Hi all-

2004 Jaguar XJR with 50k miles. The car starts, sputters, then runs poorly. Computer states Performance Restricted.

I have not seen the car in person, but suspect this may be a common problem. I am thinking of buying is sight unseen for 2k, it is really clean.

 

at that price go for it no matter the circumstances don’t ask questions

 

That's what I thought also.

 

Could be a lot of things. Ignition coils comes to mind. Plugged fuel filter, could be old gas. 2005 model driven 3K a yeAr. Has sat a lot.
Buy it, and either find a honest indie or get a scanner and-start on your own getting it back in shape. Buy a new battery if one in it is not recent. Look at tires, may be originals.

 

I would buy it too. Worst case scenario you could always sell the parts to get your money back. But sputter and rough running could be as others have said - bad gas, clogged fuel filter, coils or spark plugs, throttle body, throttle body position sensor, VVT's, vacuum leak, injectors, injector wires, loose grounds, water damages ECU, rats, squirrels (they love to eat wires) etc. Get a decent code reader if you don't have one and start narrowing it down. Just make sure you have a fully charged battery first. But 2k, absolutely. And if engine is shot (which I doubt probably just neglected) dare I say, drop in a ls6 and bolt on a big turbo for kicks.

 

If you have the space to part it out the financial risk is pretty low as others have stated, but once you have it you'll want to do a thorough assessment before digging into it. For example, you don't want to R&R the engine only to then realize the ECU is fried. If there were a way to get the CEL codes you would have a bit better idea of the risk ahead of you, though again 1). $2k is a pretty low risk point, and 2) CEL codes will not necessarily tell the full picture (I once blew up a Subaru 2.0 engine block and the only error code was 'CAM position sensor malfunction'. There was a hole from inside the cylinder all the way to the outer water jacket...).
Also, keep in mind that at that age the rubber hoses will be in various stages of decay, and the cost of new rubber approaches $1,000 pretty quickly, but you don't necessarily have to swap out all at once. The ATF cooler lines are also things that don't age well.
If you get it, document your progress for us, it'll be neat to see how this turns out. Good luck, it's quite rewarding to bring a dead car back to life.