new 2004 XJ8 owner in tn.
#1
03-16-2014, 11:22 PM
new 2004 XJ8 owner in tn.
The universe led me here. A few months ago I bought my wife a new Sorento and decided to sell my car and keep her 2003 Jeep Liberty and fix it up for off road use. Going to do it right, I bought a $900 bumper for it for the winch.
Then I have 2 kids who live in San Antonio and my daughter was moving to Denver Colorado and I was going to ride my motorcycle to San Antonio, drive with my daughter to Denver, fly back to San Antonio and then ride home back to Tn. I had done this trip before and was looking forward to it.
I left tn on Feb 23rd and had a pretty pleasant ride down, went to Denver etc. back in San Antonio I checked the weather so I could see how to come back and it showed rain in La but only cloudy in Austin/Dallas etc with a high of 46 so that is the route I took.
It never got above 38 on day 1 . I got stuck in numerous traffic jams thru dallas so was running a little late and when the sun went down it dropped down top the low 30's, high 20's. I have electric pants, jacket liner and goves but my toes were freezing after a few hours so I never did make Little Rock, my original day 1 destination.
On day 2 it was freezing out plus the roads were wet which is really scary to me and slowed me down. It turned out the day before Arkansas shut down I-40 and called in the national Guard because of ice. After day the temp dropped down to 28 and I ended up in a monster traffic jam. They were doing road construction and shut down one lane and it was a disaster. What should have taken me about 1 1/2 hours ended up taking me over 5 1/2 hours - and that was just to get to Memphis.
Stuck on the highway I decided I needed to get me a small MG, Fiat etc and stop riding the bike on long trips that time of year.
Sooo, I eventually got home and tho everyone thought I was kidding, I started looking for an MG, Fiat etc. I talked to an old friend of mine and he mentioned he had a Fiat and while he liked it, it killed his back.
Well, it just so happens I am a disabled vet and my back is 100% from neck to butt totally fused. It grew together on it's own into a solid piece of bone plus I now have 2 fake hips, so if it killed his back, we figured I would not fare very well in one either.....so the small car was out.
So I started thinking about a BMW etc, never gave a Jaguar a thought.
Now I have always admired Jaguar and had wanted one but had not kept up with what they were doing. I remembered Jags as nive but electrical nightmares and not very reliable and I thought an affordable jag for me was the Ford jaguars - which may be great cars, I do not know anything about them obviously, but I always liked the bigger ones or the convertibles.
So a couple of days after I was home I was sort of surfing thru craigslist and I saw a 2004 Jaguar XJ8 for sale locally for what I thought was a great price. I immediately started researching it and discovered it was actually supposedly a very reliable car and also supposedly one heck of a good driving vehicle - pretty much what I was looking for so I took off to go look at it.
It was in real nice shape, especially for the price in my opinion, so I took it for a test drive. I really did not even drive it that far, just a quick trip down a straight road and told them I would buy it.
I still did not really realize what I had.
So I trotted off to the bank, got me a 3% loan and went and picked up the car.
Going home I live on a fairly curvy road and I was shocked at how good this thing handled. Going thru the curves there was zero body roll. I used to own a 1981 Porsche 928 and this thing handled as well and put as big a smile on my face, plus it had all of the newer technology that wasn't even around when they built the Porsche.
I still did not really understand what I had.
The next day I was in it with my 4 year old grandson and I was telling him we were in a race car. Right about then I came up on a car and I said "see" and punched it to pass the car - wow was I impressed. Actually I was shocked. Zero body roll and a bullet. I came home with a huge smile on my face.
But I still did not know what I had.
The next morning I was taking a road trip to Ohio, a 1,000 mile ride. Now I did not want the Jeep for long rides because it only gets around 16-17 mpg and when I bought the jaguar I was hoping I was going to get 22-23 mpg on the highway. But I discovered I needed Premium gas so figured it was a draw and I really would be paying the same for gas as I did in the Jeep, but at least this car was a blast to drive.
Well, on my way to Ohio I followed about a 1/8th of a mile behind a new Challenger that was doing 90 for almost half the way there. The rest of the time I always found a fast car to follow (hoping if a ticket was to be had, it would be theirs) and if I wasn't doing 90, I was pretty much always over 80.
I was absolutely 100% amazed - going up there I averaged 29.9 mpg. I did not even believe it and stopped once for gas to put 4 gallons in it just to check the fuel gauge.......I am sure everyone in Ohiop was tired of me talking about that.....basically 30 mpg......man I loved this car, it was wayyyyyyy better than I anticpated and hoped for. I always thought I would get another newer Porsche 928 because tho they are ugly, they are great touring cars - that idea is now gone. I love this Jaguar and when I get a newer car it will be a newer jag.
So, my jaguar - the wife of the car lot owner was using it as her personal car. It does have a few scratches and a couple of very, very small dents on it but you have to look for them other wise it basically looks almost new. On the driver's seat bolster you can see where a small spot of the dye is getting worn thru, but the dash and everything else is perfect.
It has 85,000 miles on it.
