My wife's 2006 XK8 is her daily driver. Purchased in February 2012 at 36,000 miles, it is now approaching 105,000 miles but she still loves it as much as the day it was delivered to our driveway. After owning this car for more than four-and-a-half years and going through multiple required and well-documented fixes, my advice to you is this:

1. If you cannot DIY the vast majority of the maintenance and repairs that will arise (and some of it will be relatively expensive), walk away from the idea of owning an XK8.

2. The 2003-and-newer cars are better engineered but still have a number of well-known flaws that you must deal with.

3. Keep a rolling $2,000 to $2,500 in a money market account as your ongoing repairs fund.

4. These cars are aging rapidly now so suspension components, cooling system components, and various electronics will need replacing if this work has not already been performed.

5. Study this forum to learn where you can acquire the necessary parts at lower prices. If you rely on your dealership parts department, you will pay anywhere from 50% to 100% more than you have to elsewhere. The downside is that there will be times when your car must be parked while waiting on shipping, so you may need to have alternative transportation available.

6. This forum will become the most valuable tool in your toolbox. Be clear and detailed when you ask questions and you will receive plenty of assistance in solving your problems.

 

You're talking about an 05 XK8 with 83,000 miles. That year all the really bad engine issues have been redesigned out. The miles tells things like strut overhauls, brakes, suspension bushings, sway bar bushings, coolant tank and hoses, throttle body clean out etc. None of these things will stop you from driving and can be upgraded one at a time. The car is incredible to drive and fun just to have and with a good value due to low cost. All of the things I have mentioned can be done by any good indy mech. Stay away from dealers. Parts are easy to get from several parts suppliers found through the forum. If DIY is your way info on the forum with videos is all there. I drive mine as a daily during the summer and fall then switch to the 95 XJ6 for rest of the year. I recommend that you GO FOR IT. You'll love it and we are all here to help out with any thing that comes up. Just don't go earlier than an 05.

 

My advice.. go after what you want in life. Life's too short to have regrets.. I use mine as a daily driver but I have a backup just in case something goes wrong... but be prepared to not sleep at night..park far far away from buildings and people.. and for sure be able to do do your own simple repairs but if a radiator hose goes or something more serious be prepared to shell out some $$$..

anyway I love my car but it is a bit more stress in life compared to a brand new toyota... good luck on your choice!

 

for just under 12 grand USDincl 7.5%tax ( thats 15 grand CDN)
I would get it...good deal if car is OK.
nada put car at USD



ITS RARE... only 602 coupe made in 2005 ... and is Nav delete too.. bonus!

just my 2 cents

 

The Front and rear springs are supported by urethane foam that crumbles to dust over time. It is only a matter of time. Sitting in a showroom won't stop it. Once they crumble, the clunks and weird tire wear begin.


The rotors are actually easy and cheap to replace (cheaper than having them turned), but are cheap and score easily. When you do brakes pads, you likely need new rotors. 80K miles is real close to needing new brakes.


Shocks are an actual suspension member in front. Nearly the entire weight of the front of the car is supported by two small spherical bushings in the lower shock. Its easier to replace the entire shock than just the bushing.

 

Great summary but I would add #7:


Get AAA with free 99 mile towing, just in case (and know where the tow strap eye bolt is) (I would recommend this with any 10 year old or older car).

 

Just about any luxury sports car will cost you to maintain over a more practical car. British cars are not known for being economical, there are exceptions, but that's not why you get one, you get one to experience the "Jaguar ownership experience". I have owned 30 cars, this one is no different from bmw or volvo in that respect. Or even chrysler or ford, just more fiddling is required. This forum is a nice place to start, but go drive one, that in itself is the experience we seek and enjoy, along with looking at it as you walk away with affection in your eyes.

 

Everyone is giving me great info but this kinda sums up a lot of what I am thinking, I plan to do as much as I can, have tools and know how to use them, quite rusty with diagnosis but decent research skills, and if I got it I would most likely get the dealer serviceable warranty they were telling me about there(though I would plan on looking it over and asking a lot of questions about what it covers) to take care of potential larger issues. And if I needed to get it repaired and the issue was beyond me and not warranty covered I have an independent mechanic I trust.

But I definitely want what a lot of you are describing, a car I can love to look at and drive, my current car is an appliance and nothing more, I would take a hit to practicality and reliability for something that makes me smile.

