Hi all,
I usually post in the X308 forum since I have a 98 XJR. I'm looking at adding an 05 XJR to my collection as my driver. I looked at one today that is below market value because frankly the dealer took it in on trade and doesn't know what to do with it. It has 90k miles on it and was a garage queen. Paint is nearly flawless and the interior shows minimal signs of wear with the exception of somehow the driver's side speaker grill in the dash was broken. I looked under the hood and couldn't find any leaks or oil residue. Car drove well except I think it's time to replace the rotors and pads. If anything like my 98, they are a total breeze. Car is fully loaded including the dvd player. Any other things I should be aware of before I drop the hammer?

 

At 90k there are several maintenance items that should have or should be taken care of. More than several actually.

Have you access to maintenance records and or a Carfax? If dealer maintained Carfx might have been updated to reflect what has been done.

All fluids should have been changed although a dealer probably would not have done the transmission so that should be done as well as the SC oil.

All bushings in the suspension should have been changed by now and so on. On a test drive any clunks or rattles?

I was able to get a good deal with the non Jaguar dealer on my purchase which did include all brake pads. He did ruin the lug nuts which had to be ground out
by another garage at his expense.

 

Buy an OBD reader and see what codes are stored. Its worth getting one specific to Jaguar/Landrover to get all of the codes. Make sure the car height is normal before starting her up to see if there are any air suspension leaks. Maintenance records are very important. Also check that all gear shifts are smooth. Rough upshifts and downshifts are a bad sign. Check the headliner isn't drooping at the rear. Other than transmission, most fixes are relatively easy and inexpensive. If you can buy her for less than 10K and all checks out its worth the gamble
Steve

 

Picking her up next week for $8k. Car has no squeaks or rattles, ride height is correct and drives great. It definitely has a different note than my 98. Will see about getting the exhaust retrofitted immediately as I noticed a remarkable difference in performance in my 98 by doing that.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sounds like a reasonable price. Dealers other than Jaguar seem to have some trouble selling them, with their terrible past reputation of electrical issues, from the Lucas (prince of darkness) days.

Ten cents on the dollar is often what they can be had for.

My 07 V D P had 97,000 miles, bought for $8,149, $9,000 out the door, in Dec of 2017.

List was almost $80,000, when new, before dealers add on's, of tax delivery etc.

 

So I got the dealer to come down from $8900 to $8000. I'm picking up the car next week. Pretty excited as it's a solid car and very clean.

 

The new baby

 

"I looked at one today that is below market value because frankly the dealer took it in on trade and doesn't know what to do with it.


Why doesn't the dealer know what to do with it? He sure knew what to charge for it. If the car was in that good shape, then why was it traded in? These are some of the questions that you have to ask yourself, but you'll never get much information in that regard from the dealer. One thing that you have to also bear in mind is that a dealership is the favorite conduit for laundering used vehicles with expensive service issues. In these times, people do not unload used vehicles because they're working. As usual, it's always the buyer beware.

 

My experience with these cars is that normal (but rather too quick wearing), replacement suspension items can end up costing the owner quite a lot of money, and with, (it seems), no yearly roadworthiness test in the US like we have in the UK, (the "MOT test"), various suspension wear issues can build up and up over the years, until the owner gets an estimate following a service, and nearly has a heart attack. The car is then quickly sold on. I took my first X350 from 30k to 115k miles and had to spend money over the years, but fortunately not all at once ! Now my 2nd X350, actually an X358 has been taken from 54k to now 81k miles and I have had to spend not as much as I thought I might have to. Having said that there are one or two potential jobs building up. Technician has told me they will not fail an MOT but eventually will, and I am OK for quite a bit yet. Nice to know as next week it is in for a non-working driver seat heater. Main thing is to not buy a car with any fault messages or fault lights.

 

DIY on these cars is well within the reasonably competent person's ability and that can save a heck of a lot of money.

Same applies to where you buy spare parts.

I realize however many people do not have the time or space to do more than the very simple things themselves.

 

I service all my own vehicles and am not in the dark when looking at cars. I check a lot of items that the typical buyer may not. The car was traded in at a Dodge dealer for a Dodge Hellcat. One owner car, garage kept and driven less tan 6000 miles a year. Full documentation of service and warranty work came with the car. The dealer's general manager whom I dealt with was very up front and said "listen, I don't know anything about these cars and we got a good deal at trade in on it so we are selling it for a little above trade in costs. We didn't really have to do anything to it for prep aside from our 140 point inspection." Someone already had all the shock bushings replaced as they look new. This car was well taken care of so I am not worried in the least about it. My 98 sat for 2 years in the baking sun before I bought it and before that it was a corporate car that got beat down good. I have gone through a lot of items on that car and it is a great driver. This will be my daily driver as the 98 is now special since it was the last of the hand built cars (according to my local Jaguar dealer).

 

Sounds like you got a good deal on this. What I found is that reliability is top-notch, but durability of some parts is below what one would expect. This tends to be in the suspension bush area, and also with the V8s thermostat housing, and coolant header tank, (this latter also applies to my V6). The real issue is that whilst bushes can be replaced, Jaguar main agents and a lot of specialist shops don't do this, they just swap out the assembly. This may seem much more expensive at first glance than swapping out a bush, but if the labour charge to do the bush swap is added in, the final difference is not all that great. Of course with DIY, it is well worth the extra effort only swapping bushes. You must be careful on the rear lower wishbones if you do this, because they are aluminium castings, not forgings, and you could crack the casting. Basically make sure the assembly is heated up a bit (like to 100C), so the aluminium expands and doesn't grip the bush so much, and also making mandrels of the correct size. Spatchcocking jobs like this can end in tears.

 

+1 on the above. Also put bushings in freezer before pressing in.