Hi Bill,
I was set on a XJR but found few to choose from in my area so settled on a low mileage 04 XJ8.
Looking at the service history on mine it had some exectical quirks which popped up in the first 3 months of ownership, since then, (touch wood), it has been as good as gold.
I never heard any issues with paint or corrosion ( it is all ally), and the paint is about as good as it gets.
I guess the later model you can afford to buy the better, again its all about the price.Have you driven the regular 8 versus the super,. cuz even the standard car will lift up her skirt and move pretty well for a big old girl.
Good luck in your search.
I would also pay a few hundred to have a dealer go over it , then at least you know what you are getting into somewhat, and if faults pop up take it off the asking price if you still love it. It is hard with these cars to be totally logical at time of purchase, they can seduce you ...but there are always other cars.I would say you may want to be a little more flexible in ,models and colours.

 

Bill,

I just bought a 2004 about 3 weeks ago. Found it in AZ with under 50k on the clock. It came with all the service records from the dealer since it was new. Dealer even did all the oil changes and filters. It's a beautiful black with the black and white interior. I haven't seen many with that combo. Paid 18500.00, going to be lots of fun for that price. I plan on this being a weekend car for fun when the weather is nice, otherwise it's garage art!!
Anyway, I flew down and drove it back home about 650 miles, a terrific road trip.
Hope you find what you like and enjoy it. This is my 3rd Jag and I really love this XJR, a first for me.

 

If you're going to drive on snow, you really do need the winter tyres. A Jaguar is not a 4x4 vehicle and is designed for use on tarmac. Here in the UK we drive on clear, but salty roads in winter, and that causes problems, believe me !

There have been some cosmetic corrosion issues on the earlier cars, but nothing serious affecting the integrity of the vehicle. One common place is the leading edge of the trunk lid, where there is a lip on the lower seal of the rear screen and the trunk lid front edge wipes on this each time it opens and closes. Now as rain washes down it washes down grit which then sits on the seal, and every time you open the trunk the grit grinds a bit of paint off, until water (usually salty) gets to the aluminium on the underside and corrosion starts creeping under the paint until it appears as bubbling on the top of the lid. A repaint is then needed. In my case, I cured the corrosion on my 2003, then got the paintshop to cut off this lip. No further problems, and I inspect it regularly.

Air suspension compressor is a common failure and not too expensive to replace, as there is now a service exchange scheme, at least there is with the UK Jaguar dealers.

I am not aware the MAF sensor is a common problem, but they are susceptible to gumming up of the butterfly, so need an ocasional clean-out.

Rear lower suspension arm joints are known failures and used to be very expensive to fix, but no longer, as there are now separate joints available, and also much cheaper arms from Jaguar suppliers, (like 50% cheaper !!). The only problematic suspension component is the front hub-carrier with its pressed-in lower ball-joint (identical to the S-type). Although the ball-joints are available separately, they are very difficult to press in without damaging the carrier; it is really a job for a specialised engineering company who have the right press, and who can turn up the correct dimension mandrels for the pressing process. At some point Jaguar redesigned this part, (year unknown), to remove the balljoint and put it on the lower wishbone arm thus curing the problem and also lowering the cost as the wishbone arms are an easier replace.