I'm thinking of buying a '05-'06 XJ8 VDP with 20-40k miles. Do you guys have any idea how much I should budget every month in repair and maintenance costs if I drive 1000 miles a month?

 

Hi amc, although not an owner of a newer XJ, I personally budget about $1000 year for more extensive repairs (suspension, water pump, pulleys, battery, trans fluid serivce, etc), yet that doesn't include the $80 oil changes every 4-5 months. I'd build up a little nestegg of about $2k if I were you, just in case the air suspension system gives you trouble. At that age though, I wouldn't expect anything major for another year or two. That should give you enough time to pack some $$ away a little over time.

 

What if I don't intend on doing the service myself? (I could, but with a job and no place to do major repairs, I would expect to have to spend much more on repairs.)

 

As far as service goes, it looks from your miles/month you will need one service every 10 months or so. Apart from oil and filter change, the rest is mostly checking things. Spark plugs, for instance now last many 10s of thousands of miles. Then there are things like brake pads and sometimes discs (US=rotors). Long-life coolant is normally replaced every 5 years, brake fluid about every 2 years.
The above things are normally done at the service, so the cost of it can vary quite a lot.

Jaguar dealers normally do servicing on a fixed-price menu basis, but will charge top-dollar labour rates.

Tyres usually need replacing in pairs, and can vary greatly in price depending on whether you want top names or are happy with mid-range stuff which is a lot cheaper. If you are not doing high speeds, the mid-range tyres are OK, I have two on the rear of my XJ6, put on by the selling dealer. They are Dunlops, but where they are made I know not, probably China. I believe President Obama has slapped a duty on Chinese tyres because they are so cheap.

 

These is very useful information! So I should budget about $100/month? (USD)

 

I just found out my Dunlops were made in....... Germany !!

I would think that $100 a month is more than adequate assuming you don't have any sudden failures which you should not really have with a 20k miles car. Having said that, there can be paintwork problems on these cars as Jaguar were rookies when it came to painting these aluminium body shells. In my own case, I have been told I need to have the rear screen out to cure corrosion, at the left side bottom of the rear screen. My car is 7 years old. I believe Jaguar had it more or less sorted out by 2005-6 and revised the rear screen seal to stop water and dirt retention.

 

With a low-mileage X350 and a complete maintenance and service history you should be pretty safe. Mine has only had one required repair (throttle body) and one elective repair (front brakes). Bulletproof otherwise and gives the impression of being able to drive around the world at a moment's notice. Hmm there's an idea

 

I was kinda curious about budgeting for repairs myself, only my X350 has 87k on the clock, but received an overall perfect bill of health from the dealer last month.

I do have a few piddly issues I've noticed (a slow-to-recover gas hand after refueling for one, the noise in the front I've discussed in other threads) but that's about it. I'm also considering, since I'm pushing 90k, to go ahead and replace the plugs about anytime.

What are some other areas that I should be budgeting for? Any particulars?

Just curious about the tranny....without digging deep into the forum, any major mileage issues with the 6 spd? I swear, maybe its just me but I'm having a tough time getting used to this gearbox and at times it appears to "wander" to find gears.

 

When I sold these cars on my used car lot they were still very new, we never really had any issues with them. 5+ years later I own an 06 XJ8 and I've had it for close to a year now and I've put about 12k miles on it.

In that time I haven't had much trouble at all, when I bought it a Check engine light came on, that was a bad catalytic convertor and the car had a bad brake light switch causing the speed control (not cruise) to be inop, and what else... oh yes, one slightly noisy suspension compressor was changed out.

Since then it's needed an expansion tank, and nothing else except oil changes and a pair of wiper blades. The car is pushing 57k miles now.

I'd get an 06 myself, they seem to be a bit better than the 04-05s, but YMMV

 

Dunlop tires(tyres) could be made on most any continent, but are owned by Goodyear.

 

They were made at a Dunlop factory 10 mins from me in Washington (the original Washington in the UK) until it shut down the other year and production went abroad causing a lot of job losses.Glad I failed the medical (breathing volume) otherwise I would have been looking for a new job!
Re the cost of servicing....contacted the dealer (well the national call centre that you get put through everytime you try to dial the dealer direct) and was quoted GB£485 (guessing this is around $700) for a MINOR service.Rang local Jag specialist who quoted me GB£160.Then rang dealer back as they will refund the difference if you find the same service within 5 days cheaper and they agreed to match the price so opted for that and they are collecting and delivering the car back to my work, saves me an 80 miles round trip to the specialist and sitting wainting while its done.
Dealer service isnt quite as thorough as the specialsit though as they only do whats on the maintenance sheets (ie leave wheels on to check brakes,dont grease hubs when refitting wheels) which the specialist does do.

 

So I am about to start a new job after Labor Day. The paychecks should be rolling in in October. Sorry to rehash this, but I'm starting to get a little bit more serious about getting a Jag!!!!!

I have about $5000 that can be made available by selling my current vehicle. If I got a 4 year used car loan, my payments on a $25k Jaguar would be approximately $360/month with a 7.5% loan (I think I can do better than 7.5%).

With my estimated monthly budget, I estimate having $800 or so of a monthly budget for transportation, so about $440/month is left for gas, maintenance and insurance.

I think insurance will be about $150/month. Gas will be about $150/month. Is $140/month enough for repairs?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-OWN...US_Cars_Trucks

Oh God, I am salivating after that one. Unfortunately, it's out of my price range!