Originally Posted by ans1215

ok guys, i have an 03 x-type among other cars as i own a high end used car dealership. i drive all the cars on my lot for at least 2 weeks before i sell them to learn of any bugs or issues needing to be fixed as well as to get a feel for the car so i can better direct my customers into a car that suits their needs. as far as the x is concerned i notice a lot of you have bought them used and buying them used is not a bad idea, but you werent there for all the issues the previous owner of your car had to deal with from the beginning.

one of the most common issues i can think of that is a small repair but can lead to serious injury to passengers is the vacuum hose from the brake booster. yeah technically thats a little thing, but seriously $130 for 1 foot of plastic hose with a check valve? not to mention when that check valve develops the hole at the bottom as they all do, your vehicles brakes get very stiff causing you to literally have to "stand" on the brakes to get it to stop without getting into an accident. dont forget the never ending transmission problems caused by numerous design flaws in the body and a lack of effort to protect the vehicles expensive electronics from the weather. lets also add in the factor of repair costs, a $30k car with repair costs similar to that of $80,000 models offered by jags competitors? no wonder they have poor resale value.

yes, the styling is on point and look as good or better than a lot of todays new cars...from the outside. it may not be a rebadged ford, but there are numerous signs of the crappy ford engineering and build quality. ive have probably 20 of these on my lot and they all have a jittery suspension feel, they all have a lot of wind and road noise regardless of tire selection, a ton of engine and transmission noise. the leather is slippery and the front seats dont hold that well, the buttons, instrument cluster, radio, and climate control make me feel like im in a focus wrapped in nice mercedes leather, they have the typical ford and jag oil burning problem. as for the suspension, on a smooth road it feels great, once you get dips and bumps and potholes it rides horrible, yes the awd helps, but id still rather prefer the stiffer sportier 3 series suspension that is always predictable and offers much less body roll than one that isnt predictable and throws you around your seat.

most people who i know that have owned them are happy about the fact that it doesnt have the other jag issues but are just upset that it has its own slew of issues, not that other cars dont, but come on, jag couldve and has done much better. for example the really expensive hid headlamp assemblies that have the problems with the adjustment tab mounting point breaking? id be happier to spend $400 on a bad ballast on a bmw or mercedes than over 800 on a whole headlamp assembly. yes there are crappier cars but come on are you really going to go as low as comparing a jag to a pontiac aztec to prove a point?

i like the jag styling dont get me wrong, i like the straight 6's i like the way most handle, but i have not had one person buy a jag from me for any other reason than they simply want to own a jag, not one person come in and says i heard theyre reliable, i heard theyre easy to mantain, my friends said blah blah blah. 95% percent of the time all i hear is its a jag i want it and 2 months later they come back wanting to trade them in.

the x-type was simply built in order to compete in the small luxury car class in hopes that jag could pick up more business to save themselves during a hard time, it didnt do as well as expected. regardless of the lack of or wrong marketing, it was a dud compared to the rest of its competitors. they are an excellent car for the pricve you pay in todays market as they have a very low resale value, if youve never owned a luxury car you will love it. it does feel like it has a ton of power if you get the 3.0 but the 2.5 is much slower than my very lightly modded 97 dodge neon i used for scca autocrossing.

Originally Posted by C5pilot

Your opinion carries a lot of weight since your butt ends up in a lot of seats. But with that, we need to know more about the kinds of cars you buy. Are they one owner cars? Bought at auction? First time trade ins?

The point being, most dealers pickup/trade the well maintained 1 owner cars and leave the rest to corner car lots. If you're not a new car dealer, or a huge used car center with lots of buying power and room/money for inventory, you're probably buying cars knowing you only have to get them past the 30 day/1000 mile warranty and you're home free. Nothing wrong with that, you're filling a void, providing a service.