It does need new tires, I am ordering them tomorrow and it does not have floor mats (ordering them tomorrow). It has never been in an accident etc
I paid $7995.00
In my opinion I stole it. Not having ever driven one before, I would have been happy if I paid $18-20k for it. My uncle has a 1965 vette convertible and a 1999 vette and has driven some pretty nice cars, but never driven a vette and they also really, really liked it.
I do not understand why everyone does not have one of these. I think the book price was around $12.5k and that is a steal in my opinion
Needless to say while I have always had a soft spot for them, I am a HUGE fan now and have a ton of research to do.
If really bored, here is a video I made of my bike ride from hell. Skip ahead to about the 2 minute mark - that is why I now own a Jaguar and as it turns out, I am soooooo happy I went thru that
Video Is Here
sorry, how's that for an intro lol....did I mention I can be quite verbose
Then I have 2 kids who live in San Antonio and my daughter was moving to Denver Colorado and I was going to ride my motorcycle to San Antonio, drive with my daughter to Denver, fly back to San Antonio and then ride home back to Tn. I had done this trip before and was looking forward to it.
I left tn on Feb 23rd and had a pretty pleasant ride down, went to Denver etc. back in San Antonio I checked the weather so I could see how to come back and it showed rain in La but only cloudy in Austin/Dallas etc with a high of 46 so that is the route I took.
It never got above 38 on day 1 . I got stuck in numerous traffic jams thru dallas so was running a little late and when the sun went down it dropped down top the low 30's, high 20's. I have electric pants, jacket liner and goves but my toes were freezing after a few hours so I never did make Little Rock, my original day 1 destination.
On day 2 it was freezing out plus the roads were wet which is really scary to me and slowed me down. It turned out the day before Arkansas shut down I-40 and called in the national Guard because of ice. After day the temp dropped down to 28 and I ended up in a monster traffic jam. They were doing road construction and shut down one lane and it was a disaster. What should have taken me about 1 1/2 hours ended up taking me over 5 1/2 hours - and that was just to get to Memphis.
Stuck on the highway I decided I needed to get me a small MG, Fiat etc and stop riding the bike on long trips that time of year.
Sooo, I eventually got home and tho everyone thought I was kidding, I started looking for an MG, Fiat etc. I talked to an old friend of mine and he mentioned he had a Fiat and while he liked it, it killed his back.
Well, it just so happens I am a disabled vet and my back is 100% from neck to butt totally fused. It grew together on it's own into a solid piece of bone plus I now have 2 fake hips, so if it killed his back, we figured I would not fare very well in one either.....so the small car was out.
So I started thinking about a BMW etc, never gave a Jaguar a thought.
Now I have always admired Jaguar and had wanted one but had not kept up with what they were doing. I remembered Jags as nive but electrical nightmares and not very reliable and I thought an affordable jag for me was the Ford jaguars - which may be great cars, I do not know anything about them obviously, but I always liked the bigger ones or the convertibles.
So a couple of days after I was home I was sort of surfing thru craigslist and I saw a 2004 Jaguar XJ8 for sale locally for what I thought was a great price. I immediately started researching it and discovered it was actually supposedly a very reliable car and also supposedly one heck of a good driving vehicle - pretty much what I was looking for so I took off to go look at it.
It was in real nice shape, especially for the price in my opinion, so I took it for a test drive. I really did not even drive it that far, just a quick trip down a straight road and told them I would buy it.
I still did not really realize what I had.
So I trotted off to the bank, got me a 3% loan and went and picked up the car.
Going home I live on a fairly curvy road and I was shocked at how good this thing handled. Going thru the curves there was zero body roll. I used to own a 1981 Porsche 928 and this thing handled as well and put as big a smile on my face, plus it had all of the newer technology that wasn't even around when they built the Porsche.
I still did not really understand what I had.
The next day I was in it with my 4 year old grandson and I was telling him we were in a race car. Right about then I came up on a car and I said "see" and punched it to pass the car - wow was I impressed. Actually I was shocked. Zero body roll and a bullet. I came home with a huge smile on my face.
But I still did not know what I had.
The next morning I was taking a road trip to Ohio, a 1,000 mile ride. Now I did not want the Jeep for long rides because it only gets around 16-17 mpg and when I bought the jaguar I was hoping I was going to get 22-23 mpg on the highway. But I discovered I needed Premium gas so figured it was a draw and I really would be paying the same for gas as I did in the Jeep, but at least this car was a blast to drive.
Well, on my way to Ohio I followed about a 1/8th of a mile behind a new Challenger that was doing 90 for almost half the way there. The rest of the time I always found a fast car to follow (hoping if a ticket was to be had, it would be theirs) and if I wasn't doing 90, I was pretty much always over 80.
I was absolutely 100% amazed - going up there I averaged 29.9 mpg. I did not even believe it and stopped once for gas to put 4 gallons in it just to check the fuel gauge.......I am sure everyone in Ohiop was tired of me talking about that.....basically 30 mpg......man I loved this car, it was wayyyyyyy better than I anticpated and hoped for. I always thought I would get another newer Porsche 928 because tho they are ugly, they are great touring cars - that idea is now gone. I love this Jaguar and when I get a newer car it will be a newer jag.
