Folks, first off Merry Christmas to everyone! I am about ready to plunge into my second Jag, but I am really and suddenly getting cold feet. I would like to ask everyone their sincere and honest opinions. I have a wonderful XKR for which I still cherish very much. There is another beauty which I have a deposit on. It is a 2004 XJ Vanden Plas. It has over 70k miles and looks flawless inside and out. The previous owners 'appear' to have taken very great care of it. Monday though will come the official test drive! So my deep and sincere question(s) to you all is 1) Should I run away fast before I fall deeper in love with it? 2) Should I look for something in particular, before, during, and after my test drive? I hear horrid stories about the 2004 Air Shock problems or CATS. Wondering, what % of XJ's have had this problem? 3) May I ask you all how you really like your beauties overall? 4) Last, and curious, there is an authorized Jag sticker inside the door with handwriting stating 'A004 Elm. flash'. Any ideas or clues what that can ever mean? Again I VALUE your opinions, and thank you all for your thoughts and given advice!!

 

Merry Christmas!

You may have done this already....but here's what i do when buying..

Get the VIN and go to local dealer to get the service history. Look for warranty work that concerns you... ie air shocks..
Get the CarFax
Goto AutoTrader.com and review similars for market pricing.

Goodluck!!

 

Thanks for the advice. I continue trying to contact Jaguar dealerships but I they some kind of privacy act where they will not release any information in fear of trouble between dealerships which I feel is self serving. Though they would like my future business. I pulled off the carfax it is basically is a clean slate. Yes reading the forum more and more the air shocks seem to be a major and expensive problem which scares me to death! That is why I made light of my question earlier if I should now run the other direction before it is too Late? Lol

 

I bought my 2005VDP for $20,000. At least that is the way I figure it. $15,000 to the dealership and $5000 set back to fix the two major known issues (Shocks and Throttle body). I am thrilled with my "$20,000" Jag and have no fear should the day come when she needs some new Shocks.

 

Personally, I would not want an '04, but many people are happy with them. When I did the research and had my shop check out several used XJs a couple of years ago, I decided I would only buy a 2006 or newer.

My suggestion is for you to take the car to JagMac and have them totally check it out - will cost you about $50, and they will explain lots of things and freely give you their thoughts on various model years and typical problems/costs. I would never buy any used Jag without having it properly inspected by someone I trusted.

Good luck, and Merry Christmas!

 

Okay I will ask a point blank question and be done with it. While I absolutely appreciate everyone's advice I am still very hesitant. The best thing is to get a third party inspection. Please let me ask you this. For all of the 2004 Vanden Plas owners out there, will it be a high percentage chance that I will have air shock problems? If all have experienced this problem or think that I would maybe I need to stop and it really think this through. I just don't have the thousands to drop for this sort of car repair. What is disappointing is this car is so beautiful and made well but with these few major flaws. I realize that most cars today have some kind of issues but maybe not this expensive though?

 

The pleasure of driving my beautiful 04 VDP makes it all worthwhile. Air shocks have gotten much cheaper. You don't see any hearses with luggage racks.

Eddie 04VDP

 

i would buy it in a heartbeart and it will be MY next Jaguar purchase. I just bought a 02 Xtype for my 18yr old daughter for Christmas. Air springs go in all yrs of X350's(04-09 XJ)
Im still not scared ot that. things that are SOMEWHAT common in my world are t stat housings, coolant reservoirs, and air springs. Things alot more common here are ...SEE ABOVE I say buy it AND keep your R

 

Life is short, enjoy the satisfaction that this or another Jaguar will bring.

Don't be set on ANY particular car, including this one, but do your homework and shop around. There are fantastic deals out there for those that have patience.

Like other have said here, pay a reputable Jaguar specialist to check out the car completely before buying it.....that can save you a tremendous amount of money and grief later.

Keep us posted on your decision!

 

The Jag Mac suggestion is money in the bank my friend. I'm sure they can price it out in written estimate form so the Seller can adjust the price accordingly. What paint color and interior does the machine have? My prediction: it will already have at least one Arnott airspring on it; the suspension bushings will be cracked front and rear; the trans slips & grabs and fishes up & down in 6th at 32mph or so; a recall service bulletin will not have been done; and the thermostat housing will be leaking. You'll want to do your first oil change right away-Valvoline MaxLife synthetic blend is awesome, and you may need a fresh set of Pirelli P-Zero Neros. I hope you buy it so you can go cruise Harry Hines.

 

Im only 3.5k in at 94k. No probs. I will pay whatever to keep this experience going. If your really really worried about cost, maybe you shouldnt buy. I dont have $$$ to throw away, but Ill spend it on my XJ8.

 

If you're worried about the airsprings, Arnott Industries now give you a choice of conversion to steel springs, or new aftermarket air springs.

JAGUAR Air Suspension Parts - XJ Series 2004-2010 XJ Series

For a 70k miles car, I would expect it to need not new air springs, but shortly to need more mundane "wear and tear" things like bottom air spring bushes - cheap in cost but rather higher labour charges to swap out than you would expect due to the dismantling and swapping time. Some shops may be more expert than others on replacing these bushes quickly and hence at lower labour cost.

