I just bought a 48,000 miles 2004 Jaguar XJ8 British Racing Green. It belonged to a doctor that parked in his garage most of its life. I paid $6,500.00 plus an airliner ticket to drive 12 hours back. Usually, I do not buy a car without hours of inspections but this was an exception since its a one owner car. He assured me no issues with the suspension system, no accident, and its in mint condition. I have searched far and long for a X350 last several years. I do know all the hiccups associate with the X350 such as air suspension system.

He indicated that it has a sport package...

What is the sport package? Stiffer suspension? Audio system? Interior trims? exterior trims?

Also, does 2004 model equipped with Thorax side air bags?

This will be my third Jags. 1. 1994 XJ12
2. I still have 1997 XJ6


Thanks
I will post photos next weekends.

 

I will pick the Jaguar this week on Wednesday.

 

Not sure about US models but the ROW Sport models have;

Sport Suspension
Sport Seats (like the XJR, but without the R logo)
Colour coded front grill surround and trunk plinth (instead of chrome)
Black window trims (instead of chrome)
Usually have bigger wheels

But as I said, i don't know if the US models were the same...

 

My XJ6 Sport when I bought it had: -

1. Sport air springs - harder than Comfort.
2. Large screen audio unit (also controls satnav, climate control and phone
3. Sport seats with 16-way settings and perforated leather seat facings
4. Body coloured radiator grill and rear trunk lock escutcheon
5. Black window frame surrounds
6. Grey-stained birds-eye maple wood trim
7. Black surrounds to rear light clusters
8. Piano-black wood gearshift knob

However it is a UK car so yours may differ. Actually, earlier this year I swapped my air springs for Comfort as I found the ride to harsh. Low profile tyres are the bane of my life as I like comfort at my time of life. How did I afford to swap out ? I searched the 'net and managed to find a set of new old-stock springs.

 

Congrads on the find. 1 owner with this low mileage is hard to come by. Before driving home, stop by his dealership and get a print out of his service records. Before a 12 hour ride back, suggest putting on a rack for an inspection. You can combine everything at the dealer with an oil change (rack inspection & records)

PS: Bring your DTC Reader just in case.

Good Luck

 

Thanks,
I will do that. My brother is a foreman for a Jaguar dealer in California. I will have him check the Vin number. I do have a DTC obII reader for my 1997 jaguar and bought many years ago; does the 2004 Jaguar uses the same DTC reader?

 

I don't know about DTC readers, but I can say that the JLR/SDD reader I have with the Mopgoose cable doesn't start until 1999 vehicles. (Ford buy-out)

I am in VA and sold my first Jag a man from IN (he has worked with my sister for 15 years). He flew here, I picked him up in the Jag, drove to my house, he drove it back to IN.

We drafted an agreement between us that I'd take care of him if it failed to get him to Indiana, etc. I think it may not be a bad idea for you to get the same. just my opinion.

Side note, mine was a 2004 XJ8 with 83,000 miles and I sold it for $7500. It was on the market for less than a week, so good catch!

I would get the VIN code NOW and have your brother pull up the CarFax via the dealership to learn the history as much as you can first tho.

Rags

 

I Flew to New York from Nashville TN to pick up the Jag. The car is as the owner described in mint condition. It does need detail especially the driver seat is dirty. He just installed new tire in May and full scheduled services by jaguar dealer. I was a big risk I took but this time it's worth it. I did purchased car fax which shown all scheduled services , one owner etc. The reason for him to sell was getting a fourmatic Benz since he has a steep drive way and the jaguar could not. He glad to sold to me since I am a Jaguar enthusiastic. Right now I am enjoying Italian food since I am in Long Island

 

congrats, pics when you can

 

Yes, please get some pics of the before detailing and after!!!

