2001 XJR up for auction tomorrow. Thinking of bidding. Paint has some issues and other questionable items: less than 1000 between 2016 and 2020; and current owner only 8 months. Concerned with sound on cold start. Below is the listing. You can scroll down to see two cold start videos. (One is before the still photos and the other is in the comments. Doesn't sound great. Tensioners or supercharged noise?
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-jaguar-xjr-14/

 

Honestly, every aj26/27 that I've started that has been sitting for a while, all sound like that. I'm sure others will chime in.

 

It sounds fine to me. These superchargers always make kind of a growling noise in my experience.

I’m not sure when the cars started rolling out of the factory with the third generation tensioners, but someone will weigh in about that. If it doesn’t have them, you’ll need to replace them before you drive it much.

It looks like it has aftermarket window tint….hopefully you can get it off so the car has a proper look, because the rest of the car looks decent! I’m mostly kidding. I know some people love aftermarket window tint, but I’m not one of them. It will eventually turn purple or bubble and look ridiculous.

 

I bet it goes for $15k. Bid on it though.

 

It doesn't seem to have a rattle, so I'd rule out tensioners (although I'd pull the valve covers to check for plastic tensioners if I were the new owner and there was no history of upgrade). My XJR always growls more than my NA XJ8 at startup even with a completely rebuilt SC, it still makes a little noise. In the video it does sound like a faint rod knock/piston slap from the left side. They never rev it which would be telling but it fades pretty quickly which could be the piston rings expanding. I expect valvetrain chatter but that sounded like something different, a little too scratchy. Maybe it hadn't run for a while and had to loosen up, but I'd definitely want a mechanic's opinion if I were buying.

 

Are you a good mechanic?
Do you know anything about air suspensions?
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X308 doesn't have air suspension.

 

Went for $8,500. I think low even though the issues I addressed. A very clean 2000 XJR went yesterday for $18,750.

 

Pretty surprising it was that low. That’s certainly a nice car.

 

I set my bid limit at $8000. Action fees and transport another $1,500. The multiple paint scratches/gouges were something I couldn't live with and figured at least two grand to fix. Also, questions of the quick flip and not driven much in past four years gave me pause. Finally, not a fan of chrome wheels. That said if I could have checked out the car myself probably would have gone $10k.