So, my jaguar - the wife of the car lot owner was using it as her personal car. It does have a few scratches and a couple of very, very small dents on it but you have to look for them other wise it basically looks almost new. On the driver's seat bolster you can see where a small spot of the dye is getting worn thru, but the dash and everything else is perfect.
It has 85,000 miles on it.
It does need new tires, I am ordering them tomorrow and it does not have floor mats (ordering them tomorrow). It has never been in an accident etc
I paid $7995.00
In my opinion I stole it. Not having ever driven one before, I would have been happy if I paid $18-20k for it. My uncle has a 1965 vette convertible and a 1999 vette and has driven some pretty nice cars, but never driven a vette and they also really, really liked it.
I do not understand why everyone does not have one of these. I think the book price was around $12.5k and that is a steal in my opinion
Needless to say while I have always had a soft spot for them, I am a HUGE fan now and have a ton of research to do.
If really bored, here is a video I made of my bike ride from hell. Skip ahead to about the 2 minute mark - that is why I now own a Jaguar and as it turns out, I am soooooo happy I went thru that
Video Is Here
sorry, how's that for an intro lol....did I mention I can be quite verbose
Last edited by JimC64; 03-18-2014 at 07:35 PM. Reason: LINE BREAKS ADDED
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GGG (03-17-2014)
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03-17-2014, 02:01 AM
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#3
03-17-2014, 03:21 AM
Welcome to the forum Don,
Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums. Thanks for a great Intro.
In the UK, motorcyclists would drive between the traffic lanes to get through in a jam like that. Presumably you can't do that in the US?
Follow this link XJ ( X350 & X358 ) XJ6 / XJ8 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the X350 forum for help, advice and information.
Please remember to add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.
You can also visit the US Southern MidWest Region forum by following this link Southern MidWest - AR LA MS KY TN AL - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your region.
Enjoy the forums.
Graham
Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums. Thanks for a great Intro.
In the UK, motorcyclists would drive between the traffic lanes to get through in a jam like that. Presumably you can't do that in the US?
Follow this link XJ ( X350 & X358 ) XJ6 / XJ8 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the X350 forum for help, advice and information.
Please remember to add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.
You can also visit the US Southern MidWest Region forum by following this link Southern MidWest - AR LA MS KY TN AL - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your region.
Enjoy the forums.
Graham
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03-17-2014, 05:50 AM
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03-17-2014, 07:24 AM
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Welcome to Jaguar Forums donintn,
Good to have you with us.
Graham don't you know filtering in traffic with a bike is the work of the devil!
Enjoy the forum.
If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help
Good to have you with us.
Graham don't you know filtering in traffic with a bike is the work of the devil!
Enjoy the forum.
If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help
#6
03-17-2014, 08:25 AM
the roads were really wet and it was 28 degrees out so I really did not feel like driving between miles of mostly semi's.
The universe took care of me tho because that is the only reason I am now driving my XJ8. If I had split the lanes etc, I would be outside right now getting ready to paint that bumper I bought for the jeep. Instead, I am headed out to clean it out because 2 people are coming to look at it today as I am now selling it.
The universe took care of me tho because that is the only reason I am now driving my XJ8. If I had split the lanes etc, I would be outside right now getting ready to paint that bumper I bought for the jeep. Instead, I am headed out to clean it out because 2 people are coming to look at it today as I am now selling it.
#7
03-17-2014, 09:02 AM
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03-17-2014, 07:26 PM
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Hi donintn,
I'm also Don in TN!
First of all, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY! We don't take your sacrifice for granted, and we are thankful and blessed that we can enjoy liberty and peace because you have defended our freedom. THANK YOU!
Secondly, VERBOSE???? I would have never have guessed! :-)
Thirdly, WELCOME!
I'll see you on the X350 forum if I don't pass you first on one of our wonderful Tennessee back roads!
Cheers,
Don
I'm also Don in TN!
First of all, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY! We don't take your sacrifice for granted, and we are thankful and blessed that we can enjoy liberty and peace because you have defended our freedom. THANK YOU!
Secondly, VERBOSE???? I would have never have guessed! :-)
Thirdly, WELCOME!
I'll see you on the X350 forum if I don't pass you first on one of our wonderful Tennessee back roads!
Cheers,
Don
#11
03-18-2014, 10:54 AM
The bigger thanks goes to the war time vets and I will avoid stating my opinion on how I believe we treat them so not to get political etc......
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JimC64 (03-18-2014)
#12
03-18-2014, 07:38 PM
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If you need any help with the site moving forward, please just ask any moderator or veteran member and we'll be glad to assist.
In the meantime, any useful site information you may need such as how to post pictures, edit signatures, add videos, using the
search facility etc, can be found here within the following link Helpful_information
There are lots of members local to you with the same interests with info on local dealers and possible meets.
Regional - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
Need a Manual, a TSB, or General Info' about your Jag? Check out our >> DOWNLOAD AREA <<
I've manually upgraded you to Full forum access so you can better view the site and all its features, so please Jump on in and enjoy the site........
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