Should I be brave and get a Jag?

[Lukas]

Hi to all of you!

 

I would like to hear/read your opinion on a thought that goes trhough my head. A Ford-dealer nearby has a 1997 Jaguar XJ8 3.2 for sale. It has done 170.000 km and is for sale at the very low price of 4500 €. There has to be a catch in it!

 

 

Today I was there and took a short look at this beauty. It looks wonderful I have to say.  

 

The paint is faded and scratched, but otherwise it looks completely ok. No visible rust when you look at it, the interieur is perfect (beige leather) and it does not seem to have a major accident.

 

Now I know you can´t judge a car without driving it and looking underneath the bonnet and underneath the body, but what do you think? Could it be a nice barge to waft around in during winter, or should I plan to spend another 5000 € at least for repairs and problems that might occur? The dealer does not extend any warranty, it comes without guarantee.

 

How´s the quality of these things? I would buy a Toyota Camry or a Mazda 626 of that age and mileage almost unseen, but what my wait for me after buying this beautiful Jag? Get thecrystal balls out!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Lukas

[Lord Sterling]

Yes, you should be brave and treat yourself to something different BUT providing you inspect the car and its service history thoroughly. However I do think that 4500€ is asking too much for one of these, particularly for the condition you describe it to be. I don't know what the value of these things should be where you are but here in England you can pick these up for around 1500€ or thereabouts.

 

As said before, take it out on a proper test drive and make sure all the gears work/change smoothly, press/pull and prod at every instrument these come with and make sure its been looked after mechanically if nothing else.

 

I'm afraid I don't quite believe in the "AlL jApaeez caRs r alwais relyable" rubbish. All cars, German, British and Japanese can be as unreliable as each other. Comfort-wise it'll be a big step-up from your Mazdas and Toyotas. And yes, you should always set aside money for possible repairs when buying ANY car.

 

 

All in all, take a chance and step out of you comfort zone.

[Junkman]

At 4500 the PONR is too far behind to simply bridge it if it turns out to be a dog.

Then again, WCPGW?

[Cavcraft]

I think the catch is the price. I love these cars and that colour is absolutely the best, but I certainly wouldn't call it cheap, not by UK standards anyhow.

[Bren]

You can pick one of these up in blighty for a pittance - very few people have the money / skill / care to look after one of these properly - hence there are a lot of shit ones for sale.

 

I 'd take the plunge but go in with your eyes wide open and remember the most imprortant lesson when buying anything old or exotic - you'll never make a bad one good.

[cort16]

You could get a much tidier, much lower mileage one for 2000 euro dollars over here. My v8 XJR is probably only worth £2500 here.

 

They rust around the wheel arches and the bottom of the front wings. Mechanical wise I think these had Nicosil issues back in the day but that probably passed now. I know on the 4.0 v8 the timing chain and tensioners needs changed sooner than you think and is £700 at a specialist (probably double at a Jag dealer).

I think the real weak points on them are the gearbox. There's tons of them for sales with knackered gearboxes. Just make sure you take it for a decent drive and make sure it changes okay and no warning lights appear on the dash.  I think they're okay reliability wise but if you go wrong diagnostics can be a bit of a nightmare.

[garethj]

Could you buy one in the UK and drive it back?  Would your insurance cover a right hand drive car?

 

You would save $$$$ which is useful when the time comes to replace all the suspension bushes

[RichardMoss]

Go to www.xj40.com and seek out Rob Jenner for some advice. He will tell you that this is too expensive. He'd be right, too

 

Hell, I paid less than £2500 for my 2001 S-type and that's allowing for the fact that big used cars hold their value here in the Middle East (unlike the UK)

[purplebargeken]

What Cort16 and RichardMoss say - mega agreement. These things are much cheaper over here but obviously RHD. I would want about Ã¢â€šÂ¬2000 less on that price to be honest. It is way too expensive, especially if the paintwork is a little tired. 

[DVee8]

Have a look at this

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201306227434255/sort/default/usedcars/body-type/saloon/model/xj/make/jaguar/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/postcode/dh23hx/keywords/lhd/radius/1500/page/1?logcode=p

 

Fly over and waft home in your new Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag knowing you have $$'s left in your back pocket

[dome]

Yes. Buy one. I love my series 3. Beautiful, lovely to drive and completely reliable* Despite all of this I'll probably stick mine up for sale before the winter.

[Skizzer]

Definitely yes you should buy one.  But like everyone's said, not that one, or at least not at that price.

 

They should either be so cheap you've got nothing to lose, or so clean that they're worth spending money on the things that break.  There will be things that break.

