Hi - I've rid myself of my '00 S-Type sometime ago and now back in the market for a vehicle. Looking at XJ8s. There are a lot on the market, but finding the right combo of color, options and mileage (and distance to where I live) does add some challenge. So I'm wondering if any of you could provide some thoughts on the following and any recommendations.

1) Mileage. My preference is under 40k and there are many seemingly "lease returns" that qualify, but as '08 crawls to an end it's getting harder. If you were going to buy an 04 and there was one out of warranty with 40k miles vs. a 2nd owner VdP with 63k miles with select edition warranty good through next summer, what would you do. The lower mileage car is about $1,500 -$2k more?

2) 04 or 05 Nav System? Is it worth looking for this. Is the interface clunky like many I've seen on older BMWs etc.?

3) What am I looking at potential problems with an out of warranty XJ8 with 50k++ miles?

4) I'd rather stick to XJ8, but do you think there are negatives with a VdP in 04 or 05?

5) What about third party warranties (extended) are there any that are good, priced right and low-hassle to get claims handled?

Thanks for your thoughts. Maybe I'm crazy but I think there are good values in 2004 models and I'd like to pull the trigger but don't want to end up with a costly post purchase vehicle.

thanks

A.

 

1) Mileage. My preference is under 40k and there are many seemingly "lease returns" that qualify, but as '08 crawls to an end it's getting harder. If you were going to buy an 04 and there was one out of warranty with 40k miles vs. a 2nd owner VdP with 63k miles with select edition warranty good through next summer, what would you do. The lower mileage car is about $1,500 -$2k more? I always go for the lower mileage. Hang in there, there's no reason why you cannot find a low mileage car with warranty.

2) 04 or 05 Nav System? Is it worth looking for this. Is the interface clunky like many I've seen on older BMWs etc.? Navigation was one of the things I was looking for. I don't think it is as user friendly as a Garmin but I have not been disappointed. You will want to try to find a 2008 disc for it as the 2004 maps were two years old when the vehicle was made.

4) I'd rather stick to XJ8, but do you think there are negatives with a VdP in 04 or 05?
The only difference between them is the trim package. the VDP comes with more goodies. In '05, VDP will be the long wheelbase vehicle.

5) What about third party warranties (extended) are there any that are good, priced right and low-hassle to get claims handled? I can't really answer this question on a Jag. Mine came with "Select" so I never even looked at a 3rd party deal. I can say I have not been happy with 3rd party warrantys on other vehicles.

I put together a decision grid on an Excel spreadsheet and assigned points to the colors and options I was interested in. As for distance, I wasn't concerned about that, if the deal was out of town, I would fly there and drive home. Do your due diligence and use CarFax. Any car can be a great deal, just take your time and check out the car as best you can. I don't know where you are located but this is a well respected dealer of preowned high end vehicles. http://www.texascarsdirect.com/Publi...2/default.aspx

 

im going to add a few things of my own if you dont mind J:

also what is you preferred budget? what is your zip code and how close do you want to stay prefer, if youd like i can search for you one and also search dealers auctions for one that might fit your needs near you ( and save you lots!)

 

JackJohn
Thanks for your thoughts and impressions. I agree. Go for the lower mileage car. To be sure, I'm looking for value as $$ are tight and I"m paying cash. A 60k miles with nearly a year warranty vs a 40k with no warranty is a tough call. Jag Select are great warranties. They'll cover virtually anything. Third party will have plenty of exclusions and, in my opinion, will hound you on each and every claim.

I do like NAV and looking that way. There's an '04 VdP which was standard with NAV and looks good. But it's pushing 60k miles. But at $16k it's $8k less than an 04 jag w/35k miles and two months warranty left at a dealer. Will my repair delta between the two cars exceed the $8k difference in 24 months? No crystal ball here.

I'm actually not opposed to driving cross country (I'm in California) to get the RIGHT car. Thanks for the tip on the Texas dealer. Lookin' now. But San Fran, Vegas, Phoenix, Tuscon and Portland/Seattle are all less than $1k miles from home. So I feel that's better than 3k miles from Florida, for example. I don't know If the car and deal is right, I'll push that limit.

Originally I was opposed to the VdP, but I've since learned that in '04 the VdP does have the longer wheel base. Am I misinformed?

bmw745ion19s

Again thanks for your feedback here. I think I'm with you. I'd go the higher mileage to have the warranty. Drive the hell out of the car in remaining period to get things that might be suspect checked and attended to.

Good to hear about NAV. I've been looking for the right car and deal since July this year. So I've go patience. And as noted not against a 1,000 mile journey. Hell the ride is what it's all about. Right?

