Many thanks! I feel you well understand my outlook - that is a comforting feeling. One of those things that until you've been there you can only imagine-

 

Craigslist and FB Marketplace are both places where you can find a gem. We certainly did! Plenty of research ahead of time will make you a saavy buyer. If it seems sketchy just move on. I would say your fixation on a certain color will limit your choices, but you already know that…

 

Many thanks!

About to start exploring both. Had the impression from simple past comments i saw that either were like going to an infected website. I guess bad experiences spread like a wildfire, but good rarely do-

 

Just another reminder, finding a car with low miles is not necessarily a reliable criteria for the buyer. A “barn find” means it has not been driven or serviced for some time, and related issues of benign neglect will surface quickly.

 

I am honestly expecting to focus on something between 100k to 155k in order to get the price point i am looking for, but i'll still ask about recency of regular use.

And when i read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass as an adult, i enjoyed the book so much more than hearing it as a kid!

 

I found my car on eBay. I told the seller I was going to drive up within 24 hr of the auction close and see the car in person (and not making a deposit beforehand). If the car was as it was presented l, I’d pay in cash in full.

note: I’ve flown or driven across country to see a car, never buying sight unseen. About 1/2 the time the car was OK, the other half, maybe 3 or 4 times, I just chalked it up to experience and enjoyed the trip empty handed back home.

the sellers of the crappy cars were always shocked to hear I was passing and going home. They thought I had too much invested to walk away.

Z

 

By the way, 2006 was the final model year for the X100. If you cut off your search parameters at 2005, you will miss the cream of the crop, the Victory Edition.

 

Thank you, kind of what i am afraid of, but such is life.

Merry Christmas!!!

 

About a week or so ago i decided to open up my search to any year prior to 2006 but restrict it to XKR, then today i included 2006, based on advice from the fine folks in this forum.



Now for an epic announcement:

I no longer am restricting to maroon (or whatever marketing wants to call it).



I've now included charcoal.



As y'all have no reason to know my bad sarcastic sense of humor -

If that for which i was searching (convertible, as close to $10k max as possible in that i can weasel out a little more $) in maroon was hard to find, finding charcoal makes maroon look like they could be found in every used car lot in town.

And yes, i have expanded sourcing to include Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and even EBay...

Best Regards and wishes for a Merry Christmas!

-Bruce

 

When the XJ8 was nearing 17 years old and 120K miles, I decided to retire it from daily duties, however, the XJ series had grown too large in both length and girth. In order to fit in my attached garage, I was going to have to step down to the XF as a replacement but I thought it looked just too much like a Lexus ES350 (or any of a couple dozen other modern sedans). I liked the 5.0L and the beautiful Portfolio trim interior, but to counter the sameness in profile, I decided that I at least was going to purchase one in an actual prismatic color which Jaguar offered a few. Unfortunately I was finding used ones predominantly in white, black, silver and grey. I spent over four months and traveled all over Texas to inspect a half a dozen or so. Following a long trip to see one in Indigo Blue with barely 17,000 miles (my Lotus, Corvette and Mustang are all blue and was excited as Jaguar's blue was even better), I had to turn it down after the check engine light came on during the test drive. The sales manager promised that whatever it was, they would fix it, but I said, no, that it was just a bad omen. Eventually, another nice, low-mileage example showed up in Caviar, traded in at an Acura dealer about 45 minutes away. I definitely would never have ordered Caviar if I were buying it new, but at least it isn't black, white, silver or grey like 99 out of 100 other modern sedans.

When shopping for a used car (even classic cars) you either have to be very, very patient or take what you can get that matches most of the rest of your criteria. I say hold out because I've seen a significant number in those sort of dark-red hues. Its not a matter of if, but just how soon and how far away one will come up for sale. Here's hoping Santa squeezes one down your chimney in Carnival Red.

 

I apologize for somewhat hijacking the thread but was surprised at hearing the prices these fetch. Somehow I was under the impression that with cars like ours you would be lucky to sell one for more than a few thousand bucks. Then I saw someone else on the forum sold a low mileage (not always a good thing) 2004 XKR for 24k!!!! Has the market changed when I wasn't looking?

 

it’s a very small market. Few cars for sale and few buyers. A small shift either way can mean a car will sell for less than you think, or a lot more than you thought possible.

to get a good price there’s a little luck involved to have the right timing. Patience is what’s called for whether you are a buyer or seller.

Z

 

My experience with semi-exotic cars is that when you want to buy one you may pay dearly but when you want to sell the same car you will take a bath. Maybe it also depends on location. As an aside my neighbor had a gorgeous 2003 Mercedes 500SL he was asking $10k for. He had a few lookers and almost-buyers. Then lowered to $8.5k and now months later Make Offer. He can't give the car away which totally surprised me.

 

two selling examples: the last 1966 Shelby GT-350 I sold took 14 months to get a buyer at my original price. He flew in from California and drove the car 1,500 miles back west. I only advertised on the Shelby forum (SAAC.com) because I didn’t want to deal with uneducated tire kickers. Not being in a hurry was my ally.

My last K code Mustang sold on eBay. Straight sale, not an auction. It sold more quickly, but a lot of work dealing with the general public. Also sold for my asking price. Maybe I was lucky in my timing, probably was.

i believe in the old adage, “profits are made when you buy (right), not when you sell.”

Z

 

So VERY true! I'm getting tired of skipping past all those silver, grey and blacks now but i don't color restrict my searches in the event charcoal is miscategorized as grey (or anything else...).

I'm going the patience route. I've learned it to be a horrible thing to be haunted for years by a regret. I have too many that still follow me as a reminder and i don't want to add to them with something i can't easily cure anymore-

Thank you and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
-Bruce