[cort16]

buy my xjr I'll throw in a square sausage roll when you come to pick it up.

[londonm]

Way too much, the only possible reason to buy off a dealer would be at least a years warranty. Go elsewhere and spend half the money on a identical car. Mind you, you could play his bluff. Tell him you'll give him 4k for it but it has to come with basic warranty for 1 year.

[RedSparrow]

It it were me I'd have to go for a seventies/eighties XJ6/12 in a horrible colour:

 

Pub landlord style

 

Or an early XJS, also in a horrible colour.
 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-XJS-5-3-V12-Manual-Only-11-500-Miles-PETROL-MANUAL-1977-S-/121138532733

This one is 20K - LOL really?!!

[Lukas]

The problem is our taxes. After importing a car to Österreich, you have to pay a lot of taxes (NoVa aso.) to get it registered, so a Jag for 2000 pounds from the UK will cost more than this one. I´ll have a look at it on wednesday, at least a test-drive should be fun.

[michael1703]

I bought a 95 x300 last December for £400 and intended to clean it and punt it on at a profit but it really grew on me, mines a 4litre and I've seen 26-28mpg on flat traffic free roads at 50-55, I put secondhand coils on it when it got a misfire at £11 each and I've just put a new tyre on it and that's been it.

 

You can forgive it being a bit thirsty if the other running costs are cheap and it is fairly unbreakable

[Pete-M]

I'd say that if you want a Jag, buy one. Don't bother with a 3.2 though. They're no better on fuel than a 4.0 once you're out of town.

Check for underbody rust, leaky steering racks, worn out shock absorbers and timing chain replacement on the V8s. V8s from 97-2000 often suffered from Nikasil issues if run on high sulphur fuel but most of the engines that suffered were replaced before 100,000 km.. V8 gearbox should be seamless, they really were good. Differentials can sometimes have a slight wah-wah-wah at high speed, say 180-200 kph, if you buy an XJR the diff is £1000 to rebuild. XJR steering rack is better than the standard one, but ££££££££

Make sure the aircon and climate control work as they should. There's a two button combination to press when you turn the ignition on that gives you access to the climate control module to check any fault codes. "21 and 22" are common codes - they normally don't make any difference to how it works.

Check all the electric windows work, and all the seat motors. These things even have electric headrest adjustment. Not all have memory seats though.

The digital clock won't work properly if you buy an X300, the V8s have a different dashboard. X300 clocks are shared with Aston Martins, so they're expensive for a crap digital clock that only tells the time.

Handbrake shoes often stick, it should hold the car on a hill reasonably happily. Don't try and drive with the handbrake on in an XJR because it'll just rip the handbrake shoe retaining pins through the back plate - ask me how I discovered this little gem.

There are lots of bushes in the rear suspension, listen for clunks when accelerating and decelerating. Some are a swine to do. Front isn't as bad. Wheel bearings can be a nightmare to do if left too long, XJR hubs can be expensive. Sport and XJR models have Bilstein suspension, the shock absorbers are fiendishly expensive but worth the money if you want your Jag to handle properly. Non-Sport models ride better but don't handle as well. Any XJ on large wheels will tramline spectacularly on worn out Autobahns, they're ok in the dry, scary in the wet. It's worth spending good money making sure the geometry is spot on.

I managed to average 24 mpg without trying to save fuel across Europe. De-restricted Autobahns included. A non-Supercharged 4.0 will do closer to 28 mpg.

If you buy one, buy the best 4.0 you can afford.

[Partridge]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but how will it take to UK fuel? I don't know what sulpher ('scuse the spelling) levels are like in fuel where you are, but if they're any lower than UK levels and you're planning on bringing it here, run away.

Sulpher is what ate away at the cylinder lining, so if it's very low where you are it may not have been rectified.

 

If it's been sorted under warrenty, go for it I say.

[Pete-M]

Lukas lives in Austria. Shouldn't be an issue.

[forddeliveryboy]

The problem is our taxes. After importing a car to Österreich, you have to pay a lot of taxes (NoVa aso.) to get it registered, so a Jag for 2000 pounds from the UK will cost more than this one. I´ll have a look at it on wednesday, at least a test-drive should be fun.

 

So much for the EU freedom of trade

[Junkman]

You are perfectly free to trade a Jag from .co.uk to .at alright.

It's only that the trade will be anything but free.

[oldford]

They do tend to rot in the front inner wings behind the brake pipe at a point where 3 or so panels join.

 

I had my biggest MOT failure on one of these.