My dad plans on trading the '00 XK8 I used to own with a friend's '07 XKR.

What should we watch out for to make sure he doesn't buy a lemon? I imagine most of the problems regarding the engine should be absent, but since the 07' is the first year of the X150 chassis there are probably a few gremlins to take care of.

Also, what is the price range for an 07' XKR?

 

Price will depend on the overall quality of the XKR (Engine, Body & Mileage).

Most likely in top shape about $22,000 to $25,000. The price goes down from there depending on engine, body, and mileage. Any body damage is a huge negative as well as mileage.

You can use several sources as a guideline like autotrader.com, cargurus.com, eBay.com. Also, try Edmunds.com for a used car appraisal.

https://www.edmunds.com/jaguar/xk-se...793918&sub=xkr

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There are two or three issues that occur in 07 XKs and XKRs. The three that seem to be the most prevalent are as follows: leather dashboard pulls away from front mounting and bubbles, duckbill on AC condensate outlet clogs causing water to backup and drip into right side front footwell and eventually cause the fan motor to short out and fail, and lastly, if the car is not driven fairly often the battery will discharge enough to cause lots of electronic gremlins.

Each of the above issues have been discussed thoroughly on this forum and have been addressed with solutions. The easiest being the battery issue. Buy a CTek battery tender and hook it up to the car when it is not in use. Cost is less than $100 and you can find them on Amazon or Ebay. You can do a search using the search box up at the top right hand side of this page to find multiple threads dealing with the three above issues.

 

Alright, I have no idea about the conditions or mileage of the car but that is a good baseline to guide myself with.

 

That dashboard thing sounds like a nightmare... Can that be prevented?

We actually had one of those 07's before and are well acquainted with the clogged AC issue.

Besides those issues, is there anything else to watch out for at the pre-purchase inspection?

Are there any TSBs, recalls, or maintenance items that could be a problem if not performed in a timely manner?

 

To prevent the dashboard issue you can do the following:
1. Do not park the car in direct sunlight (particularly with the windshield facing the sun)
2. Apply some sort of leather conditioner every month or so, particularly in the time frame Mar - Oct. I use Lexol wipes easy to apply and no real mess to cleanup.
3. Buy your XK a foldable sunshade for its windshield and deploy it on a regular basis if 1 above proves impractical. Cost less than $50 on Ebay.

 

A few folks have posted here that they have a battery drain issue. I would try to find it if it has that problem and if it does, walk away.

 

If convertible, check rear window/soft top separation.
Also, check A-pillars for material separation along with dash.
You might want to pull a carfax on the car to be sure of the history.
Maintenance records are always nice when looking at a pre-owned car.

 

In addition to inspection of the rear window on convertibles, duckbill leak and dash separation do the following.

Do an extended test drive of the car and drive it hard to get it up to temperature. Sniff for a strong coolant smell. Could be the sign of a premature failing water pump which is also common..

I think that most cars have a little coolant smell after being driven hard but it should not be too strong. Correct me if I am wrong about there always being a little odor on the XK.

In regards to the battery, if the previous owner never drives it, top of the battery and then start driving it. Otherwise, do as others said and keep it on a battery maintainer.

 

You might want to get your smeller checked. There are a few different odors to sort out. Maybe I can give my opinion of the differences. After running these cars the normal WT runs between 195*F to 210*F. After shut down and walking to the front of the car what you normally smell is the heat emitting from both the engine and the radiator . It does not smell sweet but just hot metal parts. You could also smell sweet anti-freeze if you have over filled the reserve tank or if your cap is weak or getting bad. Do a little experiment and boil a little coolant in a pan and smell it. On a closed system there is no coolant smell unless you have a leak. To know what your nose knows is to know.

 

OP is looking at an 07. Water Pump failures are common in the 5.0 liter engines, not the 4.2

Sorry, this isn't accurate either as Jagtoes points out. If you smell coolant, you have a problem. It could be minor, again as Jagtoes indicates, but it's a closed system. There should be no coolant smell in the engine bay.