My opinion. Spend about $20K and get a 2007 XK with around 75K miles that has been well maintained. You will have a car that is reasonable on the wallet, very reliable and with more than enough power on tap. Skip the warranty, the 5.0 engine and the hockey puck transmission.
As far as I am concerned the 2007 coupe is the best of the bunch. It has the wood & leather steering wheel, fog lights and stays true to its original design. It also seems to have the least amount of issues to deal with. Just my 2 cents.

I'm going with an early //R. I drove a 270 hp NA 3.9l Jaguar in my '05 Lincoln LS, then sold it to my son. After driving my XKR, the LS is a complete and total dog. The Eaton gives more torque at 1500 RPM than the NA car has wide open and torque moves you. You couldn't pay me to own a NA 4.2l if they are anything like the 3.9l (which they are).

I absolutely love my '07 XKR. It's supposed to be an occasional car on top of commuting with it but I find I need to make excuses to actually use the other stuff. I'm perfectly content to load 120 lbs of lawn fertilizer in the back and it's made quite a few trip with 75 lbs of dog food in the back. More than one plant has hung out the window as well. Why, because it's just so much fun to drive. Seriously. I would not make a decision before test driving each power train that's within your price range. I did a 330 mile round trip in the car a couple weeks ago to go pick up a stock muffler and the only thing exhausting about the drive was the exhaust tone. I swapped the muffler up there and the ride back was very relaxing. I'm 6'5", 215 lbs and the car fits me pretty well. I did lift the front of the seat @ 3/16" so it hit the bottom of my legs which relieves my back pain issues. The car does ride a little rougher around town by is baby butt smooth at speed.

Local Jag guru told me that the 4.2 X150 suffers from very few problems, just as I've heard elsewhere. He did however specifically mention the "duckbill" condensate pipe thing clogging, but also, if I remember correctly, the rear differential?

He said there are two versions, and the earlier one apparently had some issues with the seals, though the issues are still very rare. He told me to take a peek underneath the car and take a look at the rear end cover of the rear diff. The slightly worse one is made of shiny aluminium and bolted on with the boltheads facing the rear of the car, the better one is iron (I think he actually said cast iron) without such bolts. I'd assume that the diff he considered inferior would be alright if the car has already survived this long, though.

Anyone familiar with this?

I drive my 2007 XK a 100 miles a day for my commute. It really a rock solid car.

No, the Houston humidity will not keep the duckbill from sticking closed. But you can (by dropping the rear of the transmission on the XKR) just cut it off for a permanent fix.

Are you in Houston or Canada?

If you are looking at X100's I would strongly suggest the R. My recommendation is not so much for the power but the transmission. Look at the problems with the ZF transmission. The R cars get a Mercedes transmission. Much more robust.

Are you in Houston or Canada?

A bit of both. Live on Lake Conroe. Work takes me to Canada often and they want to move back up there.

That is a interesting point. 07-11 XKR seem hard to come by.

Yeah, I'm not sure if my cats system worked correctly. When in fault mode I'm pretty sure it runs stiff.

I drove a 2007 XK this last weekend. Awesome!
That one had a peeling dash. Solid drive. Decent power. A XKR would probably be more fun, but the XK is still awesome.
I'm proceeding with buying one. Hopefully this weekend.

Ranchero50, I read some of your gutsy work! Masochist almost comes to mind, but I appreciate that you have taken a work of art back from the edge. Good job!

I just bought a 2007 XK in Jaguar Racing Green. Drove it back from Phoenix to Lake Conroe (Houston area).

What a totally awesome car!
My face hurts from smiling so much.
Thank you for all the pointers.Thank you for pointing me to the x150.
I think I have the duck bill issue. I'll deal with it.
Its got the luxury package with the leather dash & wood steering wheel. No peeling dash!
Added satellite radio & pulled fuse on power antenna. No whistling at speed now.

Good deal. Post up some pics or it didn't happen.

Pic

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...27ac61d7f0.jpg

Fabulous choice. You bought the right one as far as I am concerned. If you want to spice things up a bit , you can easily add a beautiful gear shift knob like mine if you want. British Autowood > Gearknobs

Nice! Welcome to the 007 club!
What is the color code on the placard on the driver's door jamb?
First mod (if a previous owner didn't), get theJagWrangler.com Remote Top and Rear Window Control, its a 'must have' for any convertible owner. Also, a rear wind screen, if you don't have one.

And this, which is essential for preventing leather dash shrinkage.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...d810caeb65.jpg

It may be available at a lower price from your local Jaguar dealer or online. Also check with the Forum vendors for a discounted price.

+1

Yes, don't settle for a regular sun shade. This one fits perfectly and is insulated. Always leave this in place when parked outside in during the day. Your XK should be less likely to have the dash issue because it is the lightest color dash offered, but keep the Jag sun shade up anyway! Congrats on your purchase!

As KJ says, welcome to the 007 club.

Looks fantastic!

The wheels and their finish really go with that color.