Have always been a "fan" of Jaguars.....Been trying to sell one of my American classic cars for about a year now (70 Roadrunner Convt.) and looks like it might be sold so going to start looking for a XK or XKR Convertible and have a couple questions... Looking at a 2010 or 2011 if I can find one in my price range.
1. Does the OEM audio system (stock or Premium) have a USB port?
2. What will I need to look for when I find one other than the obvious things like wear & tear on suspension, tires, brakes and interior and exterior condition? Pretty much every used vehicle brand & model has it's "issues" that need to be looked at in depth when thinking of purchasing one.....
Any help would be appreciated.

thank you
Greg in Michigan

 

It does indeed, but pretty much exclusively for plugging in a USB flash drive that is filled with your own music files in .mp3 format. It will show on the display on Portable Audio and will show folders and files, and works will with the steering wheel controls.
For plugging in an audio device???? Naw, won't work. Files only!

 

When you say .mp3 do you mean "JUST" .mp3 music files or any type of music files? Reason asking is I use my IPOD "classic" all the time when driving any of my summer "rides" and use .wav music files...better sounding...
thanks

 

Actually, I don't know. I GUESS maybe? I use .mp3s pretty much all the time.

 

Cars from around 2009 on have an Apple 30 pin connector as standard so you can plug your IPOD into that. Others, like myself, have bought a Bluetooth dongle then use that connector to stream music from their phones.

 

Regarding things to look for. 5.0L XKs (2010-2015 in NA) have notoriously bad water pumps that are known to fail between 30k and 60k miles. Another is XKs are loaded with electronics and are very particular when it comes to batteries. The battery should have a minimum charge of 12.3-12.6 at rest and not be over four years old or you are in for a problem. Once you get your XKR buy a CTek battery tender or another brand and keep your car plugged in when not in use to take care of any potential battery problems. Also spend about $500 to get a pre-purchase inspection by a dealer in order to ferret out any other issues. For the all aluminum body have a Jaguar approved body shop inspect the car as well. Finally use this forum for any other questions by using the search box at the upper right corner of this page. Good luck and good hunting!

 

meh.......... I don't know about 'notoriously' bad... I'm near 70,000 and nary a dribble nor rattle. I beat my car more than it should be beat also. For that I'm not proud.

 

Buying guides: Pistonheads & Autocar Good luck

 

Does a Bovee work in the XK?

 

i can't imagine a player that supported mp3 and not wav, but, here we go: if it suits you to do so, you can use higher rates with mp3. it's a lossy algorithm, but the encoder doesn't actually force you to lose information. you only lose it when your desired bitrate can't be met, or when you use VBR clamped to filesize or some other metric that implies it should throw some data away.

"mp3" has historically implied CBR 128kbps for most of its history, 192kbps a little less often, in my experience. i think it's safe to say that both of these are noticeably worse than any lossless digital format/encoding even for a non-audiophile (although i found 192 totally acceptable). also, CD audio was typically 320kbps if i remember correctly. for me, i could not tell the difference between CD audio and a cassette tape, so maybe that tells you how useful this info is.

nonetheless if your wav files don't play, and it isn't a huge pain in the butt to do so, just try re-encoding them as mp3 at whatever constant bitrate keeps them at about the same file size. it'll be virtually the same audio data, just in a different format. the best encoder for windows is lame. if you are on windows 10, you can install WSL ubuntu and use it as a console tool within windows itself, and get the linux version of lame or ffmpeg which is even easier to use. lame is both an encoder and a small front-end tool, ffmpeg is a huge front-end tool for all kinds of audio/video encoders. these are both command line tools; i don't even know of a GUI tool that would be good for this. maybe audacity.

 

Don't the 2010 and 2011 engines have the timing chain tensioner issues? Something to check when you're listening to the engine start/idle.

I would recommend looking into this issue more than anything else for those model years. Google it or search this forum ... plenty of info on that.

 

I have a 2010. Like CeeJay said, USB flash drive works to play music files loaded on the flash drive. Probably the easiest way if you have a **** ton of music you can download to the drive. I think they have to be in the root folder though..? I don't use this method though. My wife drives the car and wanted phone connection.... There is Bluetooth in the XK for the phone only but not to stream music. The Bovee will work (others can account for that) but I use this device to stream music from my wife's iPhone.
https://coolstreamrocks.com/store/co...usic-receiver/

You do need the factory Apple 30 pin connector that connects the car to the device. I have the genuine cable (it came with the car). Aftermarket might work but I've heard where some devices don't. Odd thing is it starts on the first song alphabetically sorted on the phone every time she starts the car. It doesn't remember the last song played. I was never able to figure it out so we put the playlist on shuffle and then skip the first song....

So that said, there are acceptable ways to play music in these cars, it's just not as modern as I would like. But a small inconvenience IMO for such an awesome car.

As far as the water pump, I had mine fail at about 40k miles. Slow leak, smell of burning coolant, no catastrophic failure luckily. If it hasn't been changed and it's over 50k miles, it may be ok. But something to check out on the car for sure. Use your nose after you park after a test drive. You'll know right away if it's failing. Ask the seller, look for previous service records, etc....

Good luck!

 

Yes you can use the BOVEE 1000 with the 30 pin connector in the vehicle.

 

J has it right, Bovee 1000 works great.

But the OP stated he has a classic Ipod, so he wouldn't need the Bovee unless he wants to stream from phone. In his case, just plug the Jag Ipod cable directly into 30 pin Ipod connector and leave it all the time. I have no idea of whether the Ipod decodes the file and therefore the file type is irrelevant or if the Ipod sends the file over to the Jag head unit and is decoded and therefore WAV vs MP3 may come into play.

 

You also want to check the top if a convertible is being considered. The rear window can pull away from the top bow. Also, the dash leather can separate or pull away. Finally, has the dreaded" duck bill" A/C drain been addressed?

 

Please keep the Roadrunner!!!

 

Don't do it? Guess I have to ask why..........?

 

???????
Nobody said Don't Do It.
The closest statement was like "Don't they have timing chain issues" or something like that, I can't see from this page.
2010-11 cars are a FANTASTIC value for a phenomenal car! If you DON'T buy one you're a knucklehead.

 

I think he was referring to don't sell the roadrunner. Thread #16

 

Fine! That makes a lot of sense also.
Wish I'd a kept my '69 Coronet 440.