Just over one year ago I picked up my new 2008 XKR and had been planning on getting round to providing some feedback on this forum on a years motoring experience in my first X150.

Developments today have forced me into making this eulogy.

I learned plenty of good stuff on this forum while going through the decision making process back then. Its easy to be pushed away from owning one of these cars if you overthink everything you read and hear, I think you have to consider the possibility that people tend to talk about problems rather than positive experiences.

Having spent four months searching for the perfect car, I was set on finding a 2008 and up, 4.2 SC, milage under 100,000 kms, black on black interior. There were around five in NZ available for sale back then with this spec. Today there are none. There has never been a day when I regretted the decision, she has been perfect in every way. I have driven her everyday and recently clocked up my first 10,000 km bringing her to 84,000 km.

Just an awesome ride and I am still convinced there is not a better looking car on the road.The only upgrade I have made is to have the windows tinted as she gets fairly warm inside during the summer.

The only unexpected repair I have had to make in entire ownership is to change a blown cig lighter fuse.

Expected repairs I had planned for since the pre purchase vehicle inspection was brake disc and pad change within the first 12 months and possible air con footwell leaking issue at some point.

Sure enough on the third week of ownership my passenger tells me there's water dripping on their feet, using most excellent info from this forum I was able to very quickly fix this problem in 20 minutes including rounding up the tools and putting them away.

2 months ago she had her first service, new discs and pads, brake flush, filters, oils etc and had them replace the transmission pan and fluid as a precaution. Interestingly the trans fluid was very clean, mechanic said it was much cleaner than they often see. I have been fairly impressed wth the low cost of parts on these cars, considerably lower than I expected.

Well thats the abbreviated version off the years events so heres a pic of our crazy cat lady starter kit.

 

Very true so it makes positive posts like yours all the more welcome to balance the ownership experience.

Graham

 

Um, sounds like there’s more to the story that we haven’t heard yet?

 

The Bad....

Today she went into and under the side of a Ute rear deck ( pick-up in USA lingo I think) at around 70 kmh.

Initial review by repair yard is she may be written off, airbags did not deploy but both front fenders, bonnet and everything up front is trashed.

Bonnet hit the windshield when it was pushed back and put a large crack through shield, bonnet also gouged up the A pillar on passenger side so fair bit of paint work required past the front fenders. Chassis looks ok.

The Ugly...

How to find a replacement car?.

The Good...

Damn she still looks beautiful even with a smashed in face.

 

Wow. Hopefully nothing serious happened to your body.
Insurance may write it off as a total loss, but probably repairable. Replacement fenders, bonnet, nose, radiator, windshield, and some stuff we can’t see. But likely not too much past that and some new paint. We’ve seen worse come back to life.

 

My condolences, very tragic. If your insurance company does total it, consider buying it back and having it properly repaired and keeping it forever. As you explained, it's rare in NZ and was in great condition before the wreck and, hopefully, it's just bodywork and will make sense to fix.

Big cats have 9 lives, too. One down and 8 to go!

Still not dead!

 

Well I just had a long chat to the ex wife who was driving her ( yeah I was not even in the car ) , she was doing around 70kph when she slammed on the anchors and had slowed down to less than 50km when she hit, probably thats why the bags did not deploy.

I had thought about buying her back if totalled by insurance company, I think the problem they will face is getting panels locally.

Also maybe the pedestrian collision system that auto pops up the bonnet on impact might need replacing, I'm picking that would be fairly expensive.

Most probably have to import the panels and international freight costs have doubled in the last few months, I was talking to my freight forwarder a few days ago about this issue as I bring in a fair bit of air freight from Europe and USA regularly. A 150 kg pallet load which used to cost me ~$1700 from the Europe now costs me well over $3500 to bring into NZ. And its slow to get here. The freight forwarder reckons this will not improve until next year.

Then I have reservations about the car being repaired and back in my garage, The car was very straight with perfect body work. Will it ever be the same again?.

I will get a conclusion from panel shop and insurers early next week so we'll see how it washes up.

 

Nooooooo! but good that no one was seriously hurt. My car is the same except caramel interior.
Possible repair But looks like a lot or work and expense. Maybe part out the car if NZ cars and parts are rare or expensive to finance another one.
What would be the economics of an imported car from Oz or even west coast of US which would have bigger choice of vehicles?

 

Also maybe the pedestrian collision system that auto pops up the bonnet on impact might need replacing, I'm picking that would be fairly expensive.

I think you were going to fast for bonnet to auto pop and when it does pop I think it also pops the under bonnet air bags the ones that are in the container below the bonnet catch

 

Terrible news - good nobody got hurt though. Your first post was at 9.17 and the post showing the damage was 10.48. Did all that happen in just 90 minutes (or is it that it's just the way you posted?). If it all happened in 90 minutes, it shows how life can go to **** in the blink of an eye.

If you choose to get the car repaired, I wish you all the best of luck with it and hope you get her back to her original condition.