So so long as the reliability isn't to the point of leaving me stranded, and parts aren't breaking monthly, I feel like from what I have read so far this is still something I wish to look into further, going to call my insurance tomorrow and see about what this could potentially cost and go from there, this is the first car I have checked out that has gotten me this excited so I feel I owe it to myself to look into it, and if insurance isn't absolutely insane I will do more reaseach, look into arranging a test drive and go from there.

Please keep chiming in with thoughts, input or other info, it's greatly helpful!

 

Just want to add my .02 cents from the link of the car listing:

The front shock caps (whatever they're called ) are exposed. That may not be a bad thing because they usually have plastic caps on the bolts as well as a larger cap over the shock.
I've seen many instances where those caps were misplaced while having new shocks and mounts installed.
If that's the case, that a bonus for you.

 

So just got off the phone with my current insurer for a quote and yikes! For identical coverage to what I currently have it would be $1,948 for 6 months, $2,035 per 6 if I kept my current car as well as my primary commuter, quite a jump from my current $456. That would be just the Jaguar itself, so kinda baffled since I have zero moving violations in my entire driving history, and a single minor accident 4 years ago, tried online quotes from elsewhere and got much more reasonable quotes, Geico came back with $170 per month, much better then the $325 21st was offering, this though was just for the Jag, didn't yet check on keeping both. Going to do some phone calls tomorrow and get hard numbers from actual people, going to try Geico, Progressive, AAA and USAA(father was military, have been told I should be able to get it and that it is very good). If numbers look good on insurance I will move on from their with my homework!

 

Mine has been pretty reliable in the 55k+ miles I've owned it, but has needed more than Toyota maintenance. List of big items include a radiator and all water hoses up front, starter, alternator, front suspension redo (after 110K miles) and the really biggie... a rebuilt transmission recently at 145k. i also replaced the secondary tensioners right after I first bought it, but with a 2005, that won't be an issue.

I was given a 2017 Jag XE-S to drive for nearly a week by the marketing team responsible for its launch. It was a modern car in all respects, faster than my cat and handled very well. When I turned it in and drove mine again, I realized I was grinning in about 2 miles. Never did that with the XE.

If you haven't driven the coupe, do so. It might make turning it down harder.

 

Almost affraid to drive it for just that reason haha. I am debating giving the dealer a call tomorrow for a test drive after work. I want to do a lot of home work on a car like this, try and ferret out any hidden costs I didn't think of, like it just occurred to me a car like this probably requires premium, not really a huge jump in price, the difference between a grocery item per tank. And tires would obviously be more and I would likely go through them quickly, at least at first. Haha

 

Only the earlier cars got shock caps. The mounts look pretty original, too.

The entire car looks very well preserved though and the previous owner added a higher flow intake so that is a bonus. Not up on the CA rules if that passes CA emissions, though.

 

When they popped the hood and I saw that when I checked it out the first thing I asked is if it was CARB legal, they said it was but the sticker had come off, car passed smog but could be an issue at a future smog without that carb number, original airbox is I. The trunk though so an easy fix.

 

It looks like Mina stuff and Mina says they are not CARB exempt, so you probably have to swap on the stock stuff back on before smogging it.

The joys of California.

 

Ahh if thats the case I likely misheard him. Yeah california is a fun place in that regard haha, previous cars I have looked at I thought about trying to mod them if I got them if I got them, have always wanted to do that and run autocross like my brother does(would do neither with the jag), but I would want to keep it cali legal and its quite hard to find carb legal stuff, even from companies based in california. haha

 

Looks like your California insurance rates are indeed obscene. Hope you don't have a stroke when I tell you that I just renewed our auto policy with Geico back on September 10th. We pay $434 per year for my wife's 2006 XK8. Yep, that's per YEAR....

 

Well sadly it looks like the dream is dead for the time being, that XK8 I was looking at has been sold, just called to arrange a test drive after work and was told it's off the market. No others locally for sale that are close to that one in milage or year. There is a 2000 with 122k I might try and test drive to see what I missed out on. Gives me more time to save though at least, wasnt exactly where I wanted savings wise to buy, but I was close enough where I would probably have bought this, people who know me are pretty good at knowing what I will do before I do, and everyone was telling me it was my next car haha.

 

Ah well, keep on looking. My wife would say that it just wasn't meant to be.

At least you now have an opportunity to research insurance costs. Allowing for the lower rates here, mine is much closer to Jon89's than your eye-watering quotes and I'm sure we're not the exceptions.

Good luck in your continued search. Not much else out there that will give you quite that smug feeling when you drive it..

Mike

 

Take heart, XK8s usually linger for sale. Low supply, low demand.