That SC VDP looks pretty nice, except for the wood. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the wood that you can see looks milky. It's a cosmetic thing, but it makes a big difference in appearance, and not cheap to fix or replace.

 

Im going to look at that VDP this Saturday for the sake of looking, since its only a few miles down the road from that black XJR. However, I never liked a black on black color combinption. Plus, from past experience, if you have the nicest car with the biggest back seat of all your friends, you get designated the "driver" for every group function. I don't want to go throught that again, and thats what would happen with a VDP.

 

So, I was able to check out the VDP supercharged last weekend. I was a little underwhelmed with it. The exterior was scratch and dent free, tires were fairly new, and service records, but the interior left much to be desired. For a car that had such low miles, the interior just seemed worn and tired. The wood trim had what looked like a hazy film over it, and the leather, while not ripped or anything, just looked dull and very creased, like it wasn't conditioned on a regular basis. I didn't drive it because I knew it wasnt a contender. However, I just checked by to the dealer website, and it has been sold, so it was ok for someone. Maybe im just too picky.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to check out the XJR, because the dealership its at was closed, and would not be back open till, well, yesterday; but I was back in Boone before then. Im gonna call next Monday to get some info.

Its been a while since I've been around or in this vintage of XJ, and one think that really struck me about them that I forgot is how low they are. The seating position feels like that of a sports coupe rather than a sedan, which provides an interesting experience. I've heard people say that the interiors of these cars are tight, but its more that roomy for me, granted I'm like 5'7 130lbs, so a miata would be roomy to me.

Wether that black XJR pans out remains to be seen, so I've been in contact with a few dealership across the state that specialize in high end pre-owned vehicles to keep a lookout for 2002-2003 XJ's and to contact me if they get a good one in. I also got in contact with a Jaguar dealership in Raleigh, NC that luckily still activelly looks for this vintage of XJ because they have a waiting list, which I'm on now, of customer looking for these.

I don't know if anyone here who purchased a pre-owned XJ has experienced this, but in talking to friends and family about this potential purchase, I get alot of negative feedback. I've come to the conclusion that alot of people are scared of Jaguars, in that the stigma of horrible reliablitiy still resonates with most people. Funny thing is, one of my friends who gave negative feedback, drives and Audi.....go figure. I drive a Saab, so nothing scares me. Really, if you do your research and know what to look out for, any car should be reasonably reliable.

 

Today, I pursued my interest in a ragged-out Vanden Plas Supercharged that I sighted 1mile away from my university. It started up nicely, but was gassing a black haze from what appeared to be the valve covers. So, valve cover gaskets? Need replaced (no cracked head gasket, there was no coolant smoking anywhere...

The centre armrest was rotten, the drivers side bolster had worn trough, and the wool mats were not included. The wood was also hazy, but, unlike mine, none of it was cracked. The rear parcel was stained with something blue, the seats were all good but 1, and the paint had scratches everywhere. Also, passenger side seat would only move 10 directions, not 14. somewhat broken.

The tyres were verging on the bald, and it felt like one of the rims was bent. The paint on the rear bumper cover was worn down to the black. A license plate bracket on the front had worn down a section to the black too. Also, it has an ABS warning light (no other warning lights).

The car was faster than my car, but not by much. It had 137,000 miles and 2 of the wheel centre caps are missing.

This car is a rag, obviously, but it seems like it had potential. It felt to me like an old friend who needed help.

I have a friend who likes these cars (he now has a new Challenger SRT 392), and we tested it on the interest of having it as a project car.

I drove it, it was in need of an alignment. But the supercharger sounded great. The engine felt eager enough to rev, but the trans was a little slow on the upshift. It shifted ok otherwise, in S or normal. I was giving it some acceleration tests, but I wanted to see if it was still fast. I feel like it might should've been faster. 0-55 came up awfully quick on a 4 lane road though! Surprisingly so.

The salesman was a young Triumph Spitfire driver, he was willing to let me test drive it. I liked the car, despite its crappiness. Does it sound like a reasonable car to take on, as far as a fast luxury saloon goes? I hear the local scrapyard has 2-3 X300-X308 Jaguars. I'm going to look tomorrow, while my friend picks up a sunvisor for a 1995 Camaro.

2000 Jaguar XJ-Series

there's the car. They ask $7k, I would expect to pay no more than 3-5, given its condition.

Any ideas? The LWB nature really does make the car feel bigger and less sporty though. Does it have adaptive suspension?

Ian

 

Jaguar never worked to change the negative reputation they had from the late 70's and 80's ---so this has persisted 20 years past the point it was deserved.

The x300 - 308x are very well built and reliable -- if a few important items are addressed.


As will all luxury cars - if you want a good one ...... buy a good one. You will never make out getting one and trying to "fix it up".