Probably one of the the rear lower wishbone bushes on each side will be starting to show wear. Again, aftermarket parts fairly cheap now. Plus what Brutal says about engine related parts. The bushes that wear are now available separately on the aftermarket, but some shops are wary of them because of Jaguar refusing to supply for "safety" reasons. With these wishbones costwise it is a toss-up between swapping out with new wishbones which come with new bushes (all three of them), and replacing one of the bushes in the old wishbone. In my opinion, a simple swapout with internet-sourced cheaper but original wishbones is the best option unless you are DIYing.

At the forum I attended earlier this year on the X350 models in the UK, the expert who owns and runs an independent Jaguar shop told us there were far fewer issues compared to earlier Jaguars.

There is, of course, the aluminium cosmetic corrosion issue, which can affect some cars, especially those used in winter and getting soaked in salt spray. There is a design issue with the leading edge of the trunk lid where it abuts to the rear screen seal lip. This retains grit, salt, and water, and rubs the lid each time it is opened or closed. This gradually wears away the paint on the lower side, and eventually corrosion called "filiform corrosion" starts and creeps round the trunk lid edge until it appears on the outside looking rather unsightly. Permanent cure is affected by cutting the lip off to leave a gap between rear screen seal and trunk lid. Of course in my case, I had to have the lid repainted too.

I also had this corrosion creep out from under the screen seal, where it abouts the rear wing on the nearside (offside for a US car). This required the rear screen to come out, so was not a cheap job. Paintshop told me this is a fairly common corrosion point caused again by wet and salt accumulation.

I recommend carefully inspecting the car where I describe above, plus above the chrome "Jaguar" plinth on the trunk lid, and also at the corners of the doors. Other aluminium cars have this problem, it is not just a Jaguar thing, apart from the (bad)rubber trunk seal design I describe above.

Really it all depends on who the car appears when you drive and examine it. There should be at least 7 stamps in the Service Book that comes in the wallet with the Driver Handbook.

 

Hi Tim, I bot my '05 VDP with about 57k miles. It had already had the air compressor replaced, so I'm guessing one or more of the bags failed. Like the others have said, I love the car and I think it'll be worth it to replace them; just make sure you budget for it. Tell the dealer to mark out the name of the previous owner an get the service records; they did that for me. Something tells me if its a matter of sellng the car, theyll find a way. The car is wonderful but there are 2 issues with mine that caught me by surprise: 1. The headliner is beginning to sag; my understanding is that there is no "cheap fix." just pay the $400 to have a trim shop do it. The 2nd issue is weak heat on the drivers side; search my other posts for it. Definitely put the heat on VENT and make sure ALL FOUR DASH VENTS blow hot air. If not, it's a possible heater core replacement; around $600-$800 I think. At the end of the day though, I'll repeat: I love the car.
Let us know what transpires.

 

My Jaguar mechanic advised that the 2004 has the most "issues." 2005 or after would be a better choice. I hope that helps either with your decision or price negotiations.

 

I would also check to see if the trans filter and oil have been changed, whether the torque converter "hunts" while cold and the condition of the shock tower bushings both front and rear. How long the air shocks will last is a crap shoot. Many factors beyond the serial number come into play including environmental.

I like my '04 VDP except it's too big for me and want an XK instead. Assume the shocks will fail and there won't be a surprise

 

I have a 2004 vanden plas loaded, yes one air shock went out..I replaced it..The pump works fine,the other three shocks have 128000 miles on them...I did replace the coolant reservoir tank at 116k miles,but my advice would be to have her checked thoroughly and if at all possible try and stay away from the earlier vin numbers ...why? because it is a known fact that many of the early vin numbers for the x350's were problematic..but you really have to either go full steam ahead,or jump ship all together...The CAT is a lot of luxury for the money,you cant hardly find another car that packs so much on four wheels or can match the ride quality and fuel economy.Whatever decision you make rest assure that the forum will be here to help you along the way...good luck

 

Thank you for that great response. My car was manufactured February 2004. I do not know if that is an early VIN for that model year. I do have an interesting question though, my driveway is slanted so thus the car is too when parked. Will this make the CATS go nuts after the ignition is turned off? It remains uneven. I AGREE, the ride is par none!

 

These cars were well into production by mid-2003; my car is an August 2003. I don't know when exports to the US started, but probably late 2003 ready for issue to dealers in early 2004. Jaguar normally only released cars to the UK in early production so the cars were easier to get to by their engineers and fixed if anything unforeseen turned up.

My driveway has a slight slope and I never have any trouble with the suspension, although I have had to replace the air compressor. If there is one suspension component on the car you need to allow for, it is this one. They are freely available at main agents as service exchange, and also on the internet. FWIW my car was on 30k when purchased in May 2010, and is now on 51k as I write this.

Air spring/shock problems seems to be a peculiar US thing, because the UK forum I also post on sees virtually no posts on the air springs. Other thing than can be needed is suspension joints. These are classed as "wear and tear" items but they don't seem to last long in my experience. At one time, some of the parts to fix were extremely expensive, but things are now much better, even Jaguar have reduced their prices, no doubt because their dealers complained they weren't getting any work into their workshops !! I have a theory that the use of large diameter wheels and low profile tyres reduces the shock absorbing role of the tyres, and transfers it straight into the joints, and especially the lower bushes of the spring units, (these bushes are cheap, BTW, at around $30-35 each).

My local main agent was excellent in every way, but I am now going to a well-regarded local independent to save money as I am now retired and on a lesser income. It's the only way I can afford to keep the car.