I am relocating from NZ back home to the US and intend on replacing the XJ6 in my signature with a slightly newer XJ8 in the US.

Being curious, I had a look at other luxobarges (Audi 6/7/8, BMW 5/7, Chrysler 300, Hyundai Equus). I researched their price, maintenance, costs, and features.

I can't help but come to the conclusion that the x350 is the best value on the market.

-The purchase prices for a decently kept (ie a carfax service record showing proper intervals at a dealer or indy versus sporadically at Jiffy Lube) x350 are $10k-17k.
-It's a Jag - the most refined interior on the market.

But the real shocker seems relative maintenance costs. Correct me if I'm wrong here. When a mid-late 2000s BMW or Audi owner (of the larger models) is given a "horror story" major repair repair bill, it's $5,000+ for something not seemingly catastrophic like seeping gaskets on a BMW 7. On this forum, your horror stories seem to be $2,000 or $2,500. Regular maintenance for us (from what's I've seen) $100 for a simple oil change to about $1000 if various consumables need replacement. Cheaper aftermarket parts or compatible Ford/Lincoln substitutes also seem to keep our costs down, to the point where (and it seems) a Jag isn't much more expensive than a domestic plastic-interior'ed faux-luxe land-yacht out of Detroit.

Also of note, Mechanically Ignorant me can look under the hood, get a grip on what I am looking at stick my hand in there, and examine something. That was impossible on my Audi. Jags seem more DIY friendly than the Germans.

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

Just get the 4.2L and avoid the early 4.0L V-8's.
.
.
.

 

Well you are on a Jaguar forum so you are going to get biased feedback. Pose your horror story premise on an Audi forum for some different perspective.

I've owned Jags for years and have no fear of ownership.

I set aside $1500/ year for maintenance on my cars. I do my own work with few exceptions. On balance, I stay under budget. A year where I buy tires on one car will probably cause me to go over but generally year over year, I'm under.

You can find 04 x350's under $3000 if your patient, but those will usually require some investment to get up to par depending on your version of par.

Good luck and welcome back to the States.

 

The horror stories were sourced directly from Audi and BMW forums, actually. I heavily discount "My friend's dad's barber's wife's Audi TT..." sort of anecdotes.

I am looking more at $11-16k 06-08 examples. I am in a position to afford that, insurance, plus maintenance. I am not terrifically interested in the sub 8-9k examples (which often have significant cosmetic issues, very high miles, spotty service records). At $11-16k today, the cars were worthwhile enough for the owners to service them properly. I am also going to be using the car as a DD for some time, so I'd prefer to be the one to take it to 150k miles (from 60-85k) rather than someone else.

My thinking.

 

You should find plenty of well cared for X350 in that price range. Like me, it sounds like having full service records is a priority for you. I'm sure you'll enjoy the search too. Is your search going to be national or local to one area.

 

I am searching LA, Phoenix, and southern Florida. Searching nationally would be fun, but impractical given the amount of baggage I have with me (proximity to a convenient and price-competitive airport means a lot) and time I want to spend. My eye is currently on this old fellow. If it goes before I get to LA, I will be moderately P O'ed.

 

Nice looking car! You may want to hold out for one that has the large LCD touchscreen. This would give you:
Much better phone interface
Better audio features/functions
Better radio features
Easier Climate control functions
Nav (so,so)
Various vehicle settings
Volume presets
ECT
These may make the difference between a car you love, and a car you love to drive. You have choose the best of the XJ's ever (X350)
By the way, you are in a great area for a used XJ. Nobody in areas of LA, and Beverly Hills wants a USED Jaguar, but us. Many of them are bought new and are a short lived status symbol. Lucky for us.

 

If I find a mechanically sound x350 with any navigation, it will be a significant upgrade from my current 04.

Yeah, I've noticed that the jag inventory in LA is much more stable than in Florida. I am heading to the East Coast to look for work, so if I find a car in LA, I will drive it to Florida, base myself there with grandparents, and probably do a trip or two to DC and Long Island, NY before mid-March. So Jag II will have some real work to do...

Edit: Any thoughts on this '08 XJ8 L? I am tempted by an '08 (even though I'd miss the kitty on the bonnet/hood), but the door ding and leather issues are off-putting. Could they b fixed economically?

 

What can be a nuisance is the suspension bushes wearing out rather earlier than one would normally expect. From what I have seen, this is the one item that can cost the X350 owner money that the other makes don't suffer from quite so much, although I may be wrong. The cost of suspension parts used to be quite high, but has come down since I bought my car in 2010. Even Bilstein are selling replacement air struts for a not-too-bad price, plus there are the Arnott units, and if one wants to, coil-spring strut replacements.

