Id rather have a recently cleaned engine and bay at the PPI. Leaks are not a mystery. Clean them up, and they will show up again. I recently did with my power steering. Good thing I cleaned everything, because it actually made the leaks easy to spot. Youre missing out on good cars if you go by this philosophy. But the seller is also missing out on those buyers that are motivated by clean. So just clean it up and watch the dollars roll in.

 

Yeah, they'll show up again. Eventually. Perhaps not immediately afterwards while you're checking the engine out, however.
It's obviously not the only thing to look at when making the decision, but it is something that warrants further investigation.

 

I had the first serious Jaguar buyer with the car today for an hour. A guy who owns a couple already and wants one more coupe. Liked most everything about it but has plans to do suspension and paint work so he's low-balling. I've got an offer from a Porsche dealer to trade it in for 4000... seriously considering that. I'm annoyed I've done what I think is everything needed to be roadworthy and reliable so really on the fence whether to just drive it for a while longer, maybe remove the chrome and try again as advised above.

 

I feel your pain. I've been in the same place many times. Why does it seem like it's so hard to find a good car when your interested in buying, but there is no one interested in buying a good car when your selling? If you still enjoy driving the car why not just keep using it and advertise it during this time. As a buyer I would be most impressed with a daily driven XJS.

 

What a buyer does with the car afterwards is entirely his own bloody business. Why should you accept a low-ball offer just because he wants to spend more money on other things?
I'm surprised BAT doesn't want it--they have plenty of XJS models on sale.

 

That guy is an idiot. He probably moans softly when he wipes his own ***. Any review of a V12 Jag at less than the red line is a flunk. The car doesn't even wake up till 4000rpm.

 

Well, to be fair, he only putters around town when reviewing a multi-million dollar hypercar as well. And still gives it a ridiculously high "Doug Score" because he bases his video reviews more on public perception than reality. I found his Autotrader column on the XJS to be more measured, but it seems Autotrader cannot be accessed from overseas anymore.
And the Doug Score is fatally flawed in conception to begin with--equipment is judged based on the present day, so any Doug Scores more than a couple of years old will automatically be incorrect. And "fun factor" appears to based entirely around how sporting a car is. His quirks and features part is often interesting as a way to see how different car designers approach specific issues, and for understanding what all the various bits do, but there's an increasing amount of padding, such as "quirks" that aren't all that quirky, or "features" that anyone who has any experience with older cars won't be remotely surprised at (such as floor-mounted high-beam switches, which are great).