Maintenance is defined in the dictionary as that activity which causes something to remain in a constant condition.

Your $50 a year is not maintaining the car, it is deferring the maintenance.

Further, your answer is pointless and of no relevance whatsoever to the original question.

 

I budget about $3,000/year. It's never more than $3,000 but many years it comes close.

 

Let the monitors do their job. His answer was antidotal and provided some humor. Plus who am I or you to say that's not all the more he spends per year. My X300 rarely exceeded two oil changes a year and my V-12 XJS generally costs me one. I defy you to show up on my door step and claim by looking and driving my cars that I'm "deferring" maintenance.

 

As you can see by the various responses you have here. No one really has an answer. While we can tell you our experience with our cars. Results may vary. My post earlier stated my actual "maintence" budget and not repairs. Some people included major repairs. Good luck and hope it all works out for you. Keep us posted.

 

MAINTENANCE in the UK is what is termed ALIMONY in the USA. I've yet to see an EX not improve conditions year on year.

Back to Jaguars. The answer was not pointless but could be a cause for concern for the next owner. Many members come to the forum with issues caused by lack of maintenance and repairs by PO's. It's possible to run a Jaguar for several years and do absolutely nothing to it unless something breaks. Most of us have seen examples like this and several have had to spend a lot of $$'s fixing it.

There's SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE and there's REPLACEMENT of parts that wear over time.

The first is no more costly or extensive than most other vehicles but the second is where the expense comes in. For example, Jaguars are heavy on suspension bushes, brakes and tyres. Prestige vehicle so parts come at prestige prices and labour costs seem to assume the ability and willingness to pay.

When I buy any used Jaguar, I like to see a fat file of bills to back up the service records. Ticking time bombs like early tensioners or 'ignored for life' transmissions are best avoided.

What's it going to cost year on year? If you start with a good example then under four figures. If you start with one needing work, the first year is going to hurt.

Graham

 

If this was accurate, then no car could be considered to be adequately maintained. Suspension components, for example, degrade over an extended period of time- possibly 20 years time. To keep them in a 'constant condition' they would have to be changed possibly annually. Obviously not a realistic or practical thing to do.

If the OP finds a car that's just had all the suspension redone, he's OK for another 20 years. If he buys a different car that's due to be done, his annual costs for that one year will be astronomic, but not representative of the average annual cost.

I've had a few years where my costs were indeed $50., but there's been other years where I've had to cringe. On the other hand, I can't think of any complex machine that this would not apply to. 2016 happens to be the year of the boat in my case, as I found that BOAT actually does mean 'bring out another thousand'.

 

Agreed, and all hence why the only sensible question is "how much should I reasonably budget to maintain the average XJR over an extended period of time". Answers like "I've only spent $50 a year on oil changes at Quicky Lube" are meaningless, as eventually all the costs of that deferred maintenance will come crashing down.

Could I have some of those everlasting brake pads, please?

I also have a boat, and while I don't replace the engine every year, or get the bottom painted once a month, I do have a monthly budget which allows for the occasional big-ticket item. This year I've spent virtually nothing. That doesn't make my annual expenditure nothing, as the money I'm not spending is going into the bank ready for a rainy day.

Oh, and look what happens when you budget for MORE than the short-term cost? Something magical happens. You've got money in the bank ready for big repairs. I know this is a strange concept to the average American these days, who just lives hand to mouth, and borrows money when it's needed.

 

Agreed on all points. This brings us back to the impossible task of answering the OP's question without his providing further info. The annual costs of maintaining a car that starts off in perfect nick and is then ditched before big ticket items come due is very different that a car that is purchased needing everything, right now.

Sort of like the old saying that there's no such thing as an 'old cheap reliable Jag'.

 

"old cheap reliable Jag"

I'd settle for just one of those adjectives!

 

That's inaccurate. My car was bought with 120k miles on it, I only drive about 5k/year, albeit very rough nyc driving, so an annual oil change is all needed. One wiper blade every 2 years seems adequate for clear vision.

