The car has 130k+ miles, 2 previous owners, no REPORTED problems or accidents and it's $4k. But I've gotten mixed advice, some people telling me I shouldn't buy it because it's bad, some saying it's good because it's super reliable and some said it's good but not for what I want. I'm planning on driving from Pennsylvania to California and keeping the car for maybe 3 years. Of course I'll have a mechanic check out out if I do seriously consider buying but I just wanna know if any of you think it's a good purchase (considering it's been well maintained). Any advice would help and if you think it's good what would you say the monthly maintenance costs would be?

 

If it has been well maintained, not all that many miles.

The normal wear items can cost a bundle to have done.

If you do your own work, that's another story.

Some of the best used car deals out there.

 

That is a hard question to answer on behalf of someone else. For myself, I would want to know how the price is compared to others in the area. Then look at the condition of the components most commonly discussed on this forum (headliner, suspension, cooling system, etc...) The price does not seem overly high or low compared to similar ones here in northern California. Your mechanic's inspection plus any records related to the vehicle should be able to help sort out any issues. However if the mechanic is biased concerning Jaguars his opinion may not be all that helpful. Most Jaguars look very nice cosmetically and present well. I would expect the owner of a Vanden Plas to keep it visually above average for the year. Hopefully the last owner has taken care of the wear and maintenance items as they appeared. However, I have found many times older high end vehicles are being sold because a very expensive repair is just getting ready to need attention. A complete list of all stored codes, transmission, suspension and engine is really important to help make a informed decision. Then, as mentioned, it is important to know if you do your own work or hire it done. Mechanics are not any cheaper in California. Personally I now wish I had waited and bought a Vanden Plas instead of my base model as the extra room would be nice. Then again a Super V8 Portfolio would be even better. Good luck and keep us informed.

 

If there are no faults displayed, then at that sort of mileage I would expect to have to carry out some replacements on the front and rear suspension bushes. These don't throw up codes when they wear, but need replacing nonetheless. With 130k miles there really should have been replacements already carried out on many of these bushes, so ask about this. The lower air-spring/shock bushes are a hardy annual, coming up almost every year assuming you're doing a reasonably high miles per year. The suspension design is Ford and not of the best I have to say. These four bushes, one per shock carry the full weight of the car between them so only last about 40k miles. This design is also found on the Lincoln LS, I believe, (being UK-based I have no knowledge of these US cars). These bushes are not usually expensive to replace. The other bushes that tend to wear out rather too early are: -

- rear lower wishbone bushes of the ball-type, (the Silentbloc bush rarely gives trouble)
- front lower wishbone "banana" arm trunnion bushes. When these wear, they allow tow-out with soon results in your tyres wearing out on the inner shoulder. So buy tyres or bushes, the choice is yours !!



The top wishbones each end are quite long-lived but are expensive to buy.
Swaybar link bushes can wear but replacement is easy, (unbolt old, remove, bolt on new one)

 

Just a thought...have you considered shipping the car to California instead of driving it? If you break down in the middle of Kansas on your trip it could be very expensive.

 

From my experience, take car to a good alignment shop. If the suspension bushings are bad a good tech will find them. Also park on level ground and let it sit for few hours. Will tell you if an airspring is leaking.

 

Pennsylvania car, sadly part of the rust belt, frame parts underneath are made of steel, & do rust.

The first Jaguar purchased, came from the Carolina's, things unbolted & came apart easily.

The newer one spent half of its life in Ohio, it fought being taken apart, many steps along the way.

Look underneath at the frames condition, & for rust in general.

 

Like someone said, save yourself a potential nightmare and have the car shipped. I just bought a 2004 with 99K and it would not have made a trip like that due to a couple of gotcha's that were impossible to see on the surface. I bought the car locally and do all my work, so my situation is a bit different, but would not gamble on a cross-country trip like that. Price seems right though, just factor in another 1K to get it home on a truck.