I am looking to buy an XKR. Limited budget means I will probably end up with a model from between 1998 and 2000. One owner told me to make sure I buy one with a steel-lined engine, another said Nikasil-lined engines were fine - is this an issue and is there anything I should look out for? All suggestions gratefully received.

 

Personally I would not go the route of XKR. More costs in fixing things that go wrong on all the XK8 motors and you have to deal with the SC on the R's. Sounds like you don't know much about these cars?
Anyway, in general I would go with a 2003 and newer. 97-2002 you have to deal with suspect timing chain tensioners being made of plastic and breaking and TOASTING your motor in some cases. 97-98 models are known for having ECM's going koo koo on you eventually making it seem the car is taking a crap on you with a slew of errors the car starts throwing at you, this is a easy fix with a rebuild of the ECU by ASI for under 250 bucks, I had that very issue on the 97 I owned years back.
With these cars you would be wise to get one with a paper trail of work done to it. Without you are taking a risk. Newer or lower mile car does not equal a better kept car if you have no clue on the maint history. Front suspension is a weak point on these, bushings suck, front springs known to get weak at high miles. The c0oling system hoses can be a bugger to deal with when you have to replace them, two go under the intake and cant be replaced with out removing intake, throw a SC on top of that, YIKES.
Some of the cars come with (more on R cars I think) come with adaptive control suspension which = higher costs to fix then a normal XK8.
These cars that live hotter climates can be more prone to hydraulic hose ruptures on the conv top system. Yes they have them that go up to the header latch that tend to leak right there, meaning that the lines have top be replaced from top of windshield back to the pump.
If the battery is old, say 5 years plus, look to replace that when you get the car, as they get weaker the voltage gets lower, these cars and the MANY components don't like that and it makes them work no so good (windows loosing setting is a common one).
As for the Nikasil motors or the newer normal lined motors I have seen two camps of opinion on that one. Seems that if the car has made it to 50-90k miles with no issue then the motor is ganna be fine. these cars HATE HATE HATE to be over heated, don't let it do that. Sadly, the gauge for temp on these SUCKS AZZ. The motor is virtually frieing by the time the gauge will tell you there is an issue.
Most of us here on the site do much of the work to MAINTAIN these cars our selves, so we champion the ownership of the cars. If you got the wallet to take it to a shop every time it needs work, get one. If you can do some wrench turning on your own and have money to buy parts (DONT BUY THEM FROM A DEALER) then buy one.
These are great cars, they must be driven more then not, if you let it sit, it will act up, they really need to be driven, really.
I would suggest searching this forum for the XK8 and reading up. PLENTY of threads with various issues of topic that will tell you if you are up for this car or not.
I would skip the XKR, save $$$ and put it towards a nicer XK8. These cars have normal maint as they get old on things in the engine bay, to me that super charger is dead smack in the way of many repairs and has to come off to get to them. NO THANKS for me there.
Again a BIG issue with these that you need to know if it has been fixed is the timing chain problems on the early year models. A low mile car, say 45k is just as prone to chain tensioner faliure as a 90k car, don't let low miles fool you. This repair is VERY important. Don't buy this car off a lot if they can't show you work done to it, or some dude that when asked about this and that just says I DON'T know. If it looks great, all is clean, by all means take a chance but have that $$$$$ to start the maint cycle when you get it.

 

Welcome to the forum forestfan,

The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for info on regular issues.

Forget Nikasil now - if it was going to fail, it would have done so long ago.

Look for information on the three major issues of plastic tensioners, cooling system and 'sealed for life' transmissions.

Graham

 

Thanks for the advice Graham - now I know what I will be doing this weekend :-)

 

I totally disagree with the advice to skip the XKR and buy an XK8 instead. The supercharged 4.0 cars have the far more reliable Mercedes gearbox rather than the failure prone ZF unit. You get the very reliable supercharger and no VVT. You also get upgrades that the XK8 didn't get until later years, such as the metal thermostat housing, plus it is a lot faster.

Weaknesses such as chain tensioners and rusty floor pans are common to both 8s and Rs. Far fewer Rs were made, so long term they should be even more desirable.

 

There are two links in the Sticky section that discusses a new purchase at length.. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ts-data-29800/

Much may depend on your skills as a mechanic or to learn, if you have someone else that will do mechanical work then pay more for one that has items in that thread worked on. Either way the ride looks and feels great.

And as you can see we owners are passionate about our xk8/xkr and defend them accordingly.

 

Checkout the Pistonheads buying guide:
http://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-buying-guides/ph-buying-guide-jaguar-xk8-xkr-x100/27195

 

spot on

 

It's like the old chocolate adverts from years ago for Milk Tray and Yorkies.




Substitute Milk Tray with XK8

Substitute Yorkie with XKR

 

I have done repairs on both and would not avoid the XKR if you are a competent mechanic. Yes, it's a little more complicated and harder to work on for things like hose replacement, but the power makes it worthwhile.

A nikasyl engine with good compression is very reliable, and the addition of the Realgauge or other means of monitoring actual engine temp will keep it that way.

The more expensive shocks detract, but they don't give out quickly and you can even replace them with standard Bilsteins if you disconnect the module.

 

Given everything I've worked on with my XKR and XJR, there's no way I'd get pre-03 XK8 or a non-SC (id only get XJR, VDP SC) X308 XJ. The 00-02 XKR has the better transmission, metal tstat housing, and way more power. See how often on here there is a thread about XKR W5A580/722.6 Mercedes transmissions failing, and how often there are threads about XK8 5HP24 ZF transmissions failing, Enough said!

The only R related parts I've had go in my 4.5 years and 26k miles of XKR ownership was a bearing in the supercharger idler pulley. $13 and a short period of time at the press and I was back on the road. I had other parts go but they were common to the NA model so they weren't R specific.