Buying my first jag
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14,803
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From: Great Mills, MD
Steve, most things are going to be fairly easy to fix if you have a problem. The big thing that you are going to want to inspect is the door sills. If this car has lived even part of its life in an area where they apply salt to the roads in the winter, the door sills can be severely rusted and while they may be fine (slightly rusted now), in a few years, that is not going to be the case. Since the car is a unibody construction, the door sills are part of the overall structure of the car and will be costly to repair if needed.
The other big thing that I would atleast pay attention to is the sound that the transfer case is making (assuming the car is AWD). If there is a weak link in the drive train, the transfer case is it. Granted, by this point in the car's life, if the transfer case was going to fail, it would have already. But, when taking the car out for a drive, see if you hear what sounds like a box of rocks in the engine bay bouncing around. If so, run from that car. For what you will most likely pay for the car, you will end up paying that again for the new transfer case.
Most of the other problems can be easily overcome with guidance from here. If you are going to have an issue, it will most liekly be either a vacuum leak or an issue with the rear e-brake.
On a side note, if you are after a car to sprint from light to light, this may not be the car for you (see the comment about the transfer case).. If you want something to cruise the highways at 70+ MPH, then this car will do you just fine. I would also say to get one with the 3.0L motor as you will find that passing will be much easier with that motor as you will simply need to ease into the gas a little bit and around you go. Where the 2.5L and 2.0L will need to have the car downshift and get the RPMs up to get into their power bands. Not that they are a slouch, but hte 3.0L motor has a lot more low end torque and will get almost the same mileage as the smaller motors.. I cannot speak about what the diesel engine is like.(if that is an option for you).
The other big thing that I would atleast pay attention to is the sound that the transfer case is making (assuming the car is AWD). If there is a weak link in the drive train, the transfer case is it. Granted, by this point in the car's life, if the transfer case was going to fail, it would have already. But, when taking the car out for a drive, see if you hear what sounds like a box of rocks in the engine bay bouncing around. If so, run from that car. For what you will most likely pay for the car, you will end up paying that again for the new transfer case.
Most of the other problems can be easily overcome with guidance from here. If you are going to have an issue, it will most liekly be either a vacuum leak or an issue with the rear e-brake.
On a side note, if you are after a car to sprint from light to light, this may not be the car for you (see the comment about the transfer case).. If you want something to cruise the highways at 70+ MPH, then this car will do you just fine. I would also say to get one with the 3.0L motor as you will find that passing will be much easier with that motor as you will simply need to ease into the gas a little bit and around you go. Where the 2.5L and 2.0L will need to have the car downshift and get the RPMs up to get into their power bands. Not that they are a slouch, but hte 3.0L motor has a lot more low end torque and will get almost the same mileage as the smaller motors.. I cannot speak about what the diesel engine is like.(if that is an option for you).
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