In an effort to not bore anyone I'll make this as brief as possible. I have aseveral roadsters mostly performance based cars some classics, some newer, some domestic, some foreign; none are Jaguars. My lovely wife of 14 years turns 40 this May and I'd like to show my gratitude of her tolerance of me with a roadster of her own. After some covert questioning she likes the looks of a Jaguar most. She'll most likely drive it approximately 2000-3000 miles a year, it will be garaged kept and I do understand the value of maintenance and don't mind making that investment.

Initially, I was planning on purchasing a 2000 or 2001 XKR but after reading some previous posts it sounds as though a 2003 or newer, (with the 4.2),would be the better choice. That's thrusting prices up into themid 30's to low 40's. Now, I've paid that much and more for my cars but I drive them a bit more regularily and appreciate the performance levels; she doesn't go over 55mph ever. So, I don't know that it makes sense to spend that much fora performance based car that won't be appreciatedso I've gone back to the drawing board and am now considering maybe a 1997 to 1999 XK8 which seem to be running in the mid to upper teens for a good one.

Now that you have some background here are my questions;
1) Anyone know of a good independent Jag mechanic in Tulsa?
2) I've heard that after 10 years a lot of parts go obsolete for the Jags; true? False?
3) How good or bad are the XK8's or maybe better put what are the most dependable years; excluding 2003 and up of course?
4) If I went with an older out of warranty car, (I wouldn't get anything over 60k miles regardless of year), how problematic of car should I expect? I hate to say it but it seems like the most common knock on the Jags are reliability and I don't want to spend 3k a year in repairs to keep it on the road.

Thanks in advance for offering all your hard earned knowledge,
Dave in Tulsa