I know I'm late to the party, but if you have another car to fall back on when Kitty needs some TLC, then there's no problem driving her daily. I bought mine in 2012 with 101K miles on her and have put 95K on her in just over 4 years. She has been "down" from time, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that my down time per mile driven is much, MUCH less than it is for folks who only drive their Cats a couple of thousand miles a year. It is so nice to get into a sweet car every morning and drive to work. And on the highway she's a dream come true (and I get about 28mpg at 80mph - - - not bad, no, not bad at all)

 

Wow! That is pretty impressive, all of it! More then likely I would be putting quite a few miles on one if I got one, I have averaged 10k a year since I got my car, but I believe last year I did 20k last year. Back up would definitely be something I would look into if I got one, but I wonder if it would be cheaper to just rent a car when issues arise. That freeway milage is impressive! Most my work milage is freeway and I barely manage that in my current car(I admittedly have a bit of a lead foot). Being able to drive something I love is something I truly want. When I was a kid my dad had a Jaguar he restored in our garage, I barely remember it, no clue what kind it was, but I know he absolutely loved it, and only sold it because my mom was fed up with the speeding tickets. Haha

I just discovered another for sale in my city I hadn't seen before, it's an 03 convertible, same milage about, as the other one, $1k less. How do the convertibles compare to the coupés, would imagine pretty similar save the added weight and less stiff chassis. From the photos the trunk looks about the same size, I am kinda baffled how that could be, never seen a convertible that didn't annihilate trunk space with the top down. Where the heck does the top go? Lol Looks pretty sweet, not as pretty as a coupe, but wing in your hair would be pretty cool.

 

Buying a 10+ year old, 100K+ miler car and planning to use it as a high mileage daily driver is risky at the best of times. Now this risk becomes very high with an XK8.


I took that risk and ran ours for 2 or 3 years at 10k miles per year, it never broke down but it needed a lot of maintenance and that was from a car with a full Jag service history (that actually means nothing).


Now you may be lucky, especially with a car from an area with a good climate, however my advice would be not to buy a car like this and plan to use it as a daily driver.

 

Yup - can't deny the risk. But if you take care of the things that should be taken care, before they "must" be taken care of, you drastically reduce the risks of on the road break-downs. Kitty's only had to be towed away once, but to be honest, I "have" been lucky enough to get her home a few times that would have been bad on a cross country.

I have another roadster for top-down blasts, so I really enjoy the sleek quiet of the coupe. I guess I like not having to deal with "Green Showers" as well - lol.

 

It is the sexiest car I have ever driven. All cars require attention to maintenance and I enjoy doing the things that make this sexy beast happy. Don't be afraid. It's only a machine that may make you smile everytime you drive it.

 

That's a great point, Denny. Too many us see these as more than cars. After all, they're Jaaaags, and therefore they're supernatural. But in reality, they are just machines. Machines need attention. Machines break. But our machines serve us well when they're maintained well. ............. (And spoken to very lovingly, of course - lol)

 

Weekender, use a Toyota or Honda for daily driving.

Better yet get a pre Ford Jag like my 87 Silver XJ6- no electronics to go nuts.

Ken

 

Your insurance quite gave me quite a scare as I just bought a 2006 XK8 and hadn't yet received my insurance bill. I'm also in California and have one speeding citation on my record. Insurance on the Jag ($500 deductible on both comp & collision) is $854/yr, with four vehicles and just two drivers. The rate for my 2004 Chevy 4x4 pickup is slightly higher but my 2006 Land Rover LR3 is just $691. That citation will be off my record by the time my policy renews so I hope all will go down.

 

The main problem with the XK8 as an only car is it is small. I love my XK8, more than any of my other vehicles, but if I had to have only one car it would not be an XK8.

Also most of them are convertibles and in most climates that would not make for a great only car for year round use.

Those are the only two concerns I would have.

 

Small is a relative term. I find that the trunk will hold lots of groceries. or a couple of golf bags. My xk8 is my daily driver and the car loves to be driven. If you need to carry more than groceries or golf clubs you should have a pick up truck for the trips to home depot, My 99 f150 is my hauler, My xk8 is my girlfriend.
I do enjoy dropping the top and I live in a climate where I can do that. But when its really hot I tend to leave the top up and enjoy the a/c. I do not have any complaints about noise with the top up. It is a well designed to eliminate those issues.

 

The main problem with an XK8 as an ONLY car is its 15-20 years old and are fairly exotic in the US.

If somebody has an XK8 as their only car, they better have a lot of friends (or Uber) or have ready access to public transportation. Also a garage with a full compliment of tools (or a large trust fund and a good mechanic)

If something breaks on an XK8, plan to be down for 3 days, if the parts are local. If parts have to come mail order, plan for 10 days and bandaiding the car with broken/failing parts while waiting for the replacements to arrive.

XK8's are cars for guys who like to work on cars. They are so cheap right now because they are in the transition phase that all collector cars go through: transitioning from people that can't/don't want to fix them to people who do.

