27 11.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 27 11.5%

Electrical System 22 9.4%

Brakes 16 6.8%

Body & Structure 11 4.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 10 4.3%

Mercury Topaz by year

1 13 5 13 28 28 57 67 59 92 98 106 13 1

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Electrical System 113 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 99 17.0%

Seat Belts 77 13.3%

Brakes 59 10.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 34 5.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 32 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 4.8%

Steering 20 3.4%