A friend of mine is selling his 2012 XJL with 17900 miles on it. Garage kept, upgraded chrome wheels. Don't think it's ever been out in the rain. Black exterior and interior.
He wants 28k for it. I've never had a Jaguar. Of course it's gorgeous.
Is this a no brainer?
Is this vehicle user service friendly?
Any reason not to buy it?
Test drive is on Saturday.
Vin SAJWA2GB2CLV26242

 

It's a portfolio model.

 

Not a bad price for what you are describing. I have a 2012 base model and love it. The 2 things that I can think of that you will want to atleast know about is:

1) snapping sun roof. This seems to be a problem especially with the 2011's, but can be with this one. Find a bumpy road and drive it to test out the suspension. If you have any noises coming from above you, that will be the sound of the sunroof popping. Not necessarily an issue, but for a car of this caliber, it is one of the annoyances

2) look at the water pump for signs of leakage and also ask your friend if he ever had to replace the water pump. If there is an Achilles heal to this car, it is that. Fairly simple to replace, a little on the pricy side when you consider it is only a water pump. There are lots of write ups here with the parts list to upgrade to the better water pump.

Some of the other annoyances that people have mentioned.

1) The big one is the blind spot monitoring. It is not uncommon to have one of your sensors have an issue which will give you a "sensor blocked" message. Not a big deal. 15 minutes of driving and it clears on its own normally. From what I have read, it appears that the frequency of the sensor is similar to other motion sensing devices out there and if you pass too many of them, it will cause the sensor to get confused.

2) for the cost of this car, the system does not tell you the tire pressure. It will only tell you which tire is low.

3) the nav system could be better. Most call it on the slow side and the issue that I have with it is I don't like to know when every exit is coming up and when I turn it off, after a little bit of city driving, it turns itself back on. I have not figured out how to keep it off long term during a single drive.

4) owning the car, you will learn to lock the car every time you exit, even if you are parking it in the garage that is locked. By locking the doors, it tells the car to "go to sleep". This will have the car power down everything it can. Otherwise, the car seems to keep other systems up and running and if you don't drive the car every day, you may find that the battery will be dead after a few days if you don't keep the car on a battery tender.

5) the car will remind you that you need service. The only way to turn it off is to get a special device to put into the OBD port to turn it off. They start at about $100 and go up from there. MOst of us just ignore the "service required" message and keep track of it ourselves. It will come on atleast once a year for the annual maintenance you should do.

Overall, I love my car. I do all of my own work and so far, it hasn't had anything that was too difficult. So, if you know your way around cars, this will be no big issue.

 

Thanks for all of the information. I have some questions to ask my buddy. I have read briefly about Jaguars needing a special motor oil. What's been your experience?
BTW it also comes with the factory wheels and tires.

 

I think it is overpriced. You can get a 14 for that with the same mileage. Probably no more than $20k for a 2012. He would have trouble getting $20k if he put it on the market.

Motor oil is not really "special" just hard to find the 925a spec. Castroil makes it and I think one other maker. Around $15/quart but they specify 15k miles between changes.

 

Headnsouth, I will let you make up your own mind on this one. Yes, Jaguar specified a type of motor oil that ends in 925A (don't have the whole number in front of me). They then put out a memo that says that you can also use 928A (as I recall, would need to check a TSB I have at home for the exact number).

The issue is, the 925A spec is a Jaguar specific spec. So, for a company to say that their oil meets the Jaguar spec, they would have to pay for a lot of testing to say that it did. If you check most Castrol oils (the manufacturer that makes the oil that Jaguar uses), they don't even list that spec on their bottles (only on the ones that they give to the dealership to sell). So, in short, you are not going to really find any that will say that they meet that spec. Now, you will find those that will say that they meet the 928A spec since that is more of a Ford related spec (as I recall).

As for the oil that I use, I tend to stick with a brand name (Quaker, Valvoline, Mobil 1) and get the full synthetic 5W-20 oil. Been running this oil for 50K miles and no negative effects. Now, the oil does meet the 928A spec, but doesn't mention the 925A spec. Granted, I guess I am paranoid about oil and i change the oil and filter every 7500 miles.

OH, this reminds me about something. If you do get the car, spend the extra money and get yourself and oil vacuum pump. I know you think that I am nuts, but there is no access to drain the oil out the bottom of the car. So, you either have to spend a half hour removing the plate on the bottom of the car (not hard, just 10 bolts to remove) or you can spend the $100 on the pump and attach the pump to a little tube that is inside the fill cap for the oil. You can do an entire oil change on the car in about 20 minutes (as long as the oil is warm) and never use anything more than maybe a oil filter wrench to get the cap off the oil filter (it is a cartridge style filter). I use the pump and put it straight into a 5 gallon gas can. After 3 oil changes, I take the oil to the recycle place.

 

The only thing I can add would be the brakes. Some owners have complained of them wearing out fast. The thread starter was at the same mileage yours is.

Enjoy the drive.

 

Thermo, thanks again for the great information and the heads up on the oil changes. I currently use Mobil 1 in all of my vehicles.
Japgate, really overpriced? I searched all over for comparable vehicles and my price is a hair over what dealers in my area is willing to pay.

 

It is more than he would get selling it himself. So in essence, he is taking advantage of your friendship to make an extra $8k.

A dealer is not going to buy a car like that unless they see $5-$10k profit in it. There is NO WAY a dealer would pay that much for that car. They would pay well under $20k for it. My guess is $15k from a dealer. The dealer would list that car for around $30k and take $25k.

Can he get $28k? Maybe? Probably not.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sac...guar+xj&_sop=3

 

So KBB prices are not accurate?
I looked at some of the XJL on ebay. All had more miles and one had an engine trans swap.
My buddy went to 3 different dealers and they were all similar in price.

 

Yes, i am saying kbb prices are inaccurate.

Are you saying a dealer offered him close to $28k for a 2012 XJ? Or they were selling a 2012 XJ for $28k. The 2nd I can believe. The 1st is a bald-faced lie.

 

So KBB prices are not accurate?
I looked at some of the XJL on ebay. All had more miles and one had an engine trans swap.
My buddy went to 3 different dealers and they were all similar in price.

 

I agree with JagGate that kbb prices are not accurate. Why? Because the Jaguar XJ is not a mass market car and there's not enough data to have statistically accurate prices as compared to a Toyota Camry.

But what does that matter? You love it and want it, so here's your bottom line:

 

Thanks for clarifying the stance on KBB.
I'm shocked at the depreciation of these vehicles.

 

FWIW most auto insurance companies use NADA values for vehicle value. Another question is the seller has had the XJ for 6 years with low mileage and as such I would want to know if the maintenances were performed on a time basis as opposed to mileage?

 

I have to say I would be reluctant to buy a car off a friend. Too much a hostage to fortune if it doesn't work out well. Most private owners seem to look at what a car is selling for at the dealers and think they'll get the same. No, they won't because if your car goes belly-up what comeback have you with your friend ?

So stay friends and buy a warranted car from a dealer OR pay somewhat less and buy a warranty with the difference.

 

According to NADA here are the values for this XJ which is a base XJL that all were Portfolio.
Clean Trade-In
Base Price $19,575
Mileage (18,000) $9,787
Total Base $29,362
Options N/A
$29,362

Clean Retail
Base Price $23,450
Mileage (18,000) $9,787
Total Base $33,237
Options N/A
$33,237

So the seller is not out of line according to NADA, but my concern is maintenance