Yes, I put plenty of miles on mine in the 4 years since purchase, and upstate NY roads with wintertime and potholes in general are not a friend to suspension components! And I will freely admit that there's a good chunk of cascaded repair work that occurred as a result of not replacing all the bits at once. I mean, if you think about it.. KYBs weren't really up to this punishment, I ramped off into a ditch which didn't help my bearings any, and so on. And yes, I drive my cars daily. Now that I've replaced it with a new daily machine - I can slowly fix little things on it, and bring it out for special occasions as well. High mileage or no, the lines are still there, and there's still no rust, and I just wouldn't have the heart to let it go, and the little intricacies that I know of it make it special and no one else would appreciate those!

Best impulse by to date

 

Good call sir !

 

I agree with most of what you said but if you have the time and the know how these aren't too expensive to work on yourself. I consider an exotic to be anything that needs a tuneup just to go to the grocery store and a car you would never take on a road trip. My XJR (knock on wood) has been reliable on several 400 mile trips with routine maintenance.

Also agree about modifications, mostly. Mine has stock paint, wheels, intake, brake calipers, etc. I did however modify the sound system. It is tastefully done with no signs of anything different than the head unit, which blends in. The lack of usb ports, crumbling stock speakers and skipping CD player for my shrinking CD collection was the tipping point. I know you can get a tape or fm modulator but the clarity is so-so. I don't plan on ever selling but if I do I have the original head unit, amp and CD changer. The key is, make sure any modification is something you can reverse if need be.

 

Even now, I wouldn't hesitate to throw new tires on after swapping the tie rod end that needs it, and drive cross-country. It's gone on a few half-and-backs already, and I've never worried about getting stranded with it. It's actually something I was thinking about the other day with the different forums for cars I've been on, for the BMW, the MB, and the Jag. The MB forum has plenty of information but not much in the how-to department. Seems to be more diagnosis-based so that the owners then know what to ask their dealers about. The BMW forums (at the time I owned mine) seemed to have a lot of a LOT of things. I'm guessing because the cost to get into one, especially 3-series, have come down so much that there's a vast range of owner ages and preferences, and just as many ways of doing things.

And then come to our wonderful land here. I can't speak to the other branches but it seems that at least for our X308s, it's like dealers like to charge a fortune, for the parts that are hard to find and so on. So the community has gotten very good at DIY information to share to each other and help find more practical ways to sort out issues, out of necessity.

 

So, so true. most independent shops don't want the hassle of dealing with such an "obscure" marque, they want to deal with brands they are familiar with, brands they can charge 3 hrs for 2 1/2 hrs work, not spend 4 hrs trying to figure out how to do a 3hr job. Plus they can't mark up the parts like they can with domestic items, because Jag parts are usually already outrageously priced and don't leave any room for large percentage markups.

The Jag dealerships, like most dealerships, charge a premium rate, but the Jag dealerships take advantage of the fact that they know Jag owners have a hard time finding an independent shop to work on their cars, and so they charge a premium-premium labor rate.

Trying to procure local knowledge is like pulling teeth, the dealerships (few as they are) don't want anyone talking to their mechanics, and the independent shops that specialize in "exotics" (also of limited number) equally want to guard their knowledge......and understandably so.

That leaves us poor souls. One of the reasons Jaguars are so "economically priced" in their low-miles-but older-years is because of the high cost of any repairs in labor and/or parts. And that's where we come in, with the community aid of forums like this we are able to pool our resources/knowledge and tackle a large percentage of the issues at very low costs due to self labor aided by community knowledge. There is no way I would have been able to bring my X308 to its present condition without the help of this forum and its members. And I hope that by my presence i can help other current or prospective owners with what I have learned here.


.

 

Here here! I would be lost in the woods and in the poor house if not for all the helpful information on here. Parts availability is still good through major outlets like Rockauto or Partsgeek unless you are looking for something very specific or obscure. The only parts I've needed to go to a dealer for were an alternator cradle and vacuum hoses for the XJR and the price was still very reasonable ($5 each for the hoses and under $100 for the cradle).

I have gone to an independent shop to press some bearings in but it wasn't too hard to find. Dealer is a last, last, last resort. They will always overcharge and underdeliver.