Well, first of all , a decently prepared E type is a wonderful driving experience even by today's standards, with performance that is still exhilarating. There are , however, a couple of drawbacks in use to warn you about
i.they all leak if used in the wet . The Fixed heads tend to draw water onto the sills which then drips down into the passenger footwells and seat wells. The Open cars in addition almost invariably get water driven in between the screen top rail and the hood. These are nuisances rather than significant problems
ii.the cockpit tends to get quite hot in summer. Some cars seem to be worse than others in this respect, or it may just be that people vary in their tolerance of heat. Quite a few people now insulate the interior extensively to reduce the ingress of heat into the car
As far as the choice of car is concerned, the S1 4.2 is generally regarded as the most desirable because its gearbox is infinitely nicer to use than the original Moss Gearbox , and it has considerably more comfortable seats. In long term ownership , a great deal depends on whether you are able to maintain the car yourself : it is a car which is a bit like the Forth Bridge in that there are always numerous minor bits of maintenance to perform, but few of them are very difficult so if you have any rudimentary mechanical ability you should have few problems. The major engineering items are very reliable and long-lived, and so provided you keep up with the minor jobs ( greasing etc) and keep the electrics in good order the cars are actually very reliable. That having been said, you need to realise that you are taking on a 40 year old motor car and thus you need to keep a watchful eye on the general state of things, and although virtually every part is available , parts in general including things such as window winders etc are in some cases expensive
As far as price is concerned, this is very much dependent upon a.the model and b. the condition. The JEC valuations page will give you a start
http://www.jec.org.uk/sframe.php?src=cg ... es09%2Ehtm
In general terms , of the 6 cylinder cars the cheapest cars are Series 2 and the most expensive the S1 4.2 , with the 3.8 fetching marginally less than an equivalent 4.2 . The cheapest models are 2+2 Automatics , then 2+2 manuals ( quite a nice and civilised car to drive even though it is not the nicest looker) , then FHC ( regarded by many people as the most beautiful cars ),and then the open cars, although the gap between FHC and open values has closed quite a lot in recent years
The golden rule in buying an E is to look at plenty of cars before deciding. You will learn a lot from doing this. Also, try and go on an XK or E type Club visit to CMC at Bridgnorth where you can see quite a few customer cars and ask lots of questions ( one coming up in Feb or March) . What you MUST look for is bodywork problems. The E was a real rotbox when it first appeared , and is very expensive to repair bodily. If you look at an original car, take someone with you who is experienced in E types. If it is a restored car, see absolute photographic proof of what has been done as, particularly in the past, many so-called restorations were in fact extensive bodges - ask me how I know ! Mechanical issues, although not cheap to fix, are of secondary importance
Sorry this is so long, but I hope it will help