I finally took the plunge and recently purchased a 2010 XK Convertible with about 43K miles on it. Black on black with CPO warranty. Now the bad part...

As soon as I got back into town with it (bought it in south Florida and I live in NE Florida), I tried to engage Winter Mode and Dynamic Mode and both caused faults to pop up on the dash.

Paddle shifters were also non-functional (although the local dealer says they were disabled by a previous owner so no biggie there). Issues are covered under warranty so no big deal right?

Well... I tracked down the previous owner and found a TON of posts about her complaining that this car was a lemon with a bunch of issues that the dealer could never get resolved.

Called her up and she had it just over a year and replaced the battery 3 times, replaced the top, had multiple issues with the Dynamic Mode and it left her stranded in her driveway once.

She told me that it was at the dealer for 2 months, trying to figure out everything wrong with the car to the point that JagUSA cut her a check for 3 months of car payments. I am SERIOUSLY hoping that any issues with this car have been worked out or maybe the issues were with the previous owner.

The car is simply STUNNING. So as the title says, I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! Wish me luck!

 

Fingers crossed for you, that all is well.

Know that we're here for you if you do have issues.

Good luck

 

Congrats on the purchase!!!

You have another Jag so I think you already know what to expect in terms of the gremlins.

 

What due diligence did you complete before buying the car? Did you obtain a Carfax report? Did you obtain a AutoCheck report? Did you run the Vin number?

At least the car is under warranty. Get to know the local dealer, sounds like you might be seeing him allot. Hopefully not.

You may want to consider an extended warranty as your orginal Jaguar warranty probably does not have much time remaining since it is a 2010. There is allot of discussion here on the forums about aftermarket or third party warranties.

 

Suggest you contact the lady again and see if you can get a copy of all the service records. May be useful information for future use. I hope you don't need them, but you never know. Good luck!!

 

I checked out the Carfax report thoroughly as well as researched the VIN. All of the repairs that this car has had isn't shown on any report although I did call Jaguar USA and they listed out the last few repairs that were complete.. Also not on the CarFax report. The dealer is about 300 miles away so don't think I will be seeing much of them as I have a Jaguar dealer here in my town. I do plan on getting to know them quite well. Also, I have the CPO warranty until the 3rd qtr of 2016. I will def look into an extended warranty past that date.

 

I have asked her to forward me any and all information that she has but I have yet to receive anything from her.

 

I wonder if this original owner's lack of interest in personal correspondence mirrors a lack of interest in vehicle maintenance which may have led to her perceived 'lemon' problems. We all know about the importance of maintaining our batteries thanks to shared info on this forum, for example. If you buy a high end performance luxury GT like an XK, park it without a battery maintainer, then drive it once in a blue moon and then treat it like its a rented minivan, hmmm maybe expect some problems. Just sayin.

Hopefully these issues will be no more since obviously you're membership here indicates you actually appreciate the car and will no doubt baby it like the rest of us here do! This of course means getting a battery maintainer (CTEK 3300 highly recommended) forthwith!

 

Honestly, I think this whole business with contacting the previous owner can cross some boundaries for some people. If I were not a Jaguar enthusiast, I probably would not go through the trouble of scanning redacted copies of repair receipts, etc., and sending them to a complete stranger, especially when I probably sold the car to get rid of the nightmare that it was out of my mind!

I guess the point I'm making is--don't read into her not sending you information on the past repairs. That doesn't mean no maintenance was done or that she has been feeding you lies. You were lucky enough to have a phone conversation with her!

I wish you the best and I hope you can get everything worked out!

 

I think it would be nice if the previous owner told the dealer that they would not mind being contacted by either a potential buyer or the new buyer. I also don't think the dealer would let out this info if there were problems with the car. These are selected type cars and everybody who buys one does not buy it for the same reason. Some just for style or name sake or performance or braggin rights. So I don't expect some to want to be bothered by the new owner. The best i could do was to get the service record from the dealer which was sufficient enough to satisfy my needs. So try to pump the dealer but don't expect any outside help. Oh and if someone posted my old vin # looking forthe previous owner and it was me I'd respond to them. Good luck.

 

+1. If the previous owner was an enthusiast then it is different. I had a car at one point were 4 previous owners including myself were all at a pub catching up and telling tales of improvements of changes to the car. Especially with modded cars, people love talking about what they did and hearing about the journey going forward. Consumers with a utilitarian perspective would probably not car and in these cases like to wash their hands of a problem.

 

I too contacted the original owner of my car after purchasing it. I was somewhat reluctant, but was curious as to his reasons for selling a 3 1/2 year old car with 4,800 miles on it as well as anything else he might tell me. It turns out the elderly gentleman was extremely friendly and open with his wonderful experience with the car. We talked on the phone for over an hour! He even told me to stop by his home if I was in the area. A really nice guy who owned 2 cars and drove the Jag for pleasure outings. The best part was when he told me he never put the windshield wipers on.

 

While I have not attempted to contact the previous owner of my '11 XKR (bought with 9K miles) I did enjoy scrolling back through the Navigation history (left uncleared) to see where the car had traveled (Pebble Beach, Napa, Carmel, etc.) from the owners home (also reflected in the Navigation history) in Newport Beach. The car has had a "good life" I must say .... But I would also say the previous owner would probably not appreciate the fact that the dealer did not clear the history.... And I know where they live!

 

I contacted the previous owner of mine - his address was on a letter from Jaguar congratulating him on purchasing a limited edition, which came with the car (along with a little card signed by Mike Cross & Ian Callum). He was friendly & helpful, confirming that the car had no mods and no unpleasant issues or previous accidents. My main reason for asking was my discovery that the speed limiter is set to 300 km/h rather than 280 as it's supposed to be - but it looks like it came from the factory that way. Most people will be helpful if you ask nicely, but I agree that many wouldn't go to the extent of sending you copies of stuff, even if they haven't already thrown it away.

 

Do whatever it takes to gather any information on the car. The main thing is, are you happy with it. If not, you should be able to return it to the seller for not disclosing these problems. If your happy with the purchase and want to deal with the problems I wish you good luck and hope for a speedy fix.


If I encountered the problems you have and they weren't disclosed by the seller I would be pissed and would want to return the car. How reputable is the dealer you bought the car from? Why weren't these issues disclosed? I hope this doesn't turn into a nightmare. Was the car involved in a flood, etc.?

 

This is why it's best to buy cars from private sellers, get inspection from an indie shop, and save $$ on sales tax. The seller also gets more $$ than trade-in. It's a win-win. The used car dealers destroy all old service records so you only go by what they tell you and their maintenance dept that reconditioned the car for sale.

 

I hope you won't be too nervous. If the car is under warranty, it's a lot better for you, but if you read all the forum posts, there are large numbers of people who bought what was thought to be a "Problem" car, and once they spent some time and care on the vehicle, it turned out to be a very nice Jag.
People who aren't familiar with Jaguars, or British cars of any type, are usually not prepared for the ownership comitment they require. But they also never get to experience the true joy of real motoring. Once your Jag is purring, you will probably be very happy with it.
I've had a lot of trouble with mine, but I still love it. I've even begun to look for an early XKE as a project.
If I could only undo these straitjacket straps...........

 

I am not familiar with the Jag dealership that I bought the car from since it's over 300 miles from where I live. I don't know why they didn't disclose the issues but honestly I have never encountered a dealership that would sadly enough.