The Honolulu Jag dealer has a 04 XKR Vert on the lot. Local trade in, bought new in Honolulu, one owner with 38K miles on it. They want 21K for it, ouch!

Drove it and it's in great shape in and out, I've been wanting to drive an XKR to see if it would be worth it to me to upgrade from my 03 XK8 to an XKR, to be honest after driving this one I'm not sure. Yes, the extra power was there but only when you put your foot down did it really feel any different than my car.

For the price it's a no sale for me but I'd be willing to bet this car could be had for much less.

http://www.jaguarhonolulu.com/used/J...784cacc869.htm

 

Love the wheels. Plus a somewhat rare color and Recaro seats--nice.

Doug

 

Yelp, I like the color also, even has the phone in the console.

I keep thinking about it, just might make them an offer and see what they say.....

 

You'd be amazed how often people say yes to quite low offers, as long as you are polite while doing it, it seems no harm no foul. Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they don't.

 

Love the dealer mark up. You are paying for the power, lower miles, etc. With so many of us doing our own work on our cars, specially under the hood I just dont see the worth in the supercharger, it is in the way to most any repair under the hood. Parts are hard enough to find for these cars, that SC will be worse. Not worth the hassle when I drive mine for the looks, not the power.

 

Forgetting for a moment that's it's an upgrade in every way over the standard car, lets talk value... If dollars and cents are what's stopping you from buying, you can be sure that's it's a better investment.

As time passes, the 'price gap' between the XKR and standard xk8 is only increasing. The xk8's are still dropping in price, the same cannot be said about the xkr's. The price of that xkr is actually very good considering it's a car made in limited numbers.

 

Given the low miles and extras on the car I don't see that the price is all that unfair. You can try offering something like $18K and see where that goes.

Doug

 

Brah...you stay on Island. You neva gonna get one discount. Betta off take one vacation mainland, find your dream car, go ship 'em back.

 

LOL, shoots, done that, my 03 took one barge from CA. Can, can, no can, no can...Brah.

 

I totally agree with this...but I also agree with brgjag

"Love the dealer mark up. You are paying for the power, lower miles, etc. With so many of us doing our own work on our cars, specially under the hood I just dont see the worth in the supercharger, it is in the way to most any repair under the hood. Parts are hard enough to find for these cars, that SC will be worse. Not worth the hassle when I drive mine for the looks, not the power."

However as time passes our cars are racking up more miles and low mile examples are getting harder to fine. Living on an island and my Jag not being a daily driver I average under 5K a year. My 03 has 98K on it and while it is near perfect condition it's worth half what the 04 XKR is. Finding a good low mile XKR locally is an even harder thing to do so I'm saving money by not having to fly to the mainland to check something out as well as shipping charges.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS...I don't really need another Jag and selling my current car on Maui would take awhile and I'll take a bath on the price...also I'm not really into this for the investment, just personal pleasure.

I really like the idea of a low mileage XKR but I also absolutely love my XK8, I think it will come down to price to make up my mind. I'm going to low, low ball them and see what happens. The dealer already told me they don't really want the car just took it on a trade from a good customer for a new Jag, I'd be willing to bet they have around 10K in it. Hawaii is tough on these cars for resale, most un- Jag educated people are afraid of them for all the normal issues that the cars have and a bad rap for dependability. Plus a small market here to draw from for potential buyers. Not like the mainland where dealers can draw from thousands of miles around. When I was looking for my 03 I found several local cars that had sat on lots for too long and got booted to the local auction, I suppect that's what will happen to this car if someone like me does not step up and buy it.

 

My opinion is that the XKR that you are looking at is the right car to to buy. 04-06 seems to be what x-100 lovers really want. It has the Recaro Seats (not common), Split Rim Wheels, and Optional Steering Wheel......if It were an 03XKR with the same attributes I would say, negotiate it down. I have an 04 with BBS Detroit, Recaros, Red Bremo option. Mine has lower miles, but it's not a big deal. I've had several unsolicited offers significantly above what the dealer is asking but I'm not in Maui and you must have a narrower marketplace.

