FireHawkMike - I would go for it, assuming your Grandad sells you the car at the "right" price.

For heavens sake, 52k miles is nothing nowadays !! Our UK Jaguar Enthusiasts Club magazine editor has a V8 well past 100k without too many problems. The after-market are now well into supplying parts that Jaguar seem to think demand bars of gold to purchase, so the costs are coming reasonable now the rich have departed to the new 2011 model.

I assume that your Grandad maintained the car properly and did not neglect anything, if so, it will be a good buy. There should be a full service history and invoices to match.

I have had my 3 litre since May, and have put nearly 9k on it, not much different to your 25k a year. Only thing is the consumables like tyres; you will probably have to buy Chinese if you find the big names too much. Also if it has Brembo brakes, take good care of them as Brembo parts are very expensive.

Be aware that there have been some cosmetic corrosion problems with these cars. It is not a structural issue, and should be dealt with under warranty, so ask your Grandfather about this issue, as the car is old enough for them to appear.

Also check the recall actions have been done: -

Gearbox control re-prgram
Rear brake lines check for corrosion in a particular spot

 

Fraser, the car will cost m 18k which is what the dealer is giving him on trade.

I looked through his service history yesterday and he really ha kept things up to date. I will have the dealer confirm all recalls ro TSBs have been done.

any thoughts?

 

Hi Firehawkmike

Any Jaguar Main Agent should be able to access the Jaguar computer record for your car given the VIN. I did this with my car shortly after I had bought it from a small used-car dealer. It gave me comfort the two recalls I had heard about had been done.

 

LOL

I came from a Lexus, and having participated on those boards, it makes me laugh reading your comment. On the Lexus board, it would've been, "150k miles is nothing these days, one guy on here has 300k miles with no problems!"

I love my Jag, but it's already in the shop for a bad thermostat (next time I'll do it myself, but I was in a time crunch).

 

I'm used to high mileage cars, had a bunch of old GM v8 cars that I ran over 150k and up. Never tried it with a british car.

 

Update, I'm supposed to sign the paperwork to wrap this up today, and now thinking on snow tires. can I get a set of regular 18" XJ8 rims for snow tires, or will they not fit with the brembo brakes? anyone know where I can get a cheap 2nd set of rims? I have some salvage industry connections.

 

Post some pics when you can. Hope all works out with the new ride.

 

will do, once I Take some better ones and figure out how. I have a lot of learning to do with all these fancy electroncis.

Trying to decide if I will be ok for winter witht he Perelli P6's on the car or go for dedicated snowtires on 18" rims.

 

Air suspension fault has come on, it's going into dealer monday. also, does parkign brake automatically set itself and I have to release before driving or is this a sign of something?

 

Parking brake releases automatically when you go into reverse/drive. Can't remember if it goes on automatically when you put it in park.

Air suspension fault? You better be prepared to shell out at least $2000 at the dealer!

 

The select edition warrenty is still good through june 2011, is the suspension excluded under that?

 

It should be covered. I'm not 100% sure if air shocks are covered, though. Should be covered if it's the compressor.

 

Hopefully whatever it is will be covered under the warrenty, not wait until after it expires to fail fully.

 

Parking brake sets when you remove the key.

 

Mictch, thanks for clearing up that confussion. this car has way more features then i'm used to.

 

You're welcome. And I agree, more features in some areas, but not enough in others (AUX IN for MP3 players, for example)...

 

Hahaha, so true. Unfortunately on paper, it looks like it has no features at all.

 

this one does have an ipod hookup, sirius radio and cd chnager so i'm actually quite satisfied.

 

These cars were made to run. Take it up in the power band now and then. Enjoy it!