Ok. Is ANY part of our XK8's meant to last more than 10 years??? EVERY TIME I have an issue or take it to the mechanic, I get the same "this part usually only lasts about 10 years."

 

I get that all the time. Parts last varying amounts of time.... The alternator on my XJR is original that would be 12 years.

Sounds like the mechanic is just trying to make you feel better.

 

I'm pretty sure the body panels are meant to last you more than 10 years, provided that you don't crash...

 

Alternator and Radiator have been the only big issues for me with a 12-year old car. The rest has been the smaller, annoying-but-not-critical stuff.

Age wise, its the plastics you have to watch out for. There seems to be a lot in these cars and plastic does deteriorate over time and get brittle, especially in the engine bay with all that heat.

 

I concur. Over time, the plastics in these cars will be the primary Achilles heel....

The complex electronics may fall into the same category....

 

On the other hand, who remembers back when a 5 year old car would nickel and dime you to death? Starters, alternator, water pump, etc. on the old 60's cars I drove in high school were always subject to failure not to mention the constant tune-up parts...

 

the radio volume knob has a lifetime guarantee

 

We all get frustrated by things that break down prematurely, I had a rebuilt steering rack put in on Friday to replace my leaking one, and I didn't even get to the end of the block before it started gushing out. However, I'm impressed with the longevity and quality of several things in our cars that seem to be of very high quality. For instance, the interiors, especially the dash and door panels seem to hold up very well. I am not sure I have ever seen a cracked or dried out dash on an XK8/R, same with door panels. Mine, after 130K miles and 12 years, look new. The paint quality is also quite good and has lasted very well. And finally, the headlight lenses are as clear as they were when new. I have new cars that after a couple of years have lens covers that are so hazed that quality of the light coming through is quite compromised. So, at least there are a few things that are holding up.

 

tberg +1

Apart from a few small things, the outside and inside of my car looks very well for 15 years old. I think part of it was due to the car being garaged its whole life, and the previous two owners taking good care of the car as well. But, it is still a 15 year old car, and there are some "to-do" items on the list..

 

+1

A 100K mile car was unheard of in the old days....my dad used to purchase 2 cars a year as he drove a lot and after 30K miles the problems were too frequent.

 

+1.

Even on my VERY limited budget, I would have never bought a car with over 50k miles on it, let alone 100k, when I was younger. At 100k it would have been a pile of junk regardless of how well it was kept up.

Cars today routinely have 5 year, 50k mile warranties or better. There is a reason for that. They know the vehicle is good for much more.

 

The lugnuts are probably good for more than ten years ... as long as the wheel stud doesn't strip out.

The leather binder for the owner's manual is pretty durable ... especially for those who never read them.

Never seen a horn wear out personally ... don't use it. Mileage may vary for type A personalities.

 

I think we all forget the past, when I had my first car I remember working on it most weekends to keep it on the road, it was an old Vauxhall Viva and the old (first) shape and I bought it for £50 (bugger am I that old).

Enough of that on a serious note with the XK, I've been lucky enough to be able to keep mine garaged all the time and I really do believe it makes a big difference to the mechanical side being maintained.

Over the 8 years I've not had any problems apart from replacing a headlamp to stop condensation and some bushes on the wishbones.

As with everything it of course depends on the usage etc... but I do think our expectations over the years have gone up because cars needed much more maintenance years ago than they do now but they are also so much more complex now .

 

back in 1999-2002 I worked as a mechanical designer and project manager for a multinational car manufacturer. I was responsible for door systems, which was basically seals, latches, glass and winders, central locking systems and handles. All the stuff you don't see... but anyway the systems testing specifications were simple, based around a 2 year warranty:

1. meet legal requirements for strength, crash worthiness, pedestrian impact, rolling ball test etc
2. no test failures within 2yrs worth of cycles/20,000 miles (gets through warranty)
3. no critical failures within 10 years of cyles or 100,000 miles. This meant handles still needed to work, door latches had to latch and the like. If the electric window switch packs up that is no big deal to them.

After 100,000 miles or 10 years it was considered to be 3 minor and 1 major model update out of date. People who buy 10yr old cars don't usually look to buy the same one new, so reliability and reputation of a 10yr old car has no effect on new car sales. Therefore anything on the car that lasts more than 10yrs was over designed and therefore cost too much to manufacture. In fact some manufacturers buy 10 back their 10 year old cars to find out what was over designed so they don't make that mistake again!

So get those spanners ready....! Of course the biggest problem is that after 10 years the manufacturers usually give permission to suppliers to scrap the tooling as spares support is not their problem on vehicles that old. It will only get harder to find bits, especially non service items that no aftermarket companies make either.

Cheers,
Rich

 

Well, now I'm depressed!! Lol

 

Probably true, but the aftermarket for $$$ luxury GTs should be better than for low-end economy cars. It's all about profit margin. And don't forget, some parts interchange with Lincoln & Ford.

No trouble getting old Alfa and 1950's XK parts...you just need a checkbook.

 

Great points that I think that a lot of people don't understand.

The car companies are in the business of selling new cars. That is what keeps them operating. The customer who is looking to spend roughly $100,000.00 on a new, high end car is not the sort of person who is going to keep it for 10 years and then be upset when parts start breaking.

Sure, the dealerships make money on repairs and so forth, but, as you state, I don't think that any car manufacturer builds a car with the intent that it will operate reliably for over ten years.

I think that our XKs are somewhat in their own category when it comes to their condition after 10 years. More high end cars that people buy tend to be daily drivers than is the case with our XKs. I mean, it is not uncommon to find a 8-10 year old XK with well under 50,000 miles. I bought my 2001 in 2009 with 29,000 miles and it now has just at about 40,000. A daily driver that is 12-13 years old that is driven only 20,000 miles a year is going to have 240,000 miles on it. My car has been garage kept and has only gone out in nice weather since if was first purchased. (no Sun beating down on it eight hours a day in a parking lot)

When people see my car they think that it is one or two years old, and some have even though that it was only a few months old. I gave a ride to one guy last week and when he got in, he said, "The interior is perfect! I'll give you $25,000 for it right now." The guy was actually serious, he owns a scrapyard and is very wealthy, but I realized that before he ever went through with it he would find out that that was way over what he could get one for.

I just think that in our first generation XKs, we have found a very rare gem of a car that, for the most part have been very well treated by the original owners, and if you can find one of those you have made a great find.

Just from what I read on this forum, there is another set of owners who bought one for a pretty low price and then looked at them as sort of a "throwaway car", meaning that the plan to drive the hell out of it until it starts to fall apart and then buy something else. It is the people who buy that sort of car for what they think is a very good price that, I suspect, end up having so many problems, though, as quirky as these cars are, I am sure that some that were well cared for also have their share of problems. Knock on wood, I have not had those sorts of problems with mine.