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Just for fun, I'd thought I'd post about three XKR listings I'm pondering this weekend. All of these cars are listed for sale in the Dallas, Texas area today, and make for an interesting snapshot of the lower-end of the market. All of these cars make a great first impression with good color and wheel presentations.
Pros: The low price clearly mitigates some of the risks this car carries. Coupes are hard to find around here, especially for XKRs.
Cons: The mileage is heading towards Undiscovered Country. Dealer sold and unlikely to have a well documented service history. All that with the attendant 4.0-liter engine risks. The tan interior isn't my favorite.
Pros: Recaro seats! Mileage is half of Listing 1. Still dirt cheap. 4.2-liter drive train reduces risk.
Cons: Interior leather has seen real abuse, even in the so-called back "seat". Some risk of ending up as a project car. Dealer sold and unlikely to have a well documented service history.
I just bought an 03 XKR vert from this forum's ads for $12k (105k). I instantly had to add $5200 to bring it up to spec mechanically (I pick it up from repair tomorrow so I hope that's all).
Overall, I think I overpaid $2k, so not the end of the world.
I would think the 190K mile version would be well sorted by now but any rubber that has not been replaced will need to be replaced. My money would be on the 90K 2003 one though.
Do you want coupe or 'vert? All would be viable choices and if service records are available - even better to see what PO did or did not take care of.
That's a tough question. I had a very strong convertible itch several years ago, but I've mostly scratched that urge.., mostly. At the moment, I'd feel very good about finding a coupe, but they are pretty damn rare. The X100 convertibles look so good, too, and it's not like I've lost my appreciation for the drop-top format. I kinda wish Jag had dropped the 2+2 pretense for at least the XKR and given us an honest two-seater. On the other hand, I'm also tempted to just sit pat and wait for a 4.2 liter coupe to come along.
I'm driving an '04 XJ8 VDP at the moment.., another high mileage cash car that everybody is scared of. I bought my XJ8 for $6K, which seems crazy despite the 148K miles and the beat-up paint. The interior is in great shape and the car has given me an exceptional, nearly new-car experience; but given the miles and age, everyone runs away from it.
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I've decided I'm serious enough to grab a Carfax sub for a couple of months, so let's look at that coupe...
'01 BRG Coupe
It is initially listed as a corporate fleet car in Michigan. In 2002 it was auctioned off, shipped to Dallas and sold to the first personal owner, who sold it on a little more than a year later to the next owner, who kept it until this past January.
The car was put under a service plan in 2006 and a claim was made against that plan in 2007 at 57,019 miles, when it had electrical and fuel system service. In 2010 at 101,407 miles it received a bunch of service (including a new fuel pump) at Autoscope, which is a big, well-known euro-shop here in the Dallas area. The carfax history is otherwise clean, just regular registrations and safety inspections.
The previous owner bought the car at just over 20K miles and put a steady average of ~13K miles a year on it for nearly 14 years. Impressive!
Last edited by kurtomatic; 07-24-2016 at 10:56 PM.
Okay, so the first '03 has had a total of 4 owners, and the history is a little confused at first. It's initially listed as a personal lease vehicle with a Illinois title, but it was sold and serviced by The Collection in Miami to the first owner (6K mi/year), and finally ending up in Georgia in 2007, where it was sold to another Georgia resident who kept the car less than 2 years (no mileage records in Georgia).
It was sold to the 3rd owner in the Houston area at the end of 2008 with 31,712 miles on the clock. The Houston owner put about 22k mi/year on it for a couple of years. At the beginning of 2011 the car is sold with about 70K miles on it to our Previous Owner in Midland, Texas. Most of the Midland years don't have mileage stats, but we know it left Houston with 69,950 miles on it and it failed an emissions test in Ft Worth (go figure) in 2014 with 86,123 on the clock. It later passed emissions that same day in Saginaw, haha!
It was traded in back in January and is currently sitting at a dealer in Dallas with 89,000 miles. There are no real details of any serious work on this car's public history; just the annual government actions and a few oil changes. Nothin' bad, but nothin' good either.
