Hello Jag Owners,

I’ve wanted a Jag all my life and have an opportunity to buy what seems to be a great deal. It’s a ‘97 or ’99 XK8 Coupe with only 40,000klm on the clock. It has been stood for over a year and has a dead battery hence, cannot see it running however, the owner is known by me and the car has only ever been used for summertime driving – genuine. Oil looks cleaner than out of an oil can…
What would this car be worth? I would imagine some seals would be gone and obviously everything checked out – I would do most of this myself as I have a good knowledge of cars, I’m just not sure what a reasonable offer would be. With such low klm’s it would almost be like having a newish car… I don’t want to insult the owner by lowballing. If you don’t want to reply on the thread maybe you could message me.
Thanks in advance.

 

There are 2 major issues, that you would need to address, almost right away. One of the issues I would take care of, before I even started the car. The cars of that vintage, mine included, had plastic chain tensioners for the upper cam chains of the engine. Plastic doesn't care how few miles are on an engine. It deteriorates just from age. There are upgraded chain tensioners made of metal, that need to be put in. If a tensioner breaks, and they do, the engine is scrap, pushing valves into the top of pistons, poking holes in pistons, and cylinder walls, and bending rods. The 2nd item is Jaguars sealed for life transmission, meaning the life of the trans, and not yours. The trans your car has, if it is an automatic, needs regular trans maintenance, as in fluid and filter changes every 30 or 40 thousand miles, if you don't want to be on borrowed time, by the time the trans reaches between 85,000 miles, and it's unnatural demise around 95,000 miles. Unless the car you are buying has an oil leak, the engine is very tight, and long lived. My car has almost 95,000 miles, has NO oil leaks, and doesn't burn oil. I did have to change my trans. Another thing to remember, if you don't want to hate your car, do as much of the maintenance and repair work yourself. I don't know what the Jag dealers charge by you, but by me near Chicago they are paid in large sacks of gold, and only want to install factory parts. Salvage yards will become your friends, because Jaguar doesn't stock many parts for cars over 10 years old. I am sure others will chime in, with their experiences also.....It would be nice to see you become one of us......Be cool.......Mike

 

Good advice there Mike - very many thanks. I've read a lot on the forum about the tensioners requiring instant replacement and would definitely drop the trans fluid and filter etc. All this would obviously affect the offer I need to think about...

 

Sounds like a great find!

Considering your Vancouver location are there any signs of rust? What records are available? You have got to crank it with a new battery or a jump but I would make that as the current owners liability. The tires are going to be junk so consider a $1000 for that plus another $1000 for the tensioners.

That leaves an early car, and the unresolved '97 vs '99 makes a difference, worth well below US$10,000 even if the paint and leather is perfect.

 

Well you can find all the info you need about maintenance and normal issues on this forum. Your question is what's it worth, the honest answer is that it's worth whatever you are willing to pay. Without additional info and pictures I'd say about 6 to 7K. If it was running about 9K.

Good condition 97-99 XK8's can be had for less than 10K.

 

Pricing a used luxury car is kind of difficult, especially one with low miles(sorry.....USA), and from someone you know. In the US we have dealer books, that show prices according to condition, miles, and year. I am sure Canada has the same, or you can go to an internet site, like Kelly Bluebook, and get a ballpark price. There are 3 types of pricing. the first is wholesale, or what the dealer buys one for. The second is the price a private citizen can sell his car for, because it comes with more risk to the buyer. The last is what a dealer would sell a car for.

When you go to figure out a price, be sure you have the VIN number, miles, and an honest assessment of condition. Leather condition, carpet, paint, tires, and impending maintenance(get a number of estimates for this)

Lucky for you, XK8s are pretty much just used cars now, like the XJS was 10 years ago. Being in the car business, I am assuming the XK8 is pretty much at the bottom of it's depreciation cycle, especially with the cost of the newer models going ever skyward. The XJS is starting to rebound in price, and I expect to see the XK8 to do that also.

In the early 80s I sold my XKE for less than $2000. They are now selling for between 60 and 80 thousand dollars, and some that I have seen, are not as good as mine was.

Go into negotiations prepared, and know that you would be entering a very exclusive group. Jaguars are not what you see everyday, at least around me, and I at least look at them as rolling art, and that idea tends to hide a lot of my car's warts.....Be cool.....Mike

 

Thanks Test Point, I'd say the paint and leather in my opinion are perfect, the price you suggest is kinda where I was thinking, tensioners I would do myself along with quite a few other preventative changes as well.

 

Hi Jandreu - I guess I'd pay a lot then just to have one! To be honest though I know this could well be an open pit as reading some of the posts on this excellent site sound expensive. Thanks for the response.

 

Thanks again Mike - good advice. I know exactly what you mean '..rolling art', these cars have that edge about them that very few cars have, I know I would enjoy working on this car for years - and would probably have to!

 

Based on the above comment, you must know what his asking price is(?)
Is he the original owner? Any accident history? You might want to obtain a Carfax (or Canadian equivalent) report for it. I'd also have a mechanic check it out before making a firm offer. The tensioner issue might have already been sorted.

 

It looks like the car is worth about $4,700 to $5,400 US with a condition range from good to excellent using a Seattle Washington zip code and 25,000 miles on the odometer.


Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the replies guys - great forum. Will post any progress...

 

I promised to update...., I decided against purchasing the car for a number of reasons. However, I am pleased that my friend did get a very good price for their car - $15K. It was very, very low klms and was mint. I wasn't prepared to pay that kind of figure after having read the many potential issues you guys have experienced. One day I will get my jag though....

Good luck and thanks for all the responses!

 

i'm in teh same ballpark; new to Jags, have owned an audi TT used (money pit, new tires yearly) and a dodge stealth, which I loved. I've always loved the XK series from the time I was a little kid making XKE Revell models.
So I have already questioned teh forum about this, but this seems more current: my local VW dealer (from whom i've bought 3 cars) has a 2001 XK8 convertible with 32,000 miles for $16,900. I know it is tough to value these. Online I've seen everything from KBB and Edmunds prices around $8000-10000 up to $17 and more. I drove it, it is nearly pristine (I think there are some front end alignment or balance issues) but interior, engine compartment are beautiful. The comments about the tensioners are well taken; i'm hoping to bring this to my mechanic for his input. Any other suggestions? My dealer offers a lifetime powertrain warranty - does that cover the tensioners? Anyway, any input is sought and will be appreciated.

 

Is there a certain year after which the tensioner issue was resolved ie 2003?

 

Please find me one with 25k miles for 5 grand and I'l buy it

 

I'm looking too, but for that money I think, by my research, you are in 2003+ (4.2L territory) or XKR, despite the low miles. Look at this for example; higher asking price but a really neat special edition car:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv...115121125.html

 

The dealer warranty gets of define what 'powertrain' means. That needs to be in writing and stored as a valuable document. The transmission is certainly 'powertrain' but you need to read the fine print of the warranty. My Kia Borrego has a ZF transmission that the manufacturer says is a 100k mile fluid change but the Kia warranty says that the ATF must be changed every 30k miles.

Keep in mind that what ever great deal you get on the purchase of these cars unless you can do a lot of work yourself they are going to be very expensive to maintain.

These cars are best owned by hobby mechanics.

The tensioner issue was resolved August 13, 2001 with the engine assembly line conversion to metal tensioners.

 

you say front end issues you think there are. That could be simple to $$$$$$$$$. I just went down that route and as said if you can't do work yourself it get even more $$$. If you have the money to pay folks then go for it. Keep in mind from a dealer you are paying an extra 2k or MORE in retail markup.