Starting my search for a 2010-2013 XJS...preferably 8 cyl...SuperCharged if priced in my range....I'm seeing a lot of cars on AutoTrader Craigslist with 80, 90 100+ thousand miles on the clock....the warranty company I'm going to use through my bank allows up to 8 yrs old and 100k in what they will warranty....so I'm trying to keep within those parameters because this will be the first Jaguar I've owned and have heard quite a few horror stories, not from folks that have actually owned the cars, but horror stories nonetheless so I'm trying to be somewhat conservative about the purchase. I'm seeing some priced well at 10 to 12k retail that don't fit my warranties parameters...and I'm wondering if I should take the chance if one comes back with a fairly clean inspection...and use the money saved to self warranty...or should I just skip the high mileage XJ's and swoop in on a mid-2000 S-Type R with 23k on the clock for less than 10k....decisions decisions....

 

I would try to find a car that will fit into the warranty program. CPO is probably better than an aftermarket policy but I think your experience will be better with the warranty.

 

If the car has been taken care of, you should get 250K miles without any major issues (the normal, brakes, belts, plugs, etc). I would not be afraid of getting one in the 100K range.

 

I like to DIY almost everything so can inspect a car myself. I prefer a high miler as they're good value and any car used a lot clearly works.

I actively avoid low mileage.

I couldn't care less about a warranty unless not buying privately - I reckon any trade place should be happy to provide at least a few months of warranty (against major failures). If trade won't provide a warranty willingly I walk.

 

I think if this is your first Jaguar it would be best to buy one with a warranty. However, high-miles cars can be perfectly OK if the maintenance has been done correctly and on-time, so a car with a good provenance is essential if you go down this route. You should be able to get a drive train warranty even on a high miles car, but usually a warranty that covers everything will not be available, question is - do you need it ?

If you're buying from a used-car dealer you should be able to get a warranty of some sort, but it will be cash-limited for claims. It all depends what you can afford. Try to find a car on around 50-70k is my recommendation. Also ask if you really need that supercharger.

 

Aftermarket warranties are for suckers. You aren't a sucker, are you? If you insist on flushing your money down the toilette, you would need to get one with an actual Jaguar CPO warranty. Any warranty purchased outside of that is best used after your daily constitutional where you'll get the best value for the paper it is printed on.

Good Luck!

 

\well, that's another point of view, of course !

 

Aftermarket warranties designed to deny claims. They are also a type of insurance and carefully calculated to make issuer money.

Buying high-mileage car is not an issue, but buying neglected car is. If you can't find a car with a documented history, go with that one over one with low miles.

60K miles of neglect will do more harm than 120K of diligent ownership.

 

A well cared for XJ will go to the moon and back. 100 k miles is nothing to be even slightly concerned about. Evidence, both paper and the condition of the car, are far more important. Concentrate on one or two owner cars, from sellers who are clearly willing to invest in maintenance, good quality tyres etc, rather than a shiny five owner car on budget tyres that has been run on a shoestring.

 

Thanks for the responses all...and LOL, no I'm not a sucker,,,,but the warranty I was referring too comes highly recommended across a variety of sources...but I get your point, I typically wouldn't be concerned, but being this will be my first Jaguar and not being familiar with the quirks and my pulling transmission and engine days being long over, I looked at it as mostly insurance against catastrophic failure ....I'd hate to invest 20-25k in a vehicle and have it melt down beyond my capabilities, that would suck....

Another thing I've noticed is that pricing seems to be all across the board, no rhyme and reason to it...any advice on how to get a good price, not lowballing but fair...I read here on the forum that KBB is not a good source of info for pricing....

 

If you are deciding a warranty/service agreement to buy I'd ask the dealer you will be using what companies they will work with.

 

A detailed service history is important, but something like a failure of the air suspension system, transmission, or a/c can occur without any warning and be expensive. I do agree that higher mileages are not in themselves bad. There is a lot of scheduled maintenance that needs to be done between 90-100,000 miles. If there is documentation that it was done then that's a good deal. A car with 60-70,000 miles will be due for some work soon.

A car that sat for years or used infrequently is a worse bet. Original or second careful attentive owner would be the best source. As stated tires are a good indicator. Mismatched cheap tires indicate that the owner was not looking at the long term prospects of his car.

 

This tells me you are looking beyond your budget. Jaguar is... Jaguar. It is premium brand of average reliability. Modern Jaguars are not rolling disasters of bygone era, but they are not Toyota-reliable either. There will be fixes, some of them will be expensive. You have to plan for that in your purchasing budget. Save at least 10% of your purchasing budget for unexpected breakdowns in the first couple years of your ownership.

