Greetings!

As I finish the XKR project I have been working on, the X300 cars have been singing their siren song and drawing me in. A 96-97 XJ12 would be wonderful, or an early XJR6 would work for me too.

My question for this group is how do you feel about a car's mileage before you see the car as a worthwhile effort? A few examples with workable needs are available near me, but many of them have in excess of 130,000 miles. A bit to high for me, as I would likely wish to sell at some point after enjoying the finished product for a while.

Where do you draw the line? Under 75,000? 75k - 100k? Over 120,000?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

TC

 

A little hard to answer. It's really a case-by-case situation IMHO. So much depends on the care a car has gotten over the years....both in terms of routine servicing and tending to needed repairs that naturally crop up with age and mileage.

The X300s will seemingly soldier on darn near forever but values are quite low. That means a car might have 175k miles but the owner, knowing full well he wouldn't recoup any money spent, stopped giving the car full attention ($$$) 50k miles ago. Wheel bearings and diff starting to make noise, suspension bushings worn, shock a bit weak, trans getting a bit soft on the shifts.....nothing that stops the car in in tracks so it's a case of "I'll be selling it in a year or so. Let's wait and see hold she holds up. I don't want to spend that money if I don't have to".

If you don't mind taking care of what the previous owner neglected then I wouldn't put any arbitrary limit on miles.

For that matter you might find a 175k car with a 3" thick folder of invoices showing the owner never once cheaped-out on needed repairs or service. Such a car might well be a better buy than a lower mileage car that had 'indifferent' care and feeding over the years.

Cheers
DD

 

I wouldn't have put a limit on miles if you planned to keep the car, but for a lot of people, low mileage is infinitely more appealing than a detailed service history. I think this especially rings true for a V12 or supercharged car, as you say you're interested in, as many people will instantly see the car as more susceptible to catastrophic wear. I'm not saying I agree with this notion, quite the opposite really, but I think the ideal car for you would be a retired, garage-kept car that was dealer maintained and then sat for a few years. I would look for below 100,000 miles just because that milestone can be a bit of a deterrent. Not everyone is like me; I took the plunge on a car with 250,000 kilometres which only had service history for less than half of that. Luckily because of the wonderful people here, I knew exactly what to look for, and I have put 10,000 more relatively trouble-free KMs on her. I came into it knowing that Jaguars are 100% a buyers market, due to perceived poor reliability (which couldn't be further from the truth with the X300) and a variety of other factors, and chances are--unless the car is in mint condition and a sought-after model (i.e. the ones you're looking for!)--you're going to lose some money if you plan to sell it in the near future.

However, I'm fairly certain that these cars will become future classics, so holding on to a nice example might indeed be the right move. As I said previously, if the car is in great condition aesthetically, and the price is right because it has sat for a while and doesn't want to turn over (or the owner thought it needed a "major" service like a crank position sensor!), you may find yourself ironing out a few kinks and actually adding substantial value to it, all the while driving and enjoying it.

If you want my condensed opinion:
-Find an excellent condition, low mileage car that needs mechanical work that you can do yourself; keep the car as long as you want, and you will more than likely at least break even on it, maintenance and repairs considered
OR
-Find a high mileage car that drives well and looks nice and keep it; you may be able to find one for a real bargain. This would be better than, say, buying a middle-of-the-road example, spending money maintaining and possibly fixing it, and then selling it for ~5-10% less than you bought it (plus all the money you had pumped into it...), as that money lost could easily total up to the entire price you would pay for a higher mileage Jag!

Whatever you do, I'm sure you know not to buy a car that needs a new paint job or multitudes of interior aesthetic work.

Just my two cents. I hope I was able to help in some way.

 

Given your location, I'd be more concerned with corrosion than mileage.
My shopping endeavors indicate, although frequently listed for more, near impeccable, low-mileage examples sell for $4500-$6500, nothing more, if that helps...