The perfect cars are available and they only cost 4-5k more ... and you can easy spend this on a few items while trying to save a higher mile one

 

I got another question for y'all. Even though I REALLY want an XJR, in reality, wouldnt pass up a cherry base XJ8, or any other model. I have no question that the XJR is a rocket, but what I want to know is, how would you rate the performance of the regular 4.0L V8. If I remember correctly they produce 290hp. I would assume the 0-60 would be in the mid to high 6's. Anyone know the true stats? Does the engine produce good low-midrange power? Im used to 205hp in my Saab, which is not extremely fast, but definitely not slow. (I've had 5 tickets to prove that)

The only car I could assumably compare an XJ8 to would be my aunt's 2005 Cadillac Deville DTS w/300hp.

 

The 4.0 NA is a well balanced saloon, even by today's standards. There's a few things that can get them bang on, like cleaning the throttle and partload breather (always required unless owned by a real enthusiast) a full service, resetting the throttle cable and a hard reset get's it back to how it was originally.
The only down side to owning the NA version for me is the ZF gearbox. They have a tendency to fail around the 100k mark unless serviced. If you do go for one, make sure this is done along with checking the tensioners...

 

You would have to drive the different versions. The power in the base XJ8 is more than adequate but they are more then 10 year old technology -- and a five speed. Very different car then a DTS.

I had a V8 VDP LWB and liked it very much -- but I preferred the driving dynamics of my 95 VDP x300 as it was a SWB. So when I replaced the VDP in 2002 I bought the XJR. Maybe a XJ sport would be the ticket. The price difference between the different models is so small that I would go for the XJR. I never owned a base XJ.

The MB box does tend to be more robust than the ZF - especially the post 2000 ones -- but the ZF box gets a bad rap .... They are used all over the world in all kinds of equipment and are very reliable ... unfortunately they have a couple of weak spots -- that can't be predicted or avoided with any type of regular maintenance.

 

Thanks, thats good to know about the ZF transmission. My previous car had transmission trouble, and I don't want to go through that again if it can be reasonably avoided. I'll just stick to XJR's. It just seems like the majority of the XJ's that I find locally, and by locally I mean within the state of North Carolina, with low miles are always base XJ's. I found some realy nice examples of low mileage XJR out of state, but they are too far away for me to check them out, like this perfect one in Florida: 2003 Jaguar XJ XJR West Palm Beach, Florida | Foreign Affairs Auto I can't buy car sight unseen, especially one like this. I did however find an XJR exactly like the black near me in Charleston, SC with lower miles, but the price is too high for me at $15,888. Luxury Cars Charleston SC | Luxury Cars Of Charleston | 2003 Jaguar XJR Im gonna watch it to see if it comes down.

Fortunately, i'm going back home next Monday, so I'll get to check out that XJR in Charlotte, if its still there by then. I noticed they dropped the price by $2000 from 13500 to 11500, and its been there a while at that price. If it checks out, and they are willing to go to $9500 to get it gone, and Im satisfied with the results of an independent enspection. I think I might get it, although I really don't want another black car.

 

I think the 03's have self leveling suspension, might want to stay clear of that and get an 02 and make sure the tensioners have been done.
Vector

 

02's made during 09/01 and later Don't have a tensioner problem.

 

I found a link to the CarFax for the black XJR I talked about originally. I just found out that it has had 2 owners. The carfax says three, but I believe the third title change accounts for the purchase from auction. The two owner thing worries me a bit. I've only bought pre-owned cars, but they were both one owner and local. This is originally a Maryland car with both owners, and the CarFax shows they both had it serviced exclusively and regularly at Jag Dealers. I called the dealership, and the car comes with stack of service records. Do I still look next Tuesday or walk away?

 

My car was a 2 (3) owner, The first owner was (I believe to be) Hertz. Then, another guy owned it, and then it sat in auction lots for 10 months, constituting "owner 3".

Go ahead and take a look.

Mine was a very straight car, just keep your eyes open and you might find a gem.

 

Take a look! two owners for a 10 year old car is about as good as it usually gets. If Jag dealers serviced it, it was probably under Select Edition warranty (60,000 miles or 6 years) and maintained very well indeed during those years. The first owner may well have been on a lease deal. Many of these cars are highly desirable for a second owner when the lease expires.

 

No self leveling on them - and the 02's already have the tensioners uprated as long as the build date is after midnight 13th August 2001.....

I'd be seriously tempted with the Maryland 03' - I've said before it's not the owners your assessing, it's the car. And to be honest, 2 owners from new is great news. What do you want at 10 years old? A letter from God?

 

Jaguar become very aggressive with the lease deals at the end of production and then again a few years later with the CPO program - so it is not unusual to see two owners ... sometimes you see two owners and it is the same owner.

Lease car as a company car then purchase car as a pass through from dealer after adding CPO warranty.

 

This is what I have. Overall satisfied.

 

A letter from God would be nice, lol.....

Point well taken though. I've never considered buying a car this old before, so I had no reference on what was the norm in terms of # of owners. Two in ten years does seem reasonable once I think about it, plus I didn't consider the first owner lease aspect.

 

I just looked on the dealer website, and MY XJR sold yesterday. Just my luck. I guess its true what they say "you snooze you lose". So, disappointedly, the search continues..........

 

Keep the XJ8 option open.

Paid 8600 for mine w/74K miles.