Personally, I never feel the same about a car when it's been damaged to that extent, even when the repair is perfect. I just can't bring myself to feel the same about it any more. Don't know why. I've been there more than once and always end up selling the car soon after getting it back from the shop. My most spectacular was my Lotus Esprit Turbo which aquaplaned on standing water on Britain's A1 highway, and spun several times into the crash barrier. Touch and go weather the insurance wrote it off or not - in the end it was rebodied and rebuilt by the Lotus factory, so came out better than new. But I still couldn't get on with the car somehow after that and soon after I traded her in for a V12 XJS.

At the end of the day, they're only cars. The most important thing is nobody was hurt.

(Kudos to you for letting your ex-wife drive your car BTW. I rarely even let my current wife drive mine )

 

Yep no one hurt fortunately, could have gone a lot worse as there was a young child In the passenger side of vehicle the XKR plowed into, luckily impact was just behind the passenger seat of the other car.

Bringing in a car from Japan would be the best bet, thats where most of them come from into NZ. USA cars have the drivers seat on the wrong side of the car and importing one In from Aussie would be cost prohibitive.

Problem is there are likely only 5.0 lt XKR available from Japan for import into NZ now and there were never many 4.2 SC sold new in NZ.

 

At accident site I couldn't raise the bonnet to check if the bonnet air bags had popped but will have a look next week once the panel shop has got the hood off.

 

You would have seen the bags if they had gone off they are much the same as the ones that come out the steering wheel

 

The accident happened yesterday, a tragic end to a perfect first year of ownership prompted me to write this complete thread, I wanted to encourage anyone wanting one of these cars but feeling apprehensive due the many horror stories of Jag reliability that they should just go for it, they are a beautiful engineered vehicle that are not expensive to maintain so long as they find one thats been cared for by an enthusiast.

I have the same feeling about a car that has had a major rebuild, difficult to look at the car the same way again. This one might be ok but if the inner guards need replacing then that might be a step to far for me. Like you say they are only cars and no one was hurt, but I feel the loss of a hard to find car which I had planned to keep hold of forever.

BTW to be fair she was not my ex wife when I gave her the keys and said take my car today, it was not more than 45 minutes later while I was on my second coffee for the morning I got the distressing phone call telling me my car was dead.

 

Entirely agree. I have had my 4.2 SC XKR for just over one year now, and other than its annual service, it has required no attention at all. The service cost less than an equivalent service on my pickup truck! They are beautiful cars, well-engineered and bulletproof so long as they have been properly maintained. A full service history, with invoices, is vital when buying one of these cars - but so long as the buyer is careful, he or she will be rewarded for many years to come.

IKWYM for sure. I intend to keep mine for ever too. I would be devastated if I had to part with it. I try, whenever I can. to turn adversity into opportunity, so if mine did suffer the same fate as yours, I might use it as an opportunity to look for a Bentley Continental GT, which I have hankered after for a long time. I would never willingly part-ex my XKR for one though.

LOL. Get your drift now

Life can change course so quickly. Incidents like this remind me that life is fleeting for us all, and we should strive to make the most of every day, every opportunity, that comes our way. The positive side to your situation is that it could so easily have been so much worse, if anyone had been injured.

I commiserate with you and wish you well with your car in the future. I hope you will keep us all posted on how it works out for you. Best wishes from (sunny, for a change) England.

 

Sorry to hear of your loss. At least no one was hurt.

I wouldn't say that is the case. I have been closely following the XKR market since 2010 and compiled a spreadsheet of all the ones that came on the market. I did lose interest in the 4.2's when I sold my '07 a couple of years ago but I had seen over 120 advertised for sale up until then and there have been loads on the market since. I still track the 5 litre cars and they are much rarer, only around 60 so far plus 8 XKR-S's.

I was actually surprised how few XK's are on TradeMe at the moment. Maybe it is a Covid supply thing but there are five 4.2 litre XKR's on there currently, one of which is black on black, and they have all done less than 60,000 km's. Your market is smaller if you discount the '07's but I can't see any reason why they won't keep bringing them in. Having owned both, I can highly recommend the 5 litre cars.

 

Am glad that your (soon to be ex) wife is OK.

Who was at fault btw...you didnt mention?

Such a shame as a beautiful beast, personally If it were me, I'd not get it repaired.

I also think that another x150 probably isnt on the cards for you as (from my limited understanding of the fragile female psyche) your wife will probably not want to drive one again. ALL THE MORE REASON TO GET ANOTHER!

 

A thread title like that needs the proper homage:

 

This makes me hurt. My vote would be rebuild, for whatever that's worth.

 

Glad no one was hurt. That does look like significant damage. Considering the XK's complex build assembly, I'd bite the bullet, regardless of the Ins Co decision, and move onto another XK. There are plenty of XKs around (even with low mileage) and they are not quick sellers. Good luck and let us know how you make out.