 

From Long Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and finally home in Tennessee. I probably still lost in New York if I did not bring along a GPS system. My current 1997 XJ6 is nice but the 2004 Jaguar XJ8 is "Wow". I dredged the long drive home from New York to Tennessee due to back pain and my knee surgery. The last 300 miles trip to Atlanta on my 1997 Jaguar, I had to stop to buy rubbing oil for my back. The 2004's seat was much more comfortable on this trip home. I took several tries but I was able to adjusted the seat perfectly for cruising. The trip mileage log indicated 28.9 MPG for the entire trip going home. 80% of the time I had it the Cruise set and and enjoyed the ride home. I stopped late last night at a Truck stop to take a couple hours nap but woke up six hours later. The seat recline worked well and I Dozed off.

The nice owner called and checked on me and he was surprised I made it back do fast.

This purchase was a leap of faith and it cannot turn out any better . I only had the car fax and the owner's words and I took a risk and flew to New York. After talking to the owner for 15 minutes, a quick test drive ,and a quick inspection and I was sold. The last three Jaguars inspected took me at least an hour on each and I walk away on all three.


Everything was perfect except for:
The front driver seat and center console were very dirty.
There are lots of fine scratches in the paint.
It was not the Sport package as the owner indicated .

The Good:

The engine spur so quite I accidental tried to start the engine while its already idling.
All three keys with three jaguar key chains, book and manual, original sticker, and all maintenance record since day one.
Zero issue with the air suspension system.


I took a photo of the owner with his Jag. Noted that it was raining when I took the photo. In a normal circumstances, I would not inspect the car during a rain event since it hides all the paint defects.

 

Is that Jaguar Racing Green ? Lovely looking car, anyway. I cleaned my leather with Xymol leather cleaner. It works very well with a small soft toothbrush and rub off with a rag. You then need to apply leather balm. Clean once a year and apply balm twice a year. How many miles on the car ?

 

It has 47,000 miles after drove 1000 miles home. I just finished clean and detail the interior. I tried three leather cleaner brands and none would remove the stains on the white leather. I finally used Armor All wipe cleaner with Orange and it worked real well. I wiped all leather interior with warm water again to remove any Armor All residues. I applied a leather condition as the final step. I also shampooed the interior and trunk carpet. It took some bleach cleaner to remove the tough stain in the carpet trunk. I did a tst spot to make sure the bleach cleaner is safe. All interior nooks and corners now look like new except for the driver chair which had some wear. I will post the photos tonight.

 

It's a British Racing Green.

 

Great story and GREAT car! Thanks for posting.

 

Nice car, but from the pics it does not appear to be a Sport at all.

After checking the 2004 & 2005 sales documents for the US, there was no Sport model offered. There was XJ8, VDP, XJR, SuperV8, so you've got yourself an XJ8.

 

Congrats on your purchase and the great price! My '05 XJ8L has the sports package -- 19 inch alloy, Yokohama tires, Sat-nav Screen. The innards and electronics I think are no different, only the appearance. I added the mesh grill soon after purchase because I could not stand the stock 'egg crate' grill. My next upgrade will be adding Bluetooth music streaming. Currently at 110k and still purring strong as my trusty daily driver. I advise you not to leave it sitting more than 3-4 days, as the battery drain can create many electrical gremlins.

 

My reliable 1997 XJ6 shoulder to shoulder next to 2008 XJ8. The 2004 BRG is a shade darker in color. I was assuming all BRG s are identical.









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They look great, you got a great deal. I've been driving my '06 for many years as my daily driver. I thought that I'd replace it at 100,000 miles, but when I took it into the dealership for it's checkup, they said "This car is in great shape and will go on for a long time to come" ....so instead of trading it in for a new one, I bought a convertible for weekend fun.

Both my XJ and XK are black so of course I have "Star-V" stickers on both along with a 2014 Baseball National Champion license plate frame on the XJ (one for the XK might be coming as an Xmas gift).

Go Vanderbilt!

 

"Everything was perfect except for:
The front driver seat and center console were very dirty.
There are lots of fine scratches in the paint.
It was not the Sport package as the owner indicated ."



Annamiata the so called "Sport" was not a separate model but a car equipped with the Sport airbag susp0ension instead of the ones labeled comfort. If you can get someone with a scanner that can read the Jaguar proprietary codes they can input the serial number, run the diagnostics and give you a look at the way your car is equipped. If it as the Sport bags it will show-up