I've swapped the rear brake pads once which appeared to be the original jaguar oem pads (amazing!) and don't recall ever changing the front pads (maybe I did once though?) which appear to be still good stuff another 1/8+" of meat on them.

Besides the suspension done this year, there are no other items that *need* to be maintained until they wear out, which they haven't yet.

 

I think the two of you have different definitions of the term 'maintenance'. Your does not include what you spent on suspension and brakes, his does.

 

My original post did mention suspension expense that was done this year, first suspension maintainance cost in 16 years. Forgot about the rear brake pads, but that was about $100 including labor and also only once.

Essentially, the car costs the same to maintain as any other car, very little jag specific expenses unless you choose to pamper the car, but it's not required.

 

Sorry, what? Maybe if all your other cars are high-end luxury cars, I agree with this. But parts costs are far higher on average than most other cars and the compact engine design requires on average more labor time than simpler cars. Sure, maybe comparable with BMW, Merc, etc. Everyone BMW 5 and 7 series owner I know has spent comedy amounts out of warranty...

But I can't see how anyone who has owned a diversity of vehicles for long amounts of time would not feel the difference in their wallet between the 308 and literally any other normal Japanese or American mid-teir car. I spent more on two control arms and a valve cover replacement in two years than any Japanese compact or truck...none of my old mercs ever had a part needing to be replaced in 33 years that was over 350 dollars...and these are cars with 2x the mileage of the Jag.

 

You're describing repairs, not maintaince.

 

There's a fine line between the two, for many people.

 

According to Wikipedia, maintenance is split into two categories :

1) Preventative (servicing)
2) Corrective (repairs)

Until this thread, I had assumed that this was obvious.

 

AFAIC, "consumables" (battery, brake pads, wiper blades, tires, etc) fall into the "maintenance" category.

Carry on


Cheers
DD

 

Consumables were my impression as well.

Either way, if I add in repairs made after the first year (recovering from prior owner neglect) it is still comparable to other cars I've had, most of the repairs were relatively-inexpensive issues like the oem plastic thermostat housing leaked (under $200-300 including labor), door handle cable snapped ($80 to fix) or like that occasion where the main engine block coolant pipe popped off dumping all the coolant out seconds after adding it, lol, $50 to the mechanic who spotted the hose disconnected and reattached securely. I'd say the frequency of these kind of problems is about annual, no worse than a Japanese car.

 

The maintenance costs on the X308 is no more vs any other luxury car. The full running costs of my 308's has been much less vs my MB's

The quality of the x308 components was very high for the time. Keeping the car running "as new" can get expensive as the car ages and suspension items need replacing. Same if you are unlucky and suffer a major component failure.

It's all in the purchase ... many second owners still maintain these cars ... my experience ....... very few third owners do. It's not uncommon to find people who always wanted a Jaguar and buy a few year old used car and are willing to maintain them .. these are best .. one owner cars are becoming scarce.

Most of the subsequent owners "muck" them up trying to save a few $ ..... cheap coolant being high on the list. Everyone wants to buy a properly maintained car .. most don't want to sell one.

 

I bought my XJR in January of this year (2017) for $4500 with 113K miles on it. As of now, it has 125K miles on it. So far I have spent $6071.00 on maintenance/repairs.

01-13-17 Transmission service and wiper blade. $385.93
02-04-17 Fuel filter, valve cover gasket, spark plug seal and spark plugs. $1002.28
02-??-17 Got rebuilt throttle body from ASI off of e-bay. $650.00
02-10-17 Had rebuilt throttle body installed. $118.56
02-27-17 Replaced mass air flow sensor. $418.25
04-21-17 Replaced engine mounts and rotated tires. $617.37
05-10-17 4 new Continental extreme contact tires. $517.64
06-14-17 Front shocks, rebuilt upper shock towers, replaced front bump stops. $1878.20
07-07-17 Replace ABS control module and antenna. $833.75
11-07-17 Performed throttle body service and replaced throttle body power relay. $188.61
11-13-17 Performed pressure test on coolant system and added stop leak. $56.80

Hopefully the second year will cost significantly less.