Good afternoon fellow Jag fans,

I'm thinking of buying the XJ shown in the pictures, however I'd like to ask whether the car's worth the asking price of nearly 20k euros (19.6k to be exact). We've been to look at the car last weekend and noticed a couple of things. Apparently, the car's been imported from Belgium where it has been sitting for quite a while because the seller showed pictures of very rusty brake calipers and brake discs, therefore they painted them all black; the front bumper and one of the fenders have had minor scratches, so the seller has also repainted them, but I've noticed some imperfections in the paint job. To be honest, I wish they would have left the car untouched as I would have had a better idea about the condition of the car.

Other than that, the car felt and drove nicely No clunks in the suspension, the odometer shows 132k kilometers on the clock and the engine is smooth as butter. My biggest concern with the car is that it doesn't come with any of the books - the driver's manual or the service book, which, in my view, are very important. I was able to trace down the car's service history with the provided VIN on the Jaguar Online History page https://osh.jaguar.com/ which shows that it has recently (2021 May) had cam belt and gearbox oil done. Would the absence of the service book impact the resale value of the car and would you buy the exact car I'm looking at?

The link to the ad: https://en.autoplius.lt/ads/jaguar-x...-20574834.html

Thanks in advance,

 

The problem is this forum is mainly US guys and we did not get the Diesel in the US. So we have zero experience with that model. There are UK jaguar forums where that model was very common and you will get much better answers.
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Nowadays, with the major manufacturers going over to on-line service records, the absence of a service book is not so important. If the car is a 2014, it has probably never had a service book. My MB SLK, (2015), has no service book, nor my XE (2017).
You should be able to get a Drivers Handbook on the internet. The only thing to be aware of is the car is not intended for use on short journey town 'tootling'. It needs to be stretched regularly to make sure the DPF remains clear. Also there are two EGR valves which clog-up, again quickly if the car is only used on short journeys. The suspension is basically the same as the previous XJ, of which I owned two, except the front suspension is steel coil, the air suspension is only on the rear, so less to worry about as the air suspension units are very expensive to repair. My main complaint with my first XJ was the rather short life of certain suspension bushes.

 

Thank you for the reply, Fraser! I presume if I printed out the service history from the official Jaguar Serive History page, it could very well serve as proof of services, right? Have you checked out the ad link that I've provided in my post? Do you think it's worth bitting the bullet at nearly 20k euros? Should I get it checked at a car mechanic before buying it because the suspension, the engine and the interior looked up to par.

 

If its worth it, truely depends on how much you want it. I just recently bought a 2010 diesel XJL. Suspension condition is just a (moderate) cost issue. At some point you will need new suspension bushings anyway. If the suspension needs some new bushings, do some research what it will cost and factor this into the price. Cam belt service and gear box oil change are a plus.
Engine troubles are not that rare, and any repair or replacement engine is fantastically expensive. Watch out for knocking noises on cold start.

 

You can download your Owner's Handbook from this Forum. See the Sticky Threads at the top of the first page of this X351 Forum. Click this link:
X351 Owner's Handbook Download