I am meeting the owner tomorrow an having it inspected a a local shop I trust. I took a quick look and test drove it a few days ago. Here is the deal he wants 5k Obo it has 108k its fairly clean just needs a wash and detail. Has minor flaws but nothing major that I could see and it drives as it should. The cons. It's needs a cat p0430 code. It needs rear struts. It needs a drives door clip. And it has obviously been neglected. The current owner does not pull up in the shifter to shift into reverse and has ruined the safety it now pops out of reverse once in awhile.. What do you guys think? Talk him down or walk away?

 

It has a ding in the front fender and a scuff in the bumper should be 500 to fix

 

You may not need a new cat.

tjandy did an acid bath on his and it seems to have worked.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-3-days-87900/

Talk him down. I got my 03 with under 100k on it for 4200. The only expenses so far has been a
minimal amount for transmission, transfer case, and differential lube changes. This was just for
my own peace of mind. I also put a water pump drive belt on it, again as peace of mind thing.
Any belt with 100k on it is suspect. It is an easy enough task once you get the battery and battery box out of the way.

 

I just did a quick kelly blue book on a base 2.5 (I'm assuming it's the base and non-sport edition) in "Fair" condition. "Fair" is the lowest condition listed. KBB says $3,375. One grade higher ("Good" condition) is $4K. KBB isn't gospel, but a pretty good bargaining chip/benchmark. Sounds like the car is in rough shape, from your description. Good luck.

 

For what it's worth I would keep looking. You already know that you are going to have to sink money into it and you yourself say it was not well taken care of. Plus, you don't know if there are additional problems other than the obvious. By the time you fix everything you will have more invested than the car is worth. There are plenty of X's out there and I am sure you could find a number of them in better condition in that price range. From your description there would be too many uncertainties for me. The gearshift issue seems especially troublesome. If someone cares that little about the maintenance of their car not to address that I would think it would be even easier to neglect other routine things, like changing the oil and other fluids on a regular basis.

No matter what you do, I really like that you will have it professionally inspected. Cheap insurance in the long run. Let us know how it ends up.

 

If it's worth anything, I agree with this. I'd walk away. You'll run into something better. Also, search the forums for others who have considered the early model year Xes...I think you'll find that an '04 or later might be a better option.

 

Thanks for the replies. It has just been neglected I am afraid it will be a lemon. It just has everything I want. Black on black 2.5 5speed low miles ugg I can't believe this guy just ruined his jag.. Even if the inspection comes back good I think ill pass