Hi all, I'm new to the XK scene and doing my research. I plan on buyinga used XKR in the next few months and wanted to ask a few questions to help me along. Yes, I'velooked through the backposts also.

1. I'm curious to know why the values of used XKRs fall so rapidily, pre 2007. Is there some hidden gotcha with owning these cars, what's the catch? I can see that parts my be expensive but so are parts for just about all luxery cars today like Lexus, BMW, etc. Or perhaps it's because the new generation cars have come out. It's good for me, because I can obtain onerelatively cheap, but just wondering.

2. What is considered the best year car to own of that generation. Seems to me the 2005 modelis about the sweet spot of price and updates, but again, I've only startedmy research.

3. Any preferences/arguments as which to buy...XK8 or go for the XKR? Basically is there any downside to purchasing an XKR vs the XK8 to get the extra performance. For example, higher insurance, supercharger replacement likely, etc. I've owned a supercharged car before and know that can be quite expensive to replace.

4. Is there manufacturing list anywhere that lists how many where made, colors made, etc. for each year?

I've noticed alot of dealers have these cars for sale and not very many individuals....I hate buying from car brokers and want to avoid if at all possible.

I hope to be driving a coupe soon! Thanks in advance!

 

I'll give it a go in terms of a few of your questions. Keep in mind I am also a newbie who spent about a year researching largely to satisfy myself that I was not taking an undue risk in buying one of these but also partly to satisfy my wife that I was not nuts altogether. I loved this generation of XK when they came out (1996?) but never really considered one since price of them new was way way out of my ballpark. I had similarly thought that used prices would also be beyond my limit but I was astounded to find that used XK (XK8 in particular) were ridiculously low, at least in southern California. I guess this is due to past iffy reputation of British cars and also most buyers in Socal who are looking for a prestigious sports car go for Porsche or some souped up BMWthe XKs are a strange niche.

When I started researching more than a year ago my budget ended up including 2003 or older XKR and 2004 and 2005 XK8. Both the XK8 and XKR are stunning looking cars but I ended up leaning to the XKR since this car would be replacing my 1995 Corvette and I wanted the extra oomph.

I talked with a bunch of independent Jag mechanics and other folks on boards like this and discovered that it was better to go for a post-1999 due to Nikasil issue and perhaps timing chain tensioner issues. I also convinced myself that post-2002 were better due to the larger engine and the change from 5-speed trans to 6-speed. I was somewhat leary of a supercharger (having previously owned a turbo car) but I ended up convinced that the ones on the XKR were pretty bulletproof.

After that I just continually watched ebay to see what these were going for and also checked autotrader and similar sites for local cars. I ended up with a great deal from a local private party and ended up with more than I expected (just plain lucky).

I recently bought a book by Nigel Thorley that tells the history of the XK8/XKR along with some technical stuff as well as production numbers, colors, etc. If you would like I can try to scan a few pages for you.

Others here know much more than I do about these cars and I am sure they will chime in.

Good luck,

Doug

 

Kyleport, you mustbe genius. Tell me where I can send you money and buy your program.I know you listedthe websiteabove butcan you spam / keyword another replyhere so we can all be sure.I want to save 10-15k on my next car purchase using your program. Can you teach me to buy / sell real estate also? I have tons of cash to send you.

Post a carfax report and bill of sale when you make your XKR purchase then we might believe you, douchebag.

 

Sorry for the post above,have the mod remove it and allkyleport SPAM, thought it deserved one reply.

Anyway...thanks for the reply and sorry for all the questions. I sure I'll find out moreas I look around.

Any thoughts on the coupe? They seem to beharder to find but I love the looks of it.

 

lol id like to see a paint meter reading of all the body panels too to see how many times the thing has been rolled over

id say coupes maybe make up 1 out of 5 XKs if not even less, i love the looks too, the exclusivity is good and you can always drive a hard top car obv....just hate how there is not a sunroof[:'(]