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New Member Area - Intro a MUSTNew to Jaguar Forums? Drop in and tell us about you, your ride and location. This is your chance to introduce yourself to the forum.
Hi all!
I am Alfred, 31 years old and living in a small rural town in the Netherlands. I've always loved cars and as soon as I turned 18 (our legal driving age back then, it's 16 now) I got my license and picked up a cool Mazda MX-5 (Miata to you Americans). That was my first love on wheels and I still own it to this day, 13 years later. After a few years, me and some friends were joining a local car rally. The goal was to buy a car with a maximum cost of €500 and drive it across Scandinavia. We picked up an old Daimler XJ40 for €500 and fixed it up before indeed driving it around Denmark, Sweden and Norway in a surprisingly carefree and incredibly fun journey.
But all good things must come to an end. This car had been abused by the previous owners and after the rally, my friends dropped out of taking care of it and I was left with the car alone. I was 20 by then and didn't have the money to fix up a thoroughly abused XJ40 and I had to get rid of it.
Now left alone with the Miata again, I picked up a daily driver soon after. Some dull volvos, a decently cool Citroën C5 and then a very cool Chrysler 300C Diesel Wagon (it's basically a 300 with a Magnum *** for you Americans).
I loved this car, but it had to go after two years because I no longer needed a diesel (Dutch road tax rules make diesels really expensive to keep and only viable if you drive a lot of miles, as you save big money on the actual fuel). I bought a semi-sensible Lexus daily driver and drove that for a couple of years.
Then, a month or so ago, my Lexus failed to pass it's yearly inspection and I had a choice: either fix it for €1000+ or go looking for another car. I was pretty done with the car at this point and I found myself scouring our craiglist equivalent for something exciting. Something that would make me happy again. I kind of wanted another 300C but I still don't need a diesel and HEMIs are really rare over here, so I quickly found myself amongst the Jags again. No XJ40s this time, I needed something just slightly more new. The X300 or X308 seemed perfect and when I spotted a 4.0 X308 Sovereign only 30 minutes away for €2500, I just had to go and take a look.
The car wasn't perfect, but it was by far the cheapest one in the country and it seemed to have been taken care of by the owner before this one. He seemed to have rebuilt the entire engine and even though it has an astonishing mileage of 422.000 kilometers (That's 262k miles!), it drove like it just rolled out of the factory. The gearbox felt smooth, the engine ran quiet and happy and I made an offer. I ended up taking the car home for €1800 and suddenly I was a Jaguar owner again.
So far I'm in love with the 308. It's everything I loved about the XJ40, but just that little bit more refined. The drivetrain is just perfect for this type of car. It just flows. It's quick (not XJR quick I'm sure, but definitely not slow). The suspension is lovely and soft and the sound is great (apparently the last owner removed the back boxes but it's still very quiet and subtle).
I'll be giving it a full driveway service soon but apart from that it seems ready for many carefree miles. I hope to take it to and beyond half a million kilometers I bet there aren't many Jags who see that sort of mileage.
Happy to be here and I'll surely be bugging you all with some questions in due time.
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Hi Alfred and greetings from S. Florida, wonderful story and your sense of adventure! There’s definitely a wealth of valuable information in this forum.
I purchased my first Jaguar, 2001 XK8 convertible with 58k miles, 4 yrs ago. It now has 74k miles. I knew there’d be some issues, but for the initial cost of $8,000., worth it.
Coincidentally, my other car is a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT, 175,000 mi. When I acquired in 05 I asked the sales clerk if it was available in diesel and was kind of laughed at, as if I was being ridiculous. Wish it was an option here in the states. Happy Motoring!
Regard's,
Great story and great car!
That 300 wagon with a Diesel must be a rare bird indeed!
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Yeah, they're pretty rare over here! Chrysler is a tiny brand here compared to the European stuff. It's now pretty much gone so there's no official dealer support for them anymore and most are being exported (mine is in Germany now).
Originally Posted by Flash-1973
Hi Alfred and greetings from S. Florida, wonderful story and your sense of adventure! There’s definitely a wealth of valuable information in this forum.
I purchased my first Jaguar, 2001 XK8 convertible with 58k miles, 4 yrs ago. It now has 74k miles. I knew there’d be some issues, but for the initial cost of $8,000., worth it.
Coincidentally, my other car is a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT, 175,000 mi. When I acquired in 05 I asked the sales clerk if it was available in diesel and was kind of laughed at, as if I was being ridiculous. Wish it was an option here in the states. Happy Motoring!
Regard's,
Bill
Haha, it's not a weird request at all! The car worked amazingly well with a diesel engine imo. It is a Mercedes engine (OM642), a 3 liter V6. It was pretty quick and sort of economical even. With some slight modding (intercooler upgrade and a tune) it could keep up with the stock HEMI even.
Just here to let everyone know this thing is somehow still going strong! I've put around 10k on it, nearing 430k kilometers now. Only done oil and filters. It's going for it's annual Dutch inspection this week, so fingers crossed it makes it through without too much cost.
My 260k+ miles XJ8
I bet there aren't many Jags who see that sort of mileage.