In the late 1980's we bought a 27K mile 440-6 'Cuda for $6,500 because the owner "couldn't get it to run right" with the 3 carbs. We sold it for $36K (which we thought was crazy), but 3 years later could have sold it for $125K.

 

I would agree small is a relative term and to be clear I was talking as an only car. Having a Jag as a primary DD and another car as a spare/when needed is near ideal (maintenance and fule cost not witstanding). Certainly anything is small compared to a full size truck/SUV but an XK8 is small even compared to most American cars and there are compromises to be made for such if it is your only vehicle. For example you will never be able to drive two coworkers to lunch or your daughter and her date to the school dance (or at least they won't you want to). It is ok for groceries as long as you aren't buying a whole lot at once. You need a truck/SUV to haul a big screen TV or construction supplies like you said, but most cars will work for a ski trip or game day tailgate and an XK8 won't, or at least won't do it well.

The maintanence doesn't bother me. In terms of downtime I don't think it is much worse than any other 15 year old car. The parts cost more but most things that are likely fail will not stop it from driving any longer than they would a mainstream vehicle. I know this; I have 5 cars and use my XKR more than the rest of them for daily driving between May and September and although things have broken I have not been stranded by it yet. I have been stranded in both my 13 Expedition and my 03 Suburban for comparison.

 

Hello;
My '05 XK8 was purchased a year ago and driven from Chicago to Seattle. With the intention of using my first Jaguar as a daily commuter it has proven to be just that. Other than lowering at my own choice the only expenses has been the window cracker micro-switch in the door. Yes, $500. I've driven the car about 12,000 miles in one year and gets 22MPG on the island and ~27MPG on the freeway at 80MPH. And we keep a fleet of beater cars around just in case.
Also I have a thread here about the car.

'Cheers' Jip

 

Hi I,ve had 4 XK8 Convertibles, 2 4.0litre and 2 4.2, the latest one is a 2003 model. Theyve been around the 70000 mile mark. I used the first 3 as my everyday car and never had any problems other than worn front bushes which they were prone to. My present XK has only done 36500 miles and was absolutely fine when I was using it, but I had another car which I used over winter. In April this year I was going to put the car back on the road, went to put some fuel in, and the car spewed the fuel all over my driveway. We think a sticking injector caused it. What I,m saying really is that I found using the car as my daily driver was much better than only occassional use. Beautiful cars!

 

that's interesting. I called the dealer about this car a week or two ago, and was told it was sold.

 

An older XK8 as a daily driver is a risk. I bought my '97 XK8 vert 2 and a half months ago, and sent my old beater off to college with a younger brother. It had 100k miles and a decent amount of the likely failures proactively dealt with, but not the tensioners or any transmission service. It's an incredibly lovely car, and I have a long mixed-traffic commute to enjoy it with...to the tune of ~1000 miles a month at the moment. But it's not trouble-free.

Previous owner did a fair amount of work, but didn't drive it but a few hundred miles a year, and kept it on a battery charger. I've replaced the battery, fixed a couple fuse/wiring issues, disassembled the center console to adjust the shift cable (it was out of spec enough to freak out the transmission), and I just finished tonight a multi-day job in my scarce free time replacing the secondary tensioners...something that took far more tools&time than expected, and it's a good thing my job lets me work from home, I took that option for close to a week, between parts delays and tool delays!

I'm also aware that the stereo needs fixing, the suspension's wearing a bit badly, and I may have a flaky fuel pump...haven't fully confirmed that yet. And there's a couple dicey hoses under the hood. And the transmission in a '97 is probably bound to have a major issue at some point. But I paid little enough for this gorgeous motorcar that I don't mind the parts cost, too much--though I hope not to have another $500 order of parts for at least a few months, hopefully!

If you have a traditional sort of job and no friend/coworker/public transit to lean on for transportation, I'd encourage you to keep a beater around just-in-case. An '05 is more likely to be stable than a '97, but I'd be surprised if a Jag isn't just picky enough to leave you stranded from time to time. And you'd better either have a fat wallet or an okay one and plenty of tools!

 

When I decided to get an XK8 my research showed 04/05 as the best years to buy based on a better transmission and metal cam tensioners. I bought an 05 XK8 with 89000 miles. I do have a large roll away tool chest, was a service mgr. for 10 years and can do most of the preventative maintenance. Have had it almost four months. I've done the brakes (thin pads) air filter and 2 side marker bulbs. I drive it 6 days a week on a 15 mile each way commute. I also have an 88 Mercedes S class 4 door as my wrecking yard parts getter and groceries as well as picking up my 91 year old Dad and his wheel chair. Amazingly the wheel chair will fit vertically on the rear seat in the Jag and the top will close. I put my Dad in with the top down then the chair, then I raise the top.

 

Can only echo previous comments, but everyday I get in my my now 160,000 mile 98 very, it always puts a smile on my face....more so than any car I have owned

 

Ditto. With nothing but political ads and garbage on the radio, I rediscovered my 6 disc CD changer. Dug out my '90's CD's, loaded up the changer and I relive what it was like to be a rich guy in the 1990's every day back and forth to work.

 

That,s exactly what driving my XK does for me! wonderful cars