And just to clarify - I am still on the original air springs, but with a new compressor since Oct 2010.

Today went out and about into the Wirral, up opposite Liverpool on the other side of the Mersey. We have almost no snow here in Crewe, yet they had a load there, it was piled up where the ploughs had dumped it. Now car is white with salt spray, and I just had it washed four days ago ! Oh well.......

 

Look for an 05 also, the 04 being the first year for the x350, took alot of the initial mistakes for the model. On mine (only had it for 7 months now, daily driver) I've replaced both HID ballasts when they were flickering on me, put new brake pads on it, and it wasn't even 'needing' those, i just wanted those dust generating OEM pads off! I did recently get my first CEL for a small evaporative emissions leak. I've fixed that on the xk8, so I'm not worried about it on this XJ.

As for your tan vs black, the darker color hides surface wear over the last 7 years a little better, but if you find a cream puff in the tan (ivory in mine) they look really good! And don't be afraid to consider the XJR or a superv8 either, its perceived that the supercharged version really blows on mileage, but its almost identical at highway speeds, and only really gets you into trouble around town. I average over 22 in combined driving, which is a shade better than my xk8 with the same 4.2 engine (albeit N/A) and ZF 6spd transmission. The aluminum body is what really helps it achieve such good mileage numbers.