Spot-on. Some used car salespeople try to sell Jaguars as "exotic" and hugely markup these in search of a sucker. Stick to KBB prices, there is no reason to overpay for an old Jag.

 

My car has over 120k mi and if I decide to sell it the new owner will be very happy as it is well taken care of, driven to the symphony/opera 2x a month and waxed/detailed 1x a month.

So it's really about the owner and service history not the mileage.

 

Thank you for the info, but let me be clear...when I say I don't want to spend 20-25k on a car and have to drop a load of money into it....it's not because of budget concerns..what I mean, is that I've read a couple of stories on this forum one of which where someone bought a Jaguar, it melted down and they were looking at 30k for a new engine....if Jaguar owners feel that dropping 30k on a new engine after paying 20-25 for the car is normal and par for the course...then yea you're right a Jaguar is probably not for me...not looking for Toyota reliability, but also not looking for trash

 

When I first read your post #1, my immediate thoughts were it depends on how much you can/want to do yourself.

Warranty or no warranty? It doesn't bother me because I enjoy doing my own maintenance and repairs. If I didn't, I would definitely want a warranty.

When I buy a used vehicle, the worst case scenario is an engine or transmission failure. Experience over the years with Jaguar tells me rebuilding an engine doesn't make economic sense because the cost for a specialist to do this will approach or surpass the value of the vehicle and even DIY, the parts costs are very high. Statistically, transmission failures are more common than engine failures but rebuilds are less costly.

That being said, 21st century Jaguars are very different from their 1970/80's predecessors. Reliability and longevity are now in a different league.

High mileage on a used Jaguar never worries me. Indeed, as many members will testify, regularly used examples are far less prone to niggling faults than weekend specials.

The crucial consideration is provenance - a detailed and complete service and repairs history preferably with supporting bills.

However, be in no doubt. If you don't want to do ANY work on the vehicle, it is going to be expensive to run.

Graham

 

Such outcomes are not normal and are very uncommon. There are no known fatal flaws (e.g. BMW nikasil issue) with AJ engines. The two issues that show up with some frequency are brittle plastic piping leading to coolant leaks and supercharger coupler resulting in idle-speed rattles.

Also, unlike BMW and Audi, direct injection did not cause excessive intake sludge. Also, blow-by and ring issues are very uncommon despite using 0W20 oil.

However, if you happen to buy a used Jag that is still running original factory engine oil, then all bets are off. These Direct Injection engines with oil-pressure controlled timing are very sensitive to old oil. So don't buy a car unless you or trusted shop inspects it first.

 

Personally, I wouldn’t buy a aftermarket warranty. But if your car comes with factory warranty it couldn’t hurt.
in my experience, I purchased my XJL wrong as it had no service records and I didn’t have it checked out by an experienced jaguar mechanic. I’ve gone through some what of a nightmare trying to get my car right and it’s been very expensive to fix after a previous owner must have never maintained the vehicle. I originally purchased my XJL for 15k hoping for a few minor repairs but 2 months later I’ve spent $6300 in repairs to front suspension parts and I’m still not completely done. Honestly I wish I would have just spent $20k to get a XJ that had a pile of service records. Live and learn. I still love the car, but don’t get it wrong these cars are expensive and you’ll need to do research first to find out how well the car was maintained.

 

Mcmism, I am like you but 5 months in the future. I’ve had my XJ for 7 months and spent even more than you having stuff done at my independent shop. I would suggest not spending much more on suspension (I did the same as you). Save your repair money for engine and supercharger if you have one.

Other big costs are timing chain and tensioners, fuel injectors, spark plugs, changing all fluids, supercharger isolator (if you have one), water pump, coolant tubing cracking, brakes, bent rims... and so on. If you spend all your money on suspension, you will be very upset when you go to tackle these other services and are already in a financial hole.

The other inevitable is that we have to do more work ourselves. Either that or keep a mechanic on retainer. Most people on these forums are under warranty or do the work themselves. I’ve found that trying to be in between these two options is not a good idea.

I agree that we should have purchased a car with a thicker service record history. Better yet is buy a newer one under warranty. I would buy a 2015 under warranty if I had to do it again as a lot of the dumb stuff was figured out by then.

Anyway, at least you know there is one other person who is as crazy as you on these forums.

All the best

 

Good to know I’m not alone... unfortunately 10 minutes after posting to this thread I ended up stranded with the car. I believe it’s the starter. Can’t find the starter location yet but maybe I shouldn’t even be working on the car in the mood I’m in after having to tow the car to my shop. This car is really starting to kick my but.

edit: I found the starter pretty easy (it’s on the passenger side and accessed my removing the passenger wheel and a rubber shroud that is around the ti rod boot. Easy replacement but the starter is $400 plus the tow of $160 not the end of the world but It’s another unexpected challenge.