Reached an agreement in principle last night on an '04.5 5-speed...my guess is it would have been wholesaled out had I not seen it when I did, and good things rarely happen to any car that suffers that fate.

Mom's comment was to ask whether I was on a crusade to save all of the poor stray kitties with a manual...all I could say was I do what I can, one at a time

Anyhow, this one is Quartz with what I think is Ivory interior...needs some TLC in the way of clean-up since the dealership it was at did not even have a chance to run it through their make-ready before I had seen it (it was on their website without a picture or a price the day I discovered it and they had JUST taken it in on trade).

Leather is dirty but intact and should clean up nicer than the Charcoal interior in the '03. And, true to form of any of those in Texas, it needs a headliner but I have a shop lined up already whose work I like and where I knew what I was looking at price-wise. Only other real noticeable thing that is in the must-fix category was a broken lens on the driver's side fog light (bulb was still intact and functioning).

This one is around 117K miles...which is more than I have on the '03 even now...but it pulled strong through all gears with no missing. I know the AWD is a different system, but that wasn't enough to make it worth letting this one go to a home that wasn't really kitty-friendly.

They countered a bit above my initial offer, but I got it for what I considered to be reasonable and at a price less than what I had paid for the '03 earlier this year. It helped not only that it was clear I knew more about Jags than they did but also that they likely knew that if I didn't buy it, they were either going to have to hang on to it for a while since it was a manual or they would have to take the break-even (or loss) to wholesale it out. My guess is they gave less than $2500 in trade to the previous owner, so they made a few bucks on the deal with them moving off the lot within just a few days.

 

took delivery last night...had to have partner with me so it could be titled in their name (stupid that you cannot just pay cash for a car as a gift and not just have it in their name from the get-go...sort of ruins the surprise, especially since it also lets the other person know just exactly what you spent on it). Cannot say I was thrilled with the length of time it took them to have their stuff together...never seen a dealership THAT slow and disjointed...probably took 45 minutes from the time we walked in and that was on a purchase where everything SHOULD have been in order and just needing signatures. My others, both new and used, have usually been no more than 20 minutes and that was if we spent time shooting the breeze.

Still needs some cleaning inside, but they did a decent job getting it back to close-to-clean.

Some slight sticking of the key in the ignition, so will try a light dusting of graphite to see if that helps....have read the prior posts discussing pros and cons of things like the WD40 and 3:1 oil (which we still have some of in the old metal cans...as others noted, that stuff lasts forever).

 

I hear graphite is the way to go. Well done Sir in providing another 5speed car with a home. Many people, non jag enthusiasts, seem surprised when they see mine is a manual trans, even ask if I converted it. Such an enjoyable car to drive as a 5 speed. Where are the pictures?

 

psst...that would be ma'am

As to pics...I'm one of those rare souls that tends not to do a lot of pics in the online world. And this one never even had time for photos to land on the dealer's website...so I cannot even copy those.

I'm sure at some point in time I will get around to a couple of basic shots of all three of the kitties though...

 

Haha I had a feeling after I typed sir that you could be a ma'am.

 

Grats on saving another lovely Jag! and especially a 5 speed :-)

I looked for about 5 months to find mine - and had to travel almost 400 miles round trip to buy it and bring it home.

Driving a stick always makes me feeling more involved in the car ... and as nice as the Jag is ... I was *so* disappointed with my last car (Miata automatic) that my wife *forbade* me from getting anything other than a stick for the next car. Fortunately - she LOVES the Jag!

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

If I expand AutoTrader and similar sites to a 500 mile radius, I come up with something like five total Jags with a manual transmission presently on the market. One of them was an S-Type that, for some reason, the dealership in Oklahoma City has been extremely reluctant to cough up information on despite their listing claiming it as a 'perfect' example blah blah blah. For the right price, I would have looked at trying to save a manual S since they are even more scarce...

Concur on stick...and I am glad your temporary insanity seems to have been cured, since that HAS to be what prompted a purchase of an automatic Miata /ducks and runs

Not only do I feel more in tune with the vehicle, but I have had numerous instances where a stick bailed me out of someplace where an automatic would have just left me stuck...

 

Another "advantage" to a stick (click link)

 

LOL - awesome!

It's funny ... it WAS temporary insanity ... but it was a very very nice BRG 1991 with very low miles and ... I can't remember my last convertible. Plus ... I wanted to see what all the fuss was about ... and other than the drop top ... I never did figure that out :-)

 

If anyone else is looking for a 5 speed x-type we have an 04 for sale in the western Pa. area. I am tired of fighting the rear toe problem with this thing.
Runs great. PM me if interested.

 

At the risk of derailing my own thread, the slushbox IS what left you wondering what the fuss was about. My own Miata is also a '91 Special Edition. It got jacked for the hardtop between owners 3 and 4 (went through a dealership and I am sure they sold it for a grand to someone else). I added the BBS wheels from a '92 Black and Tan since they were a few pounds less than the stock daisies, and the real fun came in adding lightness. A few less pounds of unsprung weight in each corner makes a difference you can feel. I just miss the Azenis that got discontinued- they were a steal at ~$45 or 50 a corner.

The manual really allows one to make use of those 11x ponies if you throw it into the curves like you stole it. There are some purists who looked more at the A package ones as the TRUE fun cars and there were some others in the early years that were a little more trackable from the get-go. And I did love the '95M edition (the Merlot one with the 15" BBS wheels)...

As with the X-Types, anything with manual vastly improves the driving feel...even a POS Taurus can be almost ok to drive with a manual...almost And that helps to explain part of my fondness for the manual X-Types. I just wish I had more space to keep a few more of them.