Jeff,

Like the others have said, I'm so glad you are okay. It was hard to look at the pics of your beautiful car though. But I'm encouraged the car protected you so well. What amazing cars these X308's are!

My two cents on a replacement - get another XJR. I had an 02 XKR convertible and, while it was super fun to drive, it was one of the most unreliable cars I've ever owned. Low miles and a piece of junk. Maybe mine was just a lemon but I'd never have another. Now my 02 XJR is very reliable. It's one of my favorite cars I've ever owned and I've had many Jags. Just my two cents...

Good luck on your search!

 

I like your signature "2003 XJR (murdered by a 1998 Oldsmobile)" LOL
My first XJ was murdered by a 2004 Vauxhall Corsa that ran into the side of me as it failed to stop at a junction, put me into a spin and then a tree.

I hope you find another Jag, I like Oatmeal interior too.

 

I started posting in my "pulling the trigger on an XJR" thread and forgot to update this one. I DID buy another Jag!

I found an Onyx white 2002 XJR that has been loved and I could not resist. I haven't even gotten an insurance check yet! I have confirmed though that my insurance company valued the 2003 XJR high enough to cover the cost of the one I just bought, so I will be able to replenish our savings account.

I have always loved white cars; had a white Acura, a white Volvo and a white Silverado in the past. I just think it's a classy look and the white paint on this 2002 XJR is beautiful.

 

Great to hear, and it looks gorgeous!

 

Congratulations

 

How much, how much, how much??

 

I have to agree, a kept white car is classy. But, I seem been drawn to green.

 

vdpnyc,

The guy would not come down much and I did some of my most terrible negotiating because I really liked the car. He dropped his asking price from $8,995 to $8,500 and wouldn't budge after that. Every time I discussed price again he'd pull out a huge binder full of receipts for, among other things, 2 new Jaguar fuel pumps installed, all belts/hoses including valley hoses under supercharger changed, transmission serviced twice during his ownership, once getting a new electrical plate? (forget what it's called, but the receipt was $1,200). New headliner new windscreen, New MAF, etc. etc. etc.

It needed two new tires and the brakes were in pretty bad shape, so I negotiated based on that, but didn't get far. I have already done the brakes, Brembo/Akebono all around, and will try to get the tires in the next week or so.

I may not have gotten a great deal, but it was obviously worth that much to me, it's in my garage!

 

 

I probably made the very worst deal on our VDP, at least looking at the figures.

However, 3 years on, I still think it is actually the best deal I ever made.
Reading all the problems on the forums, seeing all the crap on pictures ... I have hardly anything of all those issues.
Especially with this generation cars, it pays back big times if it was well cared for in its previous life.

Seems you got one too!

 

That's good info, but I actually meant how much did the insurance pay out for the old jag?

Fyi, $8.5k is high for an xjr, but it's petty cash for a luxury car that's as fast as a Porsche boxster and more luxurious than almost any new car. Most of my friends with lux vehicles are discarding about $1k/month to lease them (including mandatory full coverage insurance), and then they eventually have to give back their cars... Leasing a new luxo for 8 months versus owning an old jag outright - easy financial decision.

 

So the guy wants to be compensated for doing the regular maintenance your supposed to do to a vehicle to keep it up? If that's the case, I should get $20k for mine. Now if he had put in a Kenn Belle SC and Blaupunkt system, I'd be thinking yeah. But, to do the general maintenance to keep any car on the road....hey, here's your cookie.
With the need for 2 new tires and brakes, he obviously wasn't that up on it that well. I've never just replaced 2 tires on any vehicle, its always all 4 and all 4 were worn evenly (I drive my work van 50-60k a yr). That and the brakes tell me he just ran it and didn't do regular service checks. So he is putting up a smoke screen with the receipts....those were for after it broke.

 

You guys may be right. I looked at several XJRs though and the asking prices were all pretty high but very few were actually taken care of. I think the difference was many of the cars I saw, while pretty, had owners who would not spend repair money even if it needed something. At least this guy had the means. He also had a 72 Jag in showroom condition and had just bought an 89 Jag (I think) that was also in fantastic condition. He obviously has money and obviously loves Jaguars. He had a 4 car garage and with his Corvette and his wife's Lexus he was 1 over, so his wife was pressuring him to sell one. I just felt this was a guy I would like to buy a Jaguar from.

Edit: I forgot the insurance question. They valued my car at $8,291.50 and since the accident was not my fault there should not be a deductible (unless the other guys insurance has lapsed or something, we'll see). I am submitting $2,750.05 in parts receipts and they said they will adjust my payout up after taking those receipts into consideration, but she was clear they don't pay dollar for dollar on parts. We'll see what the receipts do to the final payout I guess.

 

See, I'm also the type of person that will pay more of a premium for a car that's been kept in top condition, versus one that's still good but maybe has only had what's needed to be done fixed and left it at that. If that makes sense. I mean, to a degree. I won't spend 10k on a pristine Chevy Citation, for example lol.

 

Whoa, $8300, that's great, likely more than you could have sold it for - what was the mileage?

 

It had just passed 123,700 miles...

 

Your new car is beautiful! I like white too.

Don't feel badly about what you paid for your replacement. I have an 02 XJR as well and paid $13,000 three and a half years ago. It had a little over 50k miles at the time. I know it was a lot of money but I wanted a low mileage, well-taken care of, car and that's what I got. At the time I looked all over the country, which is what I always do when I'm looking for a car, and the price seemed pretty competitive for what I wanted. Sure, there were many other cars that were a lot less, but how much would I have paid to bring those up to what I wanted. Given the same circumstances, I'd do it again.

One thing I didn't expect though was my car still had plastic secondary tensioners. I thought at the time the 02's wouldn't need upgraded tensioners. I learned later that only the last 02's had metal tensioners from the factory. So if the previous owner didn't replace them, have the tensioners checked and make sure they're metal.

Congrats on your cool new car! :-)

 

Thanks Danny,

When you add what I paid for my last XJR and what I paid for parts to get it into the condition this one is already in, it's about the same amount of money. I have no regrets so far.

This 2002 was built on Sep. 24th, 2001 and the engine number is MA 0109141747. From my extensive research that means the engine was built on Sept. 14th, 2001 -- just ten days before the car was assembled. As I understand it, the timing gear upgrade was on all engines built after Aug. 13th, 2001 meaning my car has the upgraded timing gear. The valve cover gaskets are new and they don't leak any oil OR air, so I am hesitant to remove them. With a stethoscope, the upper tensioner area sounds sewing machine smooth and there is no rattle at start-up. I am feeling fairly confident I don't need to worry about timing gear problems; unless someone sees a flaw in my research???

 

And the lads at Coventry's Jaguar plant - glad to hear you're OK and a car can be replaced.

 

Hey harvest, I hope I didn't sound crass with my post? I was trying to imply the guy was seemingly throwing the receipts (squirrel!!) up at you as if he had done something special he should be doing anyways and it wasn't worth anything more to get you to his price level. I agree, the cost was descent, but I think you could have gotten him down a bit more to cover those brake and tire costs...maybe not?