Hello people,
I'm considering buying myself an xj8 and i just wondered if any one could give me a few pointers and genuine advice please.
The car I'm considering is a early 2005 on a 54reg with 68,000 miles on. It's a 3.5 auto sport trim in black with black leather, clean condition with jag history I'm told but yet to see the car . I'm looking to pay about £6500 for the car.

Are there any weak spots on this model ? Any things to check? Do these cars have cambelts fitted?

If I've asked any daft questions forgive me but I know nothing about jags.

Thanks for any advice given.

I have reposted this message from the general section of the forum as they have advised, a few people have mentioned about checking the air suspension but haven't explained how to check ? I've also had mentioned about bushes and v - mounts and engine? Appreciate any help..

 

Air suspension - compressor is a short life item, so you should budget for a replacement, (service exchange) at around £300. It may already have been replaced, so check for fault light during the test drive. Sometimes a height detector, or its connections can give trouble, but this is much rarer. UK owners seem to have little trouble with the spring units, my local independent has never swapped out a spring unit.

Suspension bushes - these can wear prematurely, and in my view, due to the use of low profile tyres (19 & 20"), thus passing high frequency road shocks through to the joints. Rear lower wishbones used to be a big bone of contention because Jaguar will not sell the bushes separately, but the aftermarket has bnow come to the rescue, OR you can buy complete wishbones new for less than half the Jaguar price
There are NO V-mounts, these were on the XJ saloons 1968-86 and the XJS

Engine - pretty bulletproof, and no cambelts.

Transmission - can need TCM reloads from time to time due to software not recognising normal wear in the gearbox, and giving harsh changes. No mechanical problems.

Cosmetic corrosion - look at leading edge of bootlid. Rear windscreen lower seal has a horizantal lip that the lid sits down on, why I don''t knoiw this lip does nothing at all. As the lid is raised and lowered it rubs on this lip and wears away the paint causing filiform corrosion to start underneath, which then creeps round to the top side. Cure is to cut off the lip, after repainting. This corrosion appears in one or two other places too, but have a look around the forum for other issues.

 

Hey , thanks for the tips !

 

Just to clarify, seeing you're in the UK. The V6 and V8 petrol engines have no cambelts, but the diesel, (a Peugot-Citroen unit), does have one, plus awkward petrol pump belt drives at the back of the engine.

 

Hi Fraser,
The car I'm looking at is a 3.5 v8 auto early 2005 registered with 68k .
Thanks

 

Not many of the 3.5 litreV8s were made, but I understand reliability of the engine is excellent. Of course the car will have the same issues as all the others elsewhere on the car, but don't be put off. I think a test ride will convince you, (or otherwise). There needs to be evidence of correct servicing, and no appearance of neglect anywhere.

 

I'm in the same boat as KJC696. I've test driven a 2005 XJ8L with 40400 miles on it and it seems to be in great shape mechanically. It rides and drives well with no obvious test drive problems. It's a one owner car with a very clean CarFax sheet. All regular maintenance was done at a Jag dealer and on time.

My concern is that I have to take it AS IS with no warranty. I've checked many of the major options like wipers, lights, power windows, sunroof, climate control, audio system, remote trunk release, remote mirrors, electric seats, pedals and steering collumn settings, and that sort of thing, but I didn't test everything. There's just so many options to go through that I didn't even now about all of them when I test drove the thing.

I'm very nervous taking an expensive car off the lot AS IS since I also know that repairs and parts are expensive. I've checked into buying an after market repair warranty, but that will add up to $5K to the cost and none of them seem to have very good reputations, though I'm sure that some are trustworthy.

Bottom line is; is this a reliable car? should I take my chances on what could be a great car or walk away? I do still have a chance to walk away, though the dealer will be pissed. They had do some cosmetic work to the car and wrote into the contract that the cosmetic work had to meet my satisfacton or the deal is off, so I can be picky and walk.

I'm nervous about reliability. I can fix cars and have maintained everything from motorcycles to my class A motorhome so I'm not timid about doing repairs, but i know Jag parts can be expensive. I'm just concerned about whether or not I should be worried about frequency of breakdown and reliability. I really need your input as soon as possible and appreicate your reading my note and any thoughts you may have on this.

Thanks!

 

What is the reason for "No warranty" ? Most odd for a dealer not to at least offer an aftermarket warranty of some kind. It is not essential to try to cover everything, just the major, (and expensive) components.

Most warranties anyway won't cover wear and tear, and as one of the X350 issues can be premature wear of suspension joints, if this occurs it is bite-the-bullet time. Be aware that cars with large diameter wheels and hence very low profile tyres, are likely to suffer this wear due to high frequency road shocks passing through into the suspension joints.

Situation is now much better with parts now the aftermarket is supplying the common wear items.

Main point I would make is that these are very reliable cars, but do have a few issues of durability of components which you will find if you have a look on this forum, e.g. air suspension compressor is a short-life component, but easy and relatively cheap to replace, and may have already been replaced on your proposed purchase.

 

I second everything said above, I have the 3.5 V8, it is a brilliant engine, ok, it's not as quick as the 4.2 but it is a smooth engine and quick enough. Mine had about 53000 miles when I got it just over 5 years ago and it now has 175000 miles, hardly uses any oil and I generally get around 26 to 30 mpg.
The best I had was on a steady motorway trip of around 130 miles, it was 36mpg !
I have had one suspension unit replaced, the compressor and the manifold for the air suspension as well. All 4 wishbones have been done as well. I also had the gearbox reflashed at around 90000 and been no problem since.
Love the car and very very pleased with it, could not face parting with it when I got the new one in March 2011, still drive it a lot now as well.
Best of luck with your choice.