Cons: The mileage is heading towards Undiscovered Country. Dealer sold and unlikely to have a well documented service history. All that with the attendant 4.0-liter engine risks.
Bear in mind that the 4.0 XKR has the more reliable Mercedes gearbox and various other upgrades such as the metal thermostat housing. Also they switched to the latest generation of timing gear in August 2001, so it may already be upgraded. If not just update the timing gear yourself and you have the next best thing to a 4.2 version, with plenty of cash left over for the other inevitable repairs that you will need to do on a 15 year old car irrespective of mileage/engine/gearbox combination.
That said, for me personally, it would have to be the convertible and car #2 looks very interesting.
I would think the 190K mile version would be well sorted by now but any rubber that has not been replaced will need to be replaced.
Agreed. My 2001 has 207,000 miles on it and counting, and i just drove it from Orlando to DC this weekend without issues, and i got 21MPG, which i was pretty happy about!
The current owner of the other '03 was kind enough to give me the VIN, so here the summary on that car. Cheers!
'03 Pampered Convertible
Three previous owners listed for this car, but unsurprisingly, this Jag started out as a company car in New Jersey. A mere 4 months and 4,865 miles later, it was flipped to the second owner in South Carolina. There is a 2-year gap in the records after the title transfer, and the SC records don't include many mileage reports, but the mileage numbers that are here are all very low; 34,155 miles in 2008, 41,768 miles in 2009, and so on.
There are lots of regular maintenance records during this period, but the only significant call-out is "Rear wheel bearing(s)/hub(s) replaced" in 2012 at 57,951 miles. Clear evidence of regular service after that 2-year gap.
The car was sold to the current owner in late 2014 with 63,454 miles on clock, with only registration records since then.
The seller says they have all the service records and the meticulous care claim is borne out by the Carfax report. I know which of these cars my wife were prefer me to own, but this car would require taking on a little debt. Still very afforable; just would require more of a commitment.
Okay.., I went and looked at the coupe. It's now (IMO) priced correctly at four-and-half. They will sell that car for that price, but I wouldn't pay $6k for it, no way.
The car, and the interior especially, is showing it's age in all the little things. It's literally threadbare in places, a couple of missing pieces of trim, the armrest on the console is cracked and dirty, the fuel door doesn't close properly, the steering column motor stutters, etc, etc. Everything works, and it sounds great, but it just gives a serious knackered-out first impression.
That's my experience talking, anyway. This will be some younger guy's great starter jag, but it's too much of a downgrade for me.
On the other hand...
Since the $9k convertible (Listing #2) was just a few blocks away, I nipped over there for a taste on that thing. Night and day. The difference in miles and condition is just so in-your-face, its almost like a different model car. Totally different driving experience.
I am a fan. I gave them earnest money to hold it for me while I sort out some cash. The interior looks far better than the poorly lit (over-bright) photos the dealer posted would indicate. Way better. (I'll post more about the seats in my Recaro thread.) I also felt like $9K is the right price for this car as well, and that's a good fit for my budget.
There are a ton of upsides to this car. However, it does have some problems that need sorting. When I close this deal, I'll start a new thread at that time, but until then, here are some highlights.
The steering column tilt mechanism has too much play in it. If you tilt down all the way, the column is fine; drives great. But if you raise the column any, the wheel will jump up and down in your hand a little when crossing bumps in the road. It's as if there was a worn gear in the tilt. Fortunately, all the way down is an okay driving position for me, but I'll want this fixed for certain.
The LCD display in the center gauge is dead. Me no likey!
There are some other niggles, but these two are the ones I'd like some feedback on. Anyone ever have to deal with a worn tilt mechanism or replace the instrument LCD before?
My steering on my 03 does the same but not much. You will find that when all the way down or up the mechanism inside the steering assembly sits on a hard stop which supports it, when in between down and up it has some play, depending on how bad it is replacing the complete column is the only fix I've come up with. You may also need suspension work, the rubber in the front of these cars goes fast and it this age probably all needs to be replaced.
07-24-2016, 03:01 PM
Three XKR Listings - $6K to $16K
