Replacing the powertrain
 

Dear Jag owners,

An X-type that was offered for me to buy has a long history of maintenance and care of which the owner is very proud. This is a 2006 car, with a 2.5L petrol engine and automatic gear box. One particular thing that stands out on that list is that the entire powertrain was replaced by the previous owner using original parts in an operation that is told to cost around 3000 euro (cc 3500USD or 2700 GBP).
While this is supposed to sound encouraging, actually it makes me wonder: the 4 wheel powertrain is one of the features of the X-type that owners seem to adore the most. Is this in the reality so faulty that it should be replaced entirely after appr 130.000 km (80k miles)? Is that cost realistic? If so, should this be repeated after a while (the car is currently at 170.00km/100k m)? Is this a sign of smg fishy going on? Like this is not the true mileage or the car was used in extreme conditions?

regards

ps.: I am yet to see the car myself, it is located quite far and I would like to collect as much info as possible before traveling there

riazol, this sounds really fishy to me. I can tell you that the previous owner did not use new parts for sure. That would have pushed the price to well over $10,000 USD. So, the question then comes, how many miles are on this power train? Now, if the person did it to go from say a 2.0L engine to a 2.5L engine for the power, I could possibly see doing a swap like this. But, I would have then expected them to go all the way and get the 3.0L engine (granted, may not have been able to be found).

Keep in mind that you can find cars with similar mileage and get the complete car for around $2500-3000 these days. So, unless the person is willing to take a big loss because of what they did, I would walk away from this car.

My question would be what is your meaning and understanding of "powertrain"? If it is the transfer case, then yes the price mentioned would be reasonable. And yes, a transfer case can go bad at the mileage mentioned if somewhat abused (i.e. "rabbit" starts from stopped, etc). If the meaning is engine (rare it fails it's a duratech), transmission (rare it fails), transfer, etc. then as Thermo said = b.s. @ that cost for new parts.

You say the car has a long maintenance history. Like what? Is there anything showing teh transmission fluid, transfer case fluid and differential fluid being changed? Was the car ever in an accident? Does the person selling the car know why all or what parts of the powertrain were replaced? By 2006 these cars were pretty well sorted out and the engine, transmission and transfer case were all very reliable.With a minimum of maintenance you shouldn't have to replace any of those items within 100K miles. With proper maintenance you should have minimal problems with the drivetrain. Keep asking quetsions until you are either satisfied enough to want to go see it and drive it or the owner is evasive enough to make you want to walk away.

In this post and in your other post about the mismatched wood in the interior you reference this car was "offered to you to buy"? What does that mean? Someone you know is trying to sell their car and asked if you want to buy it? If it is someone you know I would think they would be pretty forthcoming about information about it.

How much are they asking for it?

As usual, I am very thankful for your help. Obviously, I need to ask a lot of questions about a lot of things. As I am new to this type, my current intention is to understand what may have happened so that I dont get fooled. So now I know what 3000E would be enough for, and I can ask him accordingly. I also see what could have indicated this type of operation which is also very good.

Yes, this is the same car.

I dont know the guy in person, but we are on the same FB forum, and he knows that I am looking to buy an X-type. His car is well known in the Hungarian X-type club, as a car that was in really good care and is very nice. As it is for sale, he offered it to me. Right now I need to finish renovating my apartment, so I will proceed with a car purchase in late February/March which would be fine with him.

This particular car is strongly overpriced, right now this is the most expensive 2.5 V6 in Hungary, with around 6000 euro (6800 USD, 5300 GBP). I believe the car's value is around 4000 Euro, if it is that nice as he claims it to be. I am ok to buy a more expensive car if that is in better condition instead of a cheap one with a questionable history and badly maintained parts. But I dont want to get fooled. Originally, I liked this car a lot,this is why I asked you guys, but I have mixed feelings now.
I will wait a bit, hoping that the price would go down, go there and ask a lot, ready to walk away if I feel that way.

Maybe contact the Hungarian X-Type Club and ask them what they know about the car and the owner.