Ahhh. The leather of the VdP is wrinkled/supple? Well, I never liked the dimpled trunk lid lift on the VdP but will take that if the deal is right. But like you i'm opting for an '04 reg XJ8

Re: warranty. I read here on JF that the Select Edition is only available on cars bought off the lot of an auth jag dealer??? So even if I wanted to take a jag still with SOME factory warranty remaining, the Jag Dealer won't sell the Select Edition... seems a bit narrowminded but I understand.

I'll look at TCD... why do you want to buy TWO XJ8's... seems a bit excessive unless you're buying for a fleet of some sort...???

thank all of you for your thoughts!

 

Forgot to mention budget... I'd like to spend under $20k and the sweet spot is $17k ... so I know I'm not looking at the cream of the crop, but I think I can get a killer deal because of these times. The $3-5k I will save can cover quite a bit of repair bills and with a two - three year expectancy in terms of my ownership, I think the savings will pay off... but any analysis is worth lookin' at?

 

I wouldn't worry so much about mileage if the car has been properly maintained.

 

Worldrider, here are some dealers that kept coming up when I was searching. Please treat this as simply information with no endorsements.
http://luxury-4-less-auto-sales-llc....&_cpo=true

http://backwebs.homenetinc.com/offle...style%3Dnarrow

 

Worldrider,

The select edition is pretty much an extension of the factory 4 year warranty. As long as any car you are looking at has less then 50,000 miles and more then 30 days left on the original warranty you can buy the extension.

Im considering 2 XJ8s: 1 to replace my 745 (only in winter gold, probably LWB) if i cant find an A8 when i sell it and maybe only keep 6 months to a year, and another (only in SWB, probably in ebony) to replace my s type r in spring

check out this perfect example from TCD, it has a deposit but those deposits turn into sales only about 50% of the time, 04 XJ8 with all the right options: navigation, heated seats, xenons, 18" wheels for the right price and still under warranty!

http://texascarsdirect.com/PublicWeb...l.aspx?id=1100

 

Excellent find BMW. Well appointed XJ8 and dead on his price range. He might make a trip to Dallas for Thanksgiving.

 

Hey Worldrider - we actually bought an off-lease '05 XJ8-L today and thought of many of the same things.

Because there is a year left on the warranty, we decided against certifying it through Jaguar and will do a 3rd party add on next year. We had good luck with this on an '00 XK8 convertible we had. Never had an issue and the dealer took care of dealing with the warranty company, and they covered several major things.

Personally, I would not drive another car without a warranty. Jags are certainly much better than they used to be, but any car can have problems and problems get so expensive now. I kept my Mini Cooper past warranty and it was a nightmare. We traded an '00 Lexus GS 400 on the Jag, and it had a 3rd party warranty on it, too, that definitely paid for itself. We use Continental.

I love the XJ. We also have an '09 XF, and I think we are going to be fighting over which car to take.

 

Thanks for the links and tips guys. I have spoken with Jack at Luxury for Less and the folks at Texas Cars Direct, but ultimately found an XJ8 2004 in my backyard with only 38k miles and an immaculate interior and exterior. Just no NAV nor premium audio or anything much in the way of the xtras... but the price was fantastic and thousands less than the other guys had similar cars.

So I've had the car for a couple days and nothing to report other than the CD player seems to skip/crackle on my self-burned CDs... so I'll have more to report later!

Regarding warranty, hey Maffinfil, you mention you'll add a third party warranty... which one do you recommend and what plan would you choose? Perhaps this is a topic for a separate thread, but I'm interested in purchasing one as this Jag has no warranty. I did have the local Jag dealer inspect it and the only thing they said is that it was time to flush coolant and brake fluid. Other than that they gave it a thumbs up...

 

not sure if it's an X350??? it's an '04 XJ8 and so far it's okay. I've had issues reported here on other threads with the (1) DSC Error Message; (2) non-OEM tires that are a bit noisy and perhaps not balanced giving me a shimmy and when breaking more shimmy; (3) CD player (in-dash) chunks on playing home-brewed CDs.

But I'll get past these issues and REALLY enjoy that car soon enough!

 

Worldrider - we have used Continental Warranty and have had good luck.... enjoy the new car!

 

wow... i just went to Continental's website and found they are not covering the Jaguar ... not listed in the drop down menu:
http://www.continentalwarranty.com/#

Got a quote from Warranty Direct for 2 years 30k for $2,010... they'll take 20% down and $175 or so a month....

that's for their bumper to bumper covers all but cosmetic and consumables and regular maint... and NAV. but i have no nav...

200 deductible...

 

world
pm'd you
a while back
chad

 

chad replied to your email on the 7th... check your spam folder?