 

Oddly, given the garbage 5HP24 transmission, t-stat housing and other issues in the 8, I'd much rather have the R; assuming 2002 and older. 03+ the 6HP26 is a much better unit and utilized in both cars; but if I can have an additional 70-90HP and a much larger availability of torque down low, I'd much rather have it. Plus, if history has shown us anything, base models have a different depreciation, appreciation and resale market than factory performance models.

I have two R V8 cars and honestly, other than valley hoses and injectors, it really doesn't make life harder underhood. The SC drive belt system is simple and you learn the quick belt removal technique, not really in the way. I am almost done doing the SC rebuild on my XJR, preventatively, since the car has 95k on it. I made things pretty, did a ton of while I'm there stuff (vacuum lines, coolant hoses, cleaned all aluminum up, painted intercooler manifolds, new water pump, new serpentine idler and tensioner idler pulleys) and I'll have about 15 hours into the job, and that includes all of my time disassembling, rebuilding and reassembling the SC itself.

It's mostly a difference of opinion, but the XKR is preferred by myself over the 8, especially when you factor in the 5HP24 gearbox of early models (I HATE them, I've had both a BMW and Audi with maintained ones fail prematurely).

 

With these cars being harder to find parts for as times goes buy, that XKR with limited units being made not going to be REAL hard to find SC parts down the road? That would be my worry.

 

That could be but highly unlikely given it's internals are the same as any other Eaton M112, and really the unique parts really come down to gaskets, seals and weird coolant hoses that can be fabricated and already are being reproduced (silicone hoses with even a variety of colors). The transmission is a 722.6 Mercedes unit which is far from rare. The majority of the parts that differentiate the R models aren't particularly rare or unique, even to Jaguar.

You can find all sorts of weird parts for much less popular and much rarer cars than this. They made about 23k X100 XKRs and 19k X308 XJs in supercharged variants, so that's far from rare. About a quarter of total production of X100 were R models. You can buy tons of oddities for early XJSs, so I know I'm not worried.

 

ok. I am wrong.

 

Still if I get another XK, I am getting an older one so I can do the LSx swap with 6sp.

 

I do love my SC engine, but being in the middle of a complete hose, gasket and seal replacement project, ...... I gotta admit: That LS swap sounds mighty enticing somewhere down the road. And I know it's just an ego thing, but swapping out an air to liquid supercharger, dual over cams and four valves per cylinder for a pushrod engine is just, ..... well it's just depressing. I love the elegant design of my engine!!! Ok, ... you can shoot me now - lol.

 

pluses and minuses on both sides, bottom line for me is price and do I really want to sale my 03 XK8 which I love. Not that it would be easy to do on Maui and would likely only get 8K if I'm lucky.

I like the color of my car better but the 04 XKR is a nice color also, the XKR has more extras and a higher sale/resale value but my 03 is paid for and I'm enjoying planning/doing small mods that I may not be willing to do on a more expensive car.

I'm a big bugger and the Recardo seats while they look great felt a little tight for my somewhat larger frame.

I'm not going to pay 20 to 21 K for the XKR, period. To be honest unless I get it for a steal in the 14K range I'm not interested, just don't need it that bad. I think in the limited market in Hawaii the dealer may negotiate or maybe not. Not an issue either way...I'll be back in Honolulu next week and will stop in to see if it's still there and if it is I'll offer up what I'm willing to pay. I've always refused to fall in love with a car until I own it as being in love in all matters in life ends up costing you a lot of money!

I'll be just as happy with my XK8 but obviously there's something drawing me to the XKR or I would have dropped this a few posts ago.

 

Right on the mark, J! When I was a Co-Pilot at Pan Am, I loved flying with a Captain, "Dirty Ned" O'Keefe, who passed on to me some sage words of wisdom:

"If it flies, floats or fornicates - - - RENT IT!"

Of course I screwed up the last part. And I'm STILL paying for that lapse in judgment - lol.

I'd certainly rather spend money on Kitty - that's for sure.

 

Remember that the LSx conversion can only be done on 97-02 cars with the kit that is out there to do so.