Given the lack of XK8s in your area, a long bus/train ride might be worth the time and effort on this car. Good to hear you can drive it before deciding.

I draw confidence from the plans you are adopting . . .

(1) prior research. questions, answers (both here and of seller) are vital;
(2) taking cash (safer still, bank cheque for majority) and one-way train ticket, is my modus operandi;
(3) balance heart with head, a return train ticket is less expensive than a poor Jaguar purchase.

Using this strategy, about 20% needed a return ticket, but 80% returned with car.

One final observation prompted by pics of the black car . . . Nigel Thorley, who has written a raft of excellent Jag guides, reminds us to never, no NEVER, inspect, or worse, BUY, a rain spattered car.

I wonder if that rules out most offerings in the UK isles? LOL

Cheers and best wishes

Thanks to everyone for the advice and patience here, this forum is really a gold mine of information for these cars!

I‘ve been in conversation with the seller trying to find some details to help me make the decision, here are some bits I noticed:

• The airbag light is on, I’ll bring my autel ap200 scanner to check the code, but it’s very important as I’m not sure the car will be able to pass MOT here with the light on. If I decide to go through with the purchase, I would have 2-3 weeks of time to fix this before the car would have to do the inspection.
  
• Tire dimension in the registration certificate is indeed 245/50R17 but tires fitted on the car are R18, should not be issue to add these in the registration document
  
• Timing chain kit replacement was part number HR2102 - I don’t know if that was the upgraded kit with metal tensioners and guides or plastic ones?
  
• Unusual mileage discrepancy: In 2022 the car had 210862km, ~212.5k in 2024, and last invoice from 2025 said 220210km, which is strange given that current mileage is 215502km (verified as I asked for the odometer photo), perhaps the shop in 2025 made a mistake when writing down the mileage?
  
• More than 12k EUR was spent on service during 2024/2025 (including transmission rebuild, headlights, timing chain, valve cover gaskets, coolant hoses, many other bits and pieces); my guess is the owner had enough of the repairs and decided to get rid of the car? I hope I dodged a lot of the bullets at least for many of these repairs

Just so you know what you're getting yourself into... here's a running list of the items I have addressed on my bargain XKR in the last year:

Active Suspension FR Replaced with 38K unit, new bushings
Active Suspension FL Replaced with 38K unit, new bushings
Active Suspension RR Replaced with 38K unit, new bushings
Active Suspension RL Replaced with new, new bushings
Active Suspension Control Unit Replaced with good salvage
Rear Fuse Assembly Replaced with known good
Rear Relays All replaced (4pin, and 5pin)
Battery Replaced
Battery Cables Cleaned, Secured
Rear light assemblies Replaced with non-cracked units
Convertible Top Hydraulic fluid changed
Convertible Top Switch replaced
Wipers Replaced
Windshield small rock chips sealed, repaired
Rear View Mirror, RH glass replaced
Body Control Module Cleaned, Secured
Transmission Control Module Replaced
ECU Corroded contacts cleaned, verified for 100% function
LH Engine bay fuse assembly Replaced
RH Engine bay fuse assembly Replaced
All Engine Bay Relays Replaced
Supercharger all seals replaced
Throttle cable adjusted, bent back to position
Cooling fan assembly Secured correctly (no zip ties, sheesh!)
Headlights LED installed for High beams
Quarter Panel - FR Replaced
Control Arms Replaced
All suspension bushings Replaced
Seats Reconditioned, cracks repaired
Shift gate Solenoid replaced, shift lock replaced
Dome light assembly Plastic mount replaced with aluminum, re-secured
Transmission Leaks fixed, serviced
Rear main seal Replaced
O2 sensors wiring re-secured, verified for correct operation
RH Quarter-window assembly Replaced
Key fob Replaced, programmed
Floor mats Purchased, installed
RH Seat belt adjusted, buckle replaced
Hood latch Sensor cleaned, adjusted
Antenna cleaned, verified for power function
Timing Chain guides Lower installed, upper verified to have been replaced with upgraded metal
Belts replaced
SC Belt replaced
Fuses verified/replaced where necessary
Coolant reservoir New installed

To do:
Coolant lines and hoses
Bluetooth/Android auxiliary unit
Address paint mismatch between stock and body
Spare key/fob
Valet key
Part out spare 2000 XK8 (no title, bad transmission, good engine)
Tires

These cars are a labor of love and not something I would consider a set-and-forget daily driver. They are very rewarding, and you have to be just the right kind of crazy to have one. It's been a great project so far.

Buy the right car and it can be a reliable daily driver.

My 2002 XKR is a daily driver. It had 116,000 miles (187,000 km) on it when I purchased it 8+ years ago. The heavy lifting (in repairs) had already been done e by the previous owners and the seller.

Now it has 204,500 miles (329,000 km) on it and hundreds, if not thousands, more every week.

I’ve spent about $300 on parts in 8+ years: a radiator, heater control valve, and CPU fan. Plus consumables of course.

That’s it. A more reliable car one couldn’t ask for.

I was patient. It took 2-3 months to settle on the XKR as being my first choice. And another 6 months of searching nationwide before a suitable car appeared. Patience pays off.

only you can say how long you are prepared to take, and how wide a net to cast in the search.

I was willing to fly across the USA just to look at a car. Only to return home empty handed when my criteria was not met. Will you be able to that ? That’s harder than you might imagine.

