Hey everyone!
I'm just a young gal joining the forums because my interest in jaguars is at an all time high. Don't have a car yet, but judging on where I am on the web one would know what I'm eyeing out. If anyone has useful advice on the forums, jaguar ownership, or generally why I shouldn't be lusting after an X308 or X350 as my first car I would love to hear it!

 

Welcome to the forum BeeGoddess,

I can think of no good reason anyone would not want a Jaguar. I can think of many reasons why the purchase should be carefully thought through and the vehicle selection be absolutely rigorous. A well maintained Jaguar is a pleasure to own and drive but a neglected example is usually a serious money pit. A late X308 is a more straighforward vehicle to maintain ($$$) than an X350 but it really comes down to condition and availability. Other members in HI describe some serious corrosion issues from the climate so this needs to be checked. Salt laden air can be cruel to both steel bodied X308's and aluminium bodied X350's.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums BeeGoddess,

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

 

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

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Thanks for the warm welcomes! I'll make sure to check out the links that you guys have given me.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Lust away, the :right: Jag will find YOU, as many before have stated.

Good luck.

 

welcome to the forum - good luck in your search for the right Jag - enjoy!!!

 

Young gal, first car? I think an X308 would be a great first car just depending on your resources and interests. Its a heavy chunk of steel with lots of airbags so likely to protect you in an accident and perhaps its best advantage is that you can see 359 degrees out the windows so you're less likely to hit anything anyway. Look for one with the optional rear parking proximity sensors too and then you're less likely to bump into anything like when parallel parking. I would recommend find the lowest mileage 2003 model that you can with service records to show it was properly maintained. By the last year of the X308, they had worked out almost all the bugs and it was as good as any Toyota product. But do a search on this forum and read about the timing chain tensioners, the Transgo or Sonnax valve body upgrade, A-drum failures, and water pump impellers before you consider any earlier than 2003 models (or 2002 model with engines built before September 2001). 1998 to early 2002 models may be perfectly fine to purchase if the maintenance records show that these items have already been fixed. Otherwise avoid them or plan to fix them immediately otherwise you'd be driving a ticking time bomb.

If you aren't interested in DIY maintenance and can't stomach a potential big repair bill, then it would certainly be wiser to buy a Honda of the same vintage for about the same money, but then you'd be like everyone else and where's the fun in that. If you buy a Jaguar in good shape that's got a complete maintenance history, then its not likely to leave you stranded somewhere, but being already a 17+ year old car, it will likely need lots of work over the next five years. The danger in buying any high-end luxury car this old whether its a Jaguar or a Lexus or Mercedes is that parts and labor are expensive on luxury brands and most owners have deferred a lot of maintenance as they started to lust after a newer model. Rather than spend the money to maintain their old car, they skip maintenance, take their chances and save that money to spend on the new car. But that leaves whoever is buying the used luxury car to deal with all the deferred maintenance. Somebody once posted on here that an X308 was really a $10,000 used luxury car at that point in time, you just paid $5,000 to the seller and $5,000 to your mechanic.

If you are interested in doing much of your own maintenance and repairs, you can save a bundle and have the coolest car in school. Most everything a Jaguar will ever need done to it has been well documented on this forum and even lots of how-to videos on youtube, plus you can download the service manual. We have several women on this forum who do their own work, some who can outwrench the best, so if you have an interest in it, don't be afraid to try. If I were POTUS, every kid, boy or girl, would have to get their first car the same way I did. Dad towed home a wrecked car with a blown engine and said "Son, if you can fix it, you can drive it." Dad probably didn't know he was starting a life-long car hobby, but even if I never picked up a wrench ever again, I learned enough about how cars worked that no mechanic would ever be able to take advantage of me, plus I put so much of my own blood, sweat and tears into it that I drove it like a grandma, afraid that I might get a scratch in the new paint. Maybe don't start with a wrecked Jaguar, but just doing regular preventative maintenance and fixing things as you go on an old car will be a valuable lesson that will save you tens of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

I don't know a whole lot about the X350 series. But generally, the newer the car you get, the more reliable it will be all else being equal. If you don't have interest in DIY but still lust after a Jaguar, you might want to consider spending more and searching for a 2006 - 2008. Maybe someone will post about those for you. Reason age matters so much is primarily because of all the plastics, rubbers and vinyls used in the construction. Don't let any environmentalist tell you that plastic lasts a thousand years. Just attach a piece of plastic to an automobile and it will turn completely to dust in about a hundred years. Only it will have cracked, broken and be unable to fulfill its intended function sometime between 15 and 30 years. Hence, a newer car should need fewer repairs.

Since you live in Hawaii, you need to also be on the lookout for corrosion on any car you consider, regardless of age. A little seawater sprayed onto the bare metal parts of the car or getting into the electrical connectors will do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Good luck.

 

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll make sure to keep these factors in mind when I start my search. (Hopefully soon!!!)