After a long day of car shopping, I finally bought my Jaguar XF.

The car is a 2009 Jaguar XF Premium Luxury. It is certified pre-owned, sold from my Jaguar dealership where I'd be having service. It was just traded in last week off personal lease, and the previous owner just bought a 2012 Jaguar XF Portfolio.

The outside is Ebony, the interior is Spice. I didn't like the Spice in any pictures I saw, but the photos do not do justice of it. When I saw it, I knew it was the car for me, and after the test drive, I was sold. It even had my beloved leaper!

For being a 2009, it only had 20,033 miles on it, which I thought was really rare. The Carfax is clean, and they have all service records. Prior to Select Edition certification, it got 4 new tires (Continental ContiProContact 245/40/R19) and front brakes. The rear brakes are at 8.

The car had a few small issues. First, there was a 4-inch black mark across the dash above the glove box on the aluminum trim. A gentlemen from service who details the cars came out with some "spotter" spray and it came right off. Second, the wheels have some scratches around the edges and brake dust on the insides, but the dealer is going to have them refinished before I purchase and says they'll look brand new before I pick it up. Also, there were a few imperfections on the body - a tiny gravel chip on the hood, a small scratch on the side of the driver door (only seen when open) and a scratch or two by the trunk. The dealer is going to touch-up paint all of those little areas and says that it will, again, look brand new.

The rest of the car is in like-new condition. It really is stunning-the photos don't do it justice. In terms of the price, it was priced at $36,000, and while he initially claimed the price wasn't flexible...after an hour of negotiations, we got down to $34,000...which I felt is a fair price. What do you guys think?

They're going to do all the little repairs and detail the car and I will pick it up next Wednesday at 4:00! Yay! At that point, I'm taking it to my friend who has a body shop in our area who will make sure it was not in an accident prior. The dealer knows the sale is contingent on that inspection.

So how did I make out? Good deal?

Photos coming in the next post - I have to upload to FlickR!

 

Flickr: arlingtonman's Photostream

Photos are uploaded!

 

Congratulations man!!!

Looks super clean and i love the interior color. I thought those only came on supercharged models? I guess not.

The price doesn't sound bad at all. Low mileage too.

 

It is flawless, and I love the interior color, too. The dealer said that the Spice interior was most common on supercharged models, but the previous owner ordered it on the Premium Trim Level (for a surcharge, I assume...).

The mileage was really good, and knowing all service was done at their dealership makes me feel comfortable. They started at $36,000, and when I said I was looking to get a good deal and that I had time to wait for the right deal, they came to $34,719. I said that my max was $34,000 and that they would surely hate to lose a sale over less than $1k. I love the car-can't wait to get it!

Thaks for all your help in this purchasing process and to all others on the forum who have been a huge source of information in this process!

 

Congratulations, Car looks great. The ebony spice is a beautiful contrast. I think you were given a good deal. Enjoy the car!

 

Looks very rich

 

I agree - the Ebony exterior with Spice interior is a gorgeous combination for the XF. I hope I was given a good deal - after an hour of negotiations, I was at a number I was comfortable with and for the low miles, I think $34,000 was a pretty good bargain.

I also forgot to mention that it has the Bowers and Wilkins sound system, which only increases the value of the car....so that was a nice bonus.

 

I agree! Perhaps thats why I love it so much - I wanted my first Jaguar to feel very richly appointed and the Spice is such a unique color that it really made the car stand out from the crowd.

 

Great color combination and looks very nice. I am sure you enjoyed the hunt for this car, now you can enjoy driving it.

 

Thanks, Whitby! I did enjoy the hunt, but near the end, I was just ready to FIND ONE ALREADY! I weighted you car like we discussed, but the hassle of getting it from Texas to DC seemed like it would be a huge pain in the butt!

Good luck with your new 2012 XF when you get it!

 

Congrats! It looks great, and I LOVE the interior color!

 

Looks real nice, love the interior! Congrats!

 

This is exactly how I felt!! Congrats, it does look great and I'm sure you will enjoy.

 

Interesting to see you have a 2012 Stratus Grey XF Portfolio - the gentleman that sold me the car owned the same EXACT car - color and everything! He showed me it sitting on the lot - I tried to talk him down to $34k on it, but with no success

I'm excited to join the Jaguar world! Only mods I have planned (if you can call them mods) are the OEM Jaguar all-weather mats and perhaps chrome side vents. You can order the vents for $94 on eBay (with shipping) and the instillation is easy, I'm just not sure if it will take away from the "Jaguar" chrome strip there now. On the other hand, boy would it look sharp on the ebony body, so I'm split!

 

Congratulations on the car, and welcome to the world of Jags, hope you enjoy it!

I must say, it looks like a great specimen you have there (beautiful interior!).

With regard to the side vents, we had an XK in Midnight black (which had the same side vents as your XF has). It originally came with colour coded vents, but we replaced them with chrome vents, and we were very happy with them. On a black jag, IMO they really add a nice bit of shine, without being too flashy.

I've attached a (crappy iPhone) pic of the vents on the XK. Anyway, happy motoring in your new Jag!

 

Arlingtonman,

Now that you have your XF you should bring it to the Great Falls Cars and Coffee on Saturdays (7-9am) and or the Great Falls Cars and Coffee on Sundays (8am-11am). I am out there from time to time - be nice to see another XF.

-MC

 

With the Bowers and Wilken sound system, mine has a Dolby Pro Logic feature. Do you have this on your system? If so, have you tried it? Transforms the car into a concert hall. I believe your deal was good based on the prices of cars that can be purchased directly from lending institutions when they come off lease that have no prep or additional warranty.

 

Just spotted this (rather dirty) XF with chrome vents on the street. Thought you might be interested.

 

Congrats Arlingtonman! The car looks awesome, and the Bowers Wilkins stereo adds at least a couple of thousand dollars to the value!
I love the Jaguar models, they probably offer more value for money than the German luxury cars. Question for people here though, when I search reviews on the net it seems Jaguar is rated quite low for longterm reliability and apparently has a lot of technical issues in the long run. Is this true? Would like to see if people here can comment on this considering most own these cars.

 

I own a BMW and now a Jag. Try reading the BMW 5 series (comparable to an XF) forums and see what you think about issues. Audi, Mercedes, not much different. Maybe different kinds of problems. I have had only mine for a few weeks so to early to tell. The 5 series had run flat tire issues, pulling to right, grinding noises, steering wandering. Some of it has been sorted since the new 5 was released in 2011, and still are very nice cars. Time will tell on the Jag. Porsche has excellent ratings.