I was wondering how many of us feel like I do -- I'm looking for an XJR and found one that's real nice looking, checked it out good and it's good except for one major thing -- it has 5 previous owners and it's a 2003 car.

Does that bother you as much as it bothers me? If a car has been owned by 5 people, and it's only 9 years old, doesn't that usually mean there's something wrong with it?

Just wondering how you feel about that.

I'm going to look at another one tomorrow with only 2 POs and it's a 2000. That makes me feel less uncomfortable!

 

I tend to agree with you. There are many reasons for short term ownership but to see many instances in the same car can cause concern. A one owner car can be abused though. It helps that members of this site have available information to know what to look for.
Good luck with your search.

 

I'd look for service records and even try to get them from the dealer by the VIN. Price will be a major factor too as 2003 will be worth more.

 

How many miles? Do you have the history?


Many of the R's did 2 year leases then went on to be CPO cars - so it is not unusual to have them on the 3rd owner in the 5-6 year period.


The red flag is the short term owner -- many people see the low cost of aging luxury cars and do not anticipate the expense of the upkeep.

Doing repairs/ maintenance on the cheap becomes very expensive for the next owner ...

 

I wouldn't worry.....it's the car you're assessing, not the owners.

Just bare in mind the X308 check list....I'll say the 03's are without doubt the best of the lot. Jaguar Cars Ltd took care of all the early issues by 2003, the engine is an AJ27S with the later all metal timing and morse chains - the waterpump is the upgraded version. It should be fully loaded as a roll out model too. I'd forget the rest and buy it!

 

I'm going to look at a couple more cars and then consider going back to the 2003 if it's still there! I've thought about it a lot and figure that if the price is right, it's worth a crack. The thing I have to keep in mind is that I'm getting a $69k (MSRP) car for under $10k -- it's not going to be perfect.

I'm looking at a 2000 and a 1998 today -- after reading all the great info and checklists on this site, I'm a bit leery of the '98 and will check the build date for the '00.

This site rocks!!!! Thanks!

 

The miles are always important. How many on the 03

Personally ........I would not buy a 98 and if the 2000 is an 'R" I would pass on that also as it may not have the upgraded bearing in the MB transmission.

The problem with the older ones is the water pump and the fact that it may have overheated at one point.

The 02-03 cars are the ones to purchase and are worth the extra money - you can get unbelievably nice cars for very little $$ currently -- especially with $4 gasoline.

 

I agree with Sean B: 02s and 03s are far more likely to be dependable. By then Ford had corrected a host of problems. After that they added new problems such as Lincoln-type air suspension systems. I have thoroughly enjoyed owning a 2002 XJ8L Vanden Plas for the past 5 years, relatively trouble-free, except for routine maintenance. Odometer: when bought, 56,000; now, 83,000. A clean CARFAX report and comptent pre-purchase inspection are more important than the number of previous owners. Good luck with your purchase.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. The '03 I'm looking at has 56k on the odo and looks like a new car -- no dents, dings, scratches, etc. on the exterior, and the interior is absolutely perfect. The car runs and drives like a new car, too. I made an offer, but couldn't make a deal, now they're trying to get me to come back -- Monday might be my lucky day! Wish me luck!

 

Just remember to have it inspected -- never buy one without an inspection.

The local dealer can also look up the history that is in the database.

 

like others have said, previous owners is not that important, but the service history is. my XJR had 4 previous owners, and it only had 40,000 miles when I got it

 

I'm going to see if I can take some time off tomorrow and ask the seller (it's a used car dealership in town) if I can take it to the local Jaguar Dealership to get it checked out. If he won't let me, big red flag? He's already tried to "sell" me on their service dept -- great techs, all certified, etc. etc. etc. The only other option I would have is to hire an independent inspection company to go to the used car lot for me -- haven't found one of those around here, yet.

 

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think you can get the any jaguar dealership to pull up service history that they have in the computer system as long as you have the VIN number

 

That has been my experience.