Z

I admittedly overpaid a bit (and trailered 5 hours) for my 03' XKR conv a couple years ago because of such good condition - garaged, never saw bad weather, original owner, 52kmiles. It's such a pleasure to work on compared to my rusty old truck - it's like a new car - not a rusty bolt to be found.
So far has just needed an O2 sensor, and just the other day I finally got around to adjusting the windows which it did need (one side just loose - one side needs a micro switch). It does have a slow parasitic drain I still haven't bothered to look into though.

As much as I love it, however, I don't think I'd get one if I didn't plan on servicing it myself. The costs terrify me.

The mileage discrepancy is most likely a recording error by a repair shop. But I would ask the dealer to fix the airbag fault as a bargaining point.

I asked about it but they didn't seem very interested in dealing with it. They basically said "we can sell the car for 10000 EUR if we fix all of the little things".

I can try to scan, clear the SRS code (I hope that the paid Jaguar package for Autel scanner can do that) and see if it will reappear during the test drive. I'll bring a small multimeter to check battery health too as the car has been sitting for a while

+1
In all jurisdictions of which I am aware (but not sure of HR), lit warning or fault lights for safety features like airbags, ABS brakes etc . . . are all automatic failures of roadworthiness such as UK's MOT. Smart move is getting seller to have it fixed properly as a condition of purchase.

With this proviso, and provided selling dealer does document all prior repairs, and undertakes to fix remaining issues you have or will note during your inspection, then perhaps you may have that prize of purchasing "the best you can find and afford".

Cheers and best wishes.

Actually, on further reflection after my post, I am surprised that a dealer is even allowed to sell a vehicle with an active SRS/airbag failure.
Treading softly but firmly, you might hint of this prior to your inspection . . . just as a helpful prod to the selling dealer.

Cheers and best wishes,

Technically, it is the same here, any warning light means the car is not roadworthy, though we are a Balkan state so if you know "a person" or "accidentally leave" a 50 EUR banknote in the car (not that I will go that route) anything is possible


This is actually a good point. I don't know if there is an EU-wide regulation about this. Seller claims that they bought the vehicle in an auction in Germany with the airbag light on. I still dislike that this was not disclosed in the advertisement immediately...

Thinking more about this, no matter how the much this car might seem like a good deal I don't want to take the gamble on if the car will pass the MOT here, I'll try to work with the seller to get this fixed before the potential purchase. The car passed its last MOT in 2024 with 212k km. The last owner seems to have spent quite a lot of money on the car; I doubt he would drive the car with airbag light on so I suspect the light must have appeared in between him selling the car in 2025 and now.

If the dealer will not fix the airbag fault, you could make an offer contingent on proper diagnosis by a trusted shop. The repair estimate could then be factored into your consideration.

Or . . .
No fix?
No deal.
Walk away!

Dealer got the airbag fault code; it's B2291

If you haven’t done so already, use the forum search feature to find threads on “B2291”. It will give you a sense of possible culprits for this airbag system fault. Good luck!

So... I ended up driving to see the car in person and not taking the bus as I had a feeling I would not buy the car on the spot.

The bodywork looked really clean, interior too, really no complaints about that.

I did test drive the car, but road was quite wet and slippery so I couldn't push the car too much. We drove the car to the nearby gas station, however after driving off the check engine light went on and the car jumped in a limp mode, it would not go over 2500 rpms.

My scanner showed many faults across 4 or 5 different modules:

• B2291 occupant position system status: flash code 1-7 (apparently the fix for this is to solder a resistor in the passenger underseat module, a technique dealer claims to have used on bmws for the same fault)
• P1384 variable camshaft timing solenoid 1 malfunction
• P0562 system voltage low
• U1261 SCP (-) circuit failure
• AC faults
  • B1969 compressor clutch control - circuit failure
  • B1265 cool air servo motor circuit failure
  • B1263 vent servo motor - circuit failure
  • B1858 climate control pressure switch - circuit failure
  • B1262 defrost servo motor - circuit failure

The A/C doesn't work (as indicated by all of the codes) and neither does the radio, nothing happens when the radio button is pressed or turned. There were other minor problems such as passenger side window going down when closing the door, driver side hood latch not working properly, etc.

I cleared the faults and re-started the car. A/C and airbag codes were still present. The camshaft solenoid code did not appear but I could hear a ticking noise in the engine every time I'd push the throttle when idling. At some point the battery was too low and we had to use a jump pack, so some of these faults were likely due to low battery health.

Dealer offered to discount the price around a 1000 EUR given all of the problems encountered but I could not give a definitive answer on the spot. The final price of around 6000 EUR and all of the documented maintenance are really appealing but I am still worried that there are way too many electrical gremlins. I can debug and try some simple fixes myself but I don't want to end up having to spend a fortune in specialized service shops..

Not surprising there were many fault codes found as this car has been sitting for a while. Low voltage alone can result in several. But unless you can clear the limp mode, you would have a frustrating time driving it back home. My guess is that it will remain unsold with the seller for some time. That will give you additional time to explore other examples as they become available. Be patient.

^^ What he said....

My guess is if it remains with the dealer unrepaired and unsold for- say another 3 months or so; then it will be “back to the auction.”

As mentioned above a new, proper battery could cause many of those codes to vanish. Cleaning up grounds and connectors can also be helpful. Sounds like they don’t want to put more time, labour and $ into the pot though!

I think you’re wise to wait.

Cheers,
Brian W.

Thanks everyone, I decided to hold off on purchase and keep searching as more ads appear. The first red XK8 is out of my consideration at this point and the black one has too many issues for me to say "yes" at the moment. If I come across something interesting I might check back here and ask for a fresh set of eyes to look at it as the advice are of big help in making the final decision.