Members should listen to what you say but they need the whole picture to truly feel informed. Only, I've never heard of an oil consumption issue with the X. People warned me about Jags leaking the moment I bought it but I haven't had any issues with oil at all. Again, I bought a 1-owner, 1yr old from a corner lot which I'm guessing had too many miles on it for a dealer to be interested. I considered the unusually higher miles to be a plus because it lowered the price and had to be highway miles unless it was used to deliver mail. Since I have multiple cars I don't put the average mileage on any. I'm now sitting on a 5yr old car with 55k on it which is under the norm and basically all I did was oil changes, tires and just installed a new battery and brakes/rotors.

Originally Posted by ans1215

Majority of the cars I buy are from manheim auctions. They need very little work, well maintained, I hardly ever buy ones that have been wrecked and not repaired to factory fit and finish. A lot of these cars were dealer lease cars or early tradeins, all of them come from dealers. Every car I sell is thoroughly inspected and driven as I offer 6 month/7500mi warranties, and we keep a consistent flow of inventory and maintain an average of about 30 cars at any given time. I sell lower than most of my competitors in order to maintain a quick turn around and increase buying power and to keep my.mechanics and body men busy since all work to a vehicle is done in house. I myself am also ASE and I-CAR certified

Originally Posted by C5pilot

It sounds like you have a nice operation. The part that stands out above is that most of your cars come from dealers. That means you are effectively buying "seconds". The dealers KEEP the pristine cars for themselves. That's not to say you don't get some really nice ones at times, it's inevitable. And it also doesn't diminish the fact you obviously must know the car business to be successful. But to be fair, you're usually planting your butt into seats of cars that dealers chose NOT to keep on their own lots. But that stands true for all of your offerings so it does even out somewhat. I'll try to remember to look you up if I ever decide to pull the trigger on a used XKR.

Originally Posted by AML

While it does make sense, this isn't always true. Some dealers will get rid of vehicles that while are pristine, they wouldn't be able to sell it themselves because it's not really their specialty or the typical buyer that comes in their lots aren't actively seeking that sort of model.

Take my local Buick dealer. I was checking out their lot for the new LaCrosse and Regal last week when I came across an absolutely immaculate, fully loaded 2005 XJR they took from trade-in. 60k miles, $19k. A pretty good deal as it is, however they were willing to move even more on the price AND give me an even better price on what would have been my 2008 Camry Hybrid trade in (full market value). A great car right? By all means they should want it because it is such a great vehicle in such great condition. But they wanted to get rid of it so desperately because they couldn't sell it. They don't sell Jags, they know nothing about Jags, their typical customer that strolls through the new and used lots aren't looking for Jags.

I am close with several other "high end" used car dealers as well and they get many of their cars from dealers for those reasons as well.

Originally Posted by AML

Take my local Buick dealer. I was checking out their lot for the new LaCrosse and Regal last week when I came across an absolutely immaculate, fully loaded 2005 XJR they took from trade-in. 60k miles, $19k.

Originally Posted by C5pilot

But this is where our opinions differ. I don't care what kind of car it is, the term immaculate can't be used to describe a car with 60k miles on it. The car may look great but 60k and 6 years is simply a used car, there is nothing immaculate about it except maybe body work. It can be in great shape "considering" its age and use, but that's it.

The reason the dealer can't sell the Jag in this environment is because it has 60k miles and is 6+ years old. The bit about not knowing anything about Jags is an excuse. I continually meet dealers who don't know their own products! That's where you have a slight edge in the game because you're willing to do your homework and personally experience each car on your lot. Kudos for being proactive.

I bought my 05 X from someone who ran a lot much like yours. He only dealt with nicer cars that dealers didn't want for one reason or another. In my case, the X was barely a 1yr old car with over 2 years worth of miles. A dealer did not want to bother with it. I drove about 100 miles to see it, put it up on a lift, and traded in my loaded Jeep GC for it on the spot. The lot owner drove my Jeep for a couple weeks and then called me to say the driver window stopped working. Don't know what happened, it was "immaculate" when I dropped it off. Go figure.

Originally Posted by AML

I am not disputing your experiences and assessment at all.

Originally Posted by spielnicht

It all depends on how you look at it. As a performance car to go head to head with a BMW 3 or MB C class, it never stood a chance.