I'm looking at a clean 2004 xj8 for everyday with approx 84k miles on it . It does not have air suspension and the dealer is telling me that some came from factory with standard suspension ? I can't seem to find any information referencing oem non air suspension . Thanks

 

Jaguar originally intended the air suspension to only be available on the higher-priced versions or as an option, but in the end, all cars came with air suspension. Your dealer is misinformed. There are several suppliers of the steel coil replacements, the earliest in the field was Arnott, but there are others. If the car drives well, and has been looked after, then go for it. Air or steel coil suspension there are still the same short life suspension bushes, but there's not much you can do about that. It's just another job to be done when the time comes. A 2004 will have had replacements done, so try to find out when.

 

Your dealer is a liar-what else is he lying about?

 

yeah, that's what I'm concerned about also. . .plus the car seems to sit very high I'm the back. Think I'm just going to pass on it

 

That sounds like really low mileage. Maybe the guy at the dealership doesn't know that much about 18 yo jags. I don't know where you live or how much the car is, but I'd be looking at it closely before passing. Some people consider the shock conversion an upgrade. At least it's one less complex system to worry about. My shocks say Arnott on them. I'm sure you can find threads where other owners either love or hate the conversion...I've seen mostly love.

 

I can most likely get the car for 7500, it seems to be sitting alittle high

 

7500 seems to be siting a little high, too, for an '04. Although 84K is pretty low for that age...

Try to see what brand the struts are, and see if they have some age on them or maybe just recently got done. Are the springs still shiny? I'm saying that because the coilover sets do sit high for a while when installed.

 

My '04 with 80k miles also came with replacement Arnott shocks and it too is sitting higher than it technically should. The Armotts are supposed to settle but mine haven't. See my recent post on "Arnott Spring Ride Height".

 

Look underneath, at the steel portions of the frame for rust.
Salt has its rust causing effects there.
My 07 was ten years old when purchased.
Five of them spent in Ohio, five in Fla, rust was much worse than the 04
Twelve years old when was purchased, but it was from the Carolinas.
Everything unbolted pretty easily, the newer one fought me every step of the way.

 

I purchased my 04 with about 84,000 miles on it almost 5 years ago and put coilovers (Arnott) on it in June of 2019. I have not put many miles on the car since I purchased it and would say my only complaint with the conversion is that in just about 2 years it has lost the "comfort" portion of the conversion. I am just over 97,000 miles now and I can tell the difference in the ride. My son still thinks it is fine but I know how it was. I do like the security of knowing it will not be sitting on the stops in the morning and it handles fine. However the ride is not nearly as soft around town as it was. I may have the shocks rebuilt one day because I miss the ride. My car did sit a little high when I changed them out but it settled down within a few weeks. I cannot say I love the swap but it has been reliable. If you do a complete refurbish of the stock system a may cost a little more than the swap. But if you have the money and time to do all 4 shocks and rebuild the compressor, replace the sensors and refurbish/check all the lines and components in the trunk (to get back to "like new in 2004" condition) it may well be worth it. Of course some would say just get a newer car. unless like me you like doing things the hard way. You know 2 steps forward, 3 steps back.