Greetings,
I have the opportunity to get an 04 XJ8 VP and wondering if $6000 is a fair price. The car appears in like new condition, has had the suspension changed out to the coil option, regular maintenance and oil change, and about 124K miles on it. Midwest USA.
Thank you.

 

Very good price. I would suggest a transmission oil change, also ask for any maintainance history. I did coil Conversion mine and was very happy overall. Not quite as sophisticated as air.

 

Many thanks!

 

5k max

 

Price depends on few factors imho.
1- how are the tires? New ones can cost close to 1k
2- Is it a color combo that you like?
3- does it have nav or Bluetooth?
4- carfax? How many owners? How long has the current owner kept it?

​​​​if the car is in really good shape then I feel 6k is a great price in the current market.

 

I think you did just fine. For a reference, I live in Tennessee and I gave 5K for my 2004 XJ8 last November with 134K miles on it. I have had to spend about $1500 total so far in repairs. These repairs included getting the transmission and rear differential serviced, replacing the j gate shifter, new shifter knob, new battery, dealing with a leaky sunroof and its drains , and replacing the water outlet pipe and thermostat housing. It already had the air shocks replaced with standard coil springs and my tires were at about 60%. The mechanic that serviced the trans and differential said it was mechanically fine and that he would drive the sh*t out of it.

Mine is nowhere near perfect. It's british racing green with off-white interior. It has some paint defects with clear coating, the driver seat and the driver door gasket is showing wear, and it has had front end damage at some point early on in it's life (i.e. headlights were replaced, and it's missing the lower curb valence as well as the lower engine cover but Carfax said it was minor and there was no airbag deployment. I could not find any structural damage.

I literally bought it because it was british racing green. This is my first Jaguar and in the beginning I was bummed because everything seemed to be breaking. I had all kinds of warning lights and weird errors with the parking brake and the gas gauge and that turned out to be water from the leaking sunroof pooling under the rear seat and shorting out the wiring. Once I dried everything up all those errors went away. The electrical computer failures are the ones you don't want. Make sure you clean out the drain where you replace the cabin filter so your ECM don't get wet.

For the last month she has been my daily driver and I've had no issues (probably just jinxed myself). It now has 137K on it and it doesn't use any oil. When I changed the oil last weekend it was clear with no metal flakes.

I'm still dealing with sunroof issues. Currently have it taped with electrical tape to stop the leak. I have bought a rebuild kit but not got it installed yet. Some parts from the 2004 Ford Lincoln LS can fit your Jag so that can save you a little.

I'm currently trying to buy what I need to make my own IDS reader so I can read the Jaguar codes. I have a normal reader now but it only goes so far with the Jag.

Try not to get discouraged because when they are running they really are a peppy fun car that handles well and they are a joy to drive. I rationalized it this way. It's a V8 rear wheel drive car that's solid aluminum. It has to be worth 5 grand. There is nothing even close in terms of used cars built with that configuration for that price. The only V8 RWD that comes to mind domestically is maybe an old Ford crown Victoria. My son-in-law just recently bought a 2011 Crown Vic and paid right at 9K for it.

 

Best priced used cars out there

 

Thank you all for your advices. I went ahead and bought it for 6200. There was a check engine light that came on during the test drive, but we went right to O'Reilly's and looked at the code. It was the same thing my old 02 bmw would throw- that the MAF and air filter needed changing. So he changed it that night before I even made an offer (the next day). And wow, it is a sweet ride!! He was a mechanic (I believe aircraft mechanic), but always took the car to a dealership for major things, so I trusted his work on the MAF and filter, if I could do it on my old car.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum, I hope to provide some value in return in the future.

 

I had two of these, and it's difficult to think of any other car that provides so much for so little money. However that "little money" is the purchase price of a used one. I found that the suspension was the part of the car needing most attention, namely the very short life of the bushes, front AND rear. Having said that, the depreciation curve is at the bottom now, so provided you can whack-out the money for maintenance and replacements of wearing parts, you'll have a very nice car to drive around in.

 

Congrats on the purchase!! Love it.

I bought a 2004 XJ8 1.5 year ago (my first Jag) and have put 26K miles on it. It's been very reliable and a joy to drive daily. Just stay up on all the maintenance and you'll be fine.

 

Great looking car....looks like a solid buy.

 

Congratulations and welcome to Jaguar driving! My 07 XJ8 has had its fair share of sunroof drain problems. It used to leak onto the J-Gate if it rained hard for a long time. It was the front drain tubes that were blocked. I chased them with weed whacker line to unplug them and I do it now every few months. Maybe they were designed for more rain to keep the drains clear

 

It's a fair price all right, but bear in mind that at 124,000 miles, the car would be well overdue for maintenance work on the front and rear end like control arms, bushings and such. In fact, with my 2005 Jaguar XJ8L at 120,000 miles, I'll have over $7,000 in front and rear end work as well as a new set of W rated tires by the end of next week.

 

May I ask where is the work being performed? how much are the parts? Those prices seem a little excessive. I am under the impression that only the bushings and rubber suspension parts in addition to air springs need to be replaced often but not the control arms.

 

No, the control arms and ball joints as well as the wheel bearings. . Actually, the two control arms in the rear are running at $1200 apiece so they're not cheap at all.

 

Are those OEM parts (from dealer) or aftermarket equivalents? You are the first person on this forum whom I heard complain about the control arms, especially in the rear.
EDIT: They have those parts at nearly at more than 1/2 the price (no affiliation)
https://www.fcpeuro.com/Jaguar-parts...e=4137&t=5&b=5

 

Regarding the work to be done on the rear (hopefully sometime early next week), those would undoubtedly have to be OEM parts as the shop told me last Monday that it would take some 4-5 days for those parts to arrive, and perhaps directly from England. Yes, those control arms and ball joints on both the front and rear of the 2005 Jaguar XJ8L were all shot. Actually, the front end was in such bad shape that it was dangerous to drive the car in that condition, and the rear end wasn't much better. Quite obviously, the bad Michigan roads over here weren't helping matters.

 

FCP Euro has a great reputation on this forum and among other import forums like MBworld etc. They don't sell junk. As a mater of fact their vendor for this part is a jaguar oem supplier. I would order those from them with confidence and save the "Jaguar" parts tax.

 

You might try to research to see if the suspension parts from a domestic Lincoln LS will fit. The following is an excerpt from wikipedia.

The LS shared platforms and equipment with the Jaguar S-Type. The DEW98 platform used independent double wishbone (short-long arm; SLA) front and rear suspensions and a 114.5-inch (2,910 mm) wheelbase. Four-wheel antilock disc brakes were standard along with an optional traction control system, marketed as Ford's AdvanceTrac. Numerous suspension components, as well as the hood, decklid, and front fenders, were aluminum.

And according to this article the X350 also has a DEW98 suspension.

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/jagu...lopment-story/

I wouldn't hesitate to go to a Ford dealer and buy parts for my Jaguar if they're the same thing. I've never had to replace any suspension parts on my 2004 X350 but when I do this is the route that I'm taking.

 

Nice looking Jaguar! Welcome to the forums and we are glad to see the check engine did not scare you away!
I am certain you will find answers to most ownership question that might arise within these forums.
We certainly have many here who are both knowledgeable and helpful on a range of known issues.