My car is now on 103k miles and if I add up the bills over the five years, it seems to add up to a lot. So do I buy an X351, the current model ? Well, then I may get less spend on maintenance and repairs, but suffer the hit of depreciation. My car cost me £10k, and is now worth, (I hope) about £4k, so I've lost £6k. If I buy a much newer X351, say 4 years old, I still have uncertainty on repairs and a large depreciation bill. The trouble with depreciation is it's not paid every few months, it is the silent bill that only comes in when you want to sell.

 

That's one of my favorite color combinations on the 07, but I can tell you that the "platinum" color on our 06 SV8 is nice too and does not show dust and road dirt like a darker color.


The 08 looks nice and a paintless dent repair guy can probably take care of the door ding at a reasonable cost if it is not through the paint. Whoever wrote "There's nothing like looking out on this XJ8's hood to see the sprinting Jaguar emblem leading the way," must have been describing another car, though.

I looked for a year and a half for an 05 to 07 long wheel base and ended up with a high mileage, well used Super V8 with all the bells and whistles except Jaguar Voice and television. We've come to be spoiled by the heated seats, adaptive cruise control, parking assist, and built in navigation - all things I considered superfluous until we had them. I've had to buy a few missing parts and replace engine and transmission mounts, but so far I have about $8K in it including the cost of travel to pick it up and the taxes to register it.

I didn't particularly want the Supercharger but I figured on a car of this age the prices for the top of the line and the base are not that different so why not go for all the goodies? The best part is that now that it doesn't growl on acceleration, momma is happy to have the newest cat in the stable and her churchy lady friends revel in the electrically adjusted and heated rear seat luxury. And with a few small door dings of its own, I don't have to worry about her getting that first scratch.

 

I had all my dings fixed by a good paintless repair guy,very cheap. No paint was missing on the dings, so you dont even know were they were.

 

The easiest way to fix the seat would be to swap with a good one from a breaker, unfortunately plenty are available for 03-07, but not 08 as they changed the seat design. Maybe you could take the bottom leather off a spare 04-07 seat and swap over?

Now wheres the fun in that

 

then there's this beauty from one of our own forum members:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/p...-miles-142478/

 

Another in my neck of the woods. Dealership has a good reputation. No affiliation with them.

2006 Jaguar XJ

 

The 08 does in fact have the leaper on the hood, at least U.S. models do. Mine certainly has it.

 

I would look in San Diego, Palm Springs and Orange County. Of course L.A. is ok as is Scottsdale. If you haven't been to L.A. lately remember there is no such thing as "freeway" miles on cars there, since most freeways are so congested you cant use the cruise control, it's stop and go all the time.

If you find a really clean car with low miles and a good service records/ car fax buy it. I lost two good cars because I waited a week or so to do all of my research. The market here in CA seems to be good for these cars even in that price range 10k-17k.

 

Respectfully, I don't agree with Mark above. IMHO, the one you're looking at without NAV/touchscreen allows you the ability to upgrade the entire stereo system at relatively lower cost to a more modern setup. Those of us wiht Nav/Touchscreen have to cobble together something that resembles modern:
* BT phone that only allows one phone to be paired
* BT streaming only through the VenBox - thank god for the Venbox
* outdated maps with overpriced updates
* lack of video attach/stream to my smartphone (useful for Google Maps, for example)

The nav/touchscreen/D2B system really works well and sounds great, but it is limited by today's standards.

In the grand scheme of things, the above is a bit of a nit. I'm completely in love with my Jag, but unfortunately, so is my wife as she commandeers it most days and leave me to the minivan.

 

The search is driving me half mad.

Updates:

-For a moment, I was considering an Audi A6 of 2006-08 vintage, but the carbon cleaning ($1500 every 25-50k miles) and US maintenance costs estimated at circa $2k/annum (figure pulled from Audizine forums) are outrageous for what the car is. I say this as having owned an '04 A6.

On the Jags

-Stock doesn't seem to be great. The x350s across the country moved into indy dealer territory where most of the description is dedicated to informing you of your many great options as a no-license, bad credit, low income buyer.

-My interest to traipse around the US is limited, as I will be literally travelling with every worldly possession/document I have (4 bags + backpack).

-Even the better stock is falling victim to 2nd/3rd owner syndrome: lux-on-the-cheap carfax service records reflecting increasing maintenance intervals at non-dealer/non Jag indy shops. I am suspicious of servicing at Pep Boys/Quik Lube/whatever (then again my friend here swears by the skills of a Canadian chap at a Midas shop down here in Auckland).

-Given that I am most likely going to be an out-of-state buyer, I am not particularly interested in private sales due to the admin complications and waiting at the DMV.


I am extremely tempted to leave the jags aside and buy a decent late-ish (2011-12) model mustang with a favourable PPI report..

 

Big difference in ride quality and style...

 

Yeah, even I am a bit confused by the logic behind my divergent tastes.

Fortunately, I've come back to the light. I've found a Jag in absolutely immaculate condition, low mileage, and a completely unimpeachable service record (annual service + key repairs done recently). The catch is that's a 2003 x308. I am going to put in a deposit/hold on it Monday morning.