Hi.

Thanks for running these forums. I am Gary from southern Florida in the US. I don't yet own a jaguar, but I am thinking of purchasing one. I am interested in the XJR, XFR and XKR. I'm looking for a fast luxury car under about $40K USD. I'm a bit older and finally buying a "dream" car. I expect I will own it for at least 10 years. I'm looking for fast, luxurious and dependable, or at least relatively low maintenance costs. Any suggestions as to models I should consider or stay away from are greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums Gary,

If you don't need 4 doors, there's only one choice.

Check the relevant model forums for help and advice:

XJR (X351)
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-x351-53/

XFR (X260)
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xf-x260-99/

XKR (X150)
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk-xkr-x150-33/

Low mileage isn't necessarily beneficial although our US member do place a lot of emphasis on it. However, a full service history on schedule and with no gaps is crucial. A well maintained Jaguar is a pleasure to own and drive but a neglected example can be a money pit.

Enjoy the forums and the search for your Jaguar.

Graham

 

Welcome aboard Gary.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Gary,

Good to have you with us.
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

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Graham speaks TRUE.

Good luck.

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

Hello, Gary,
I wish you success in your search for the Purrrrfect Jaguar!
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Thanks for the links and the advice. Service history would be good

 

Thanks

 

Welcome. I tend to agree with Graham. The XK is beautiful and unique and I expect will much sooner appreciate as a future classic. The XFs look too much like the Lexus ES350 that you're going to park next to at the grocery store. They will be largely forgotten in a few years. The XJ is a little more unique, but still a sedan. Yes, I realize that millenials won't have near as much of a 2-door bias as we did (when I was teenager, if you drove a 4-door sedan, it meant only one thing, that your parents got a new car). However, an XJ is still not an aspirational car for youth. Classic car value is largely influenced by nostalgia and collectors don't usually buy sedans until they've first gotten those sports or muscle cars that they wanted when they were young. We see it in the data that 2-door sports cars can start to appreciate rapidly as early as 15 to 20 years old while sedans stagnate at the bottom till they're 30 to 40 years old and then climb very slowly. So to minimize your total cost of ownership over ten years, your best bet would be to find a well-maintained (and yes low-mileage*) XK or XKR that's already at or near the bottom of the depreciation curve.

*As to low-mileage, we here in America all tend to live 25 miles or more from where we work. We call it "urban sprawl". But it wears out a car really fast. It may still look like new but by 100K miles, it really and truly needs a LOT of work to put it back to the way it should be, the way you as an enthusiast would want to enjoy it. Most people tend to sell before it gets to that point to avoid the cost and inconvenience of repairs. The problem then is that the total sum of reconditioning needed often exceeds the value of the car. It may still run and drive, but its certainly not the high-performance luxury car it was meant to be anymore.

On the other extreme tho, its very bad for a car to sit unused for an extended period of time. Many of the fluids that are in the car tend to separate into their constituent components when left to rest. The antioxidants in the coolant can't prevent engine corrosion if they're all floating at the top of water jacket. Oil can't prevent a cylinder wall from scoring at start-up if its all dripped down into the pan. Gasoline and brake fluid will even take on a gel-like consistency and clog injectors and valves. You're probably familiar with how old bias-ply tires would flat-spot, but consider that all the rubber bushings in the car's suspension can take a set too if they are left in one place for years. A car needs to be driven at least a little bit once a month or so to keep the fluids stirred and bushings and seals limber. When a car is advertised with considerably lower mileage than expected for its age, its rarely because the owner drove it only once a week to the golf course. More likely it was driven normally for the first year or two and then something happened such as the owner died and it just took the widow eight years to let go of it. You are probably better off to find one that's simply at the lower end of the normally expected mileage range. Leave the ones with extreme low mileage on Bring-a-Trailer for the money-is-no-object collectors. They're probably just buying them to decorate their warehouse anyway.

Good luck with your hunt.

 

Thanks for your thoughts and insights.

 

Welcome, Gary.

I started with 1986 XJS V12. Loved it! A joy to drive. The more I drove it, the better it behaved.
It was basically reliable and wasn't a money pit. I just had trouble getting in and out because of the low roof line. Like mounting a Corvette.

So I moved to a pair of sedans. 2001 XJ8 and 2004 Vanden Plas. The XJ8 (Less than $6K; 148K miles) is a joy to look at and drives beautifully; very reliable, except that the transmission was bad from the start; only showing trouble when hot. Other than that repair, good to go. I drive it during the summer since a powerful rear drive sedan isn't best on snow and ice. Besides, its rust free and the interior is immaculate. I bought it down to UT from Seattle. Only negative is the lack of modern Bluetooth and US phone compatibility.

The 2004 Vanden Plas is a real land rocket! Can you imagine having an extra 100 horses with the XJR version? My, that's amazing. Aluminum and composites make it a few hundred lbs. lighter than the 2001 and it shows in the performance! Simply amazing. Cooling issues are nagged me, radiator, thermostat and fan; oh yeah, fuel pump. I suspect they are no different than any other used cars today over 100K miles on the clock..

 

Thanks for this info. Mashed me want to jump right in and buy.