New member here with potentially dumb, newby questions. Your consideration of these facts is appreciated in advance. Ha.

So I've been lurking around this forum for months as I've gotten closer and closer to finally buying my first Jag. I finally signed up because, quite honestly, I find you guys to be extremely knowledgable and really helpful.

I'm looking to find a '98-'01 VDP and am wondering if you have some advice that can help me make the best decision possible.

Here's what I know (mostly from my lurking):

1. It's all about the transmission, the tensioners & the timing. Whatever VDP I go with needs to have solid records of the work that's been done here or I probably need to expect to spend some money myself to have it done.

I suppose the question there is, I'm not really a mechanical guy when it comes to cars of any kind. How do I avoid sinking money into a VDP that's on the verge of a total meltdown?

2. I know this vintage is right in the middle of some engine issues—hence question number one.

But is there a particular year in this range I should really avoid? Or is there a manufacture date that is a huge red flag?

3. Last, I have no idea from a maintenance standpoint whether I want it supercharged or not. That may seem like an odd statement, but I've had high performance cars, if I wanted to get a ton of HP out of this I'd look at the XJR. So for me, supercharged isn't a big thing—but I don't know enough to definitely stay away or consider it.

Would I expect higher annual maintenance costs with the supercharged VDP, and does it impact gas mileage?

I found some really good info in Curdy's thread here, particularly from danielsand and RedOctober.

But honestly, any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I would look at 2001-2003. Then you will have steel sleeves in the cylinders. Look up
Nikasil in the Forum. The transmission needs to be serviced even though it is sealed and has no dip stick. Shop around for repairs. There ARE people that will work on the car for normal prices. They made some supercharged VDP's, but the XJR's are more common. Unless you can do a lot of your own repairs, I would suggest getting the lowest mileage 2003 you can find. The additional initial cost will be offset by lower
maintenance cost.

 

If you have the choice, go for the later models around 2002-2003, as they'll have steel linered engines & some will have the later metal tensioners.

Most of the problems with these cars are with the earlier versions, especially the 1997-1998 models.

Ironically, the supercharged models have less problems then the standard models. The supercharged models have the Mercedes transmission which is a much stronger & more reliable unit than the ZF gearbox in the standard models.

The ZF transmission in the non-supercharged models has a glaring weakness with the valve block body at higher mileages, which can cause major transmission failure if not sorted quickly. This in itself is reason enough to go for the supercharged models, which have the much stronger Mercedes gearbox that rarely gives any trouble-even at very high mileages.

Also, the supercharged models have the metal thermostat housing which is much better than the plastic units on the standard models-the plastic can crack & leak coolant out.

None of these cars will be cheap & easy to maintain-what you're looking for is 'damage limitation' to your wallet by choosing a variant & model year with the best fighting chance of avoiding a major mechanical failure.

All the early models had a whole string of issues to worry about-Nikasil, plastic secondary tensioners, ZF transmission failure, throttle body issues, water pump failure, plastic thermostat housing failure etc.

The most risky models of all are the early non-supercharged models, so go for as late a model year as you can find within your budget.

Don't rule out the supercharged models, as in many ways these are actually a safer bet mechanically & are less likely to suffer the various issues that afflicted the early non-supercharged models.

The only proviso with the supercharged models is to make sure the car wasn't owned by some Yahoo type who ragged it & didn't service it properly, especially with regard to brakes, tyres & suspension on these rocketships....

The 'Holy Grail' of X308's is a late model (2002 or 2003) supercharged variant with a good service history. Fuel consumption is not massively worse than the non-supercharged models, as all these cars are not exactly 'economy' models. You might use 10% more fuel with the supercharged models, to put it into perspective.

Oh, and remember this-if you are looking at a car which has faults, then ask why they haven't been fixed. If you get some story about how it will be a quick & easy repair, then ask why the seller hasn't done it before advertising it, if it was that easy & cheap to do! Any problems you find on the test drive may well come back to haunt you at a later date, so take your time to find the best car & don't be seduced by the looks.

These were expensive cars when new, so if you end up with a rough one then expect some severe pain to your wallet...

Jaguar continually updated & improved these cars throughout their production run, so go for as late a model as you can find within your budget. Mileage is not necessarily a problem provided there's a good history & the car has obviously been looked after. The XJR's are capable of high mileages easily-I've got 150k on mine with all of the original powertrain components still in rude health. I have a friend with 220k on his 2000 year XJR, so they can go the distance.

You say that you're not a mechanical guy & also don't want to sink a large amount of money into a car which could then require major repairs, so choose your car VERY carefully. With these cars, you either have to be good with spanners or have a large amount of spare cash to pay a garage to do the repairs.

These were 50k cars & in the big league for repairs if you get a dodgy one-if you want a safe car then get a new Kia Picanto or Dacia Sandero with a warranty

 

This is fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to write that up.

The info on superchargers really fills in a big knowledge gap for me.

I spent years in the BMW world so the repair bill issue is something I remember well. Not fondly, of course, but well.

Part of my reluctance about getting into '03-'04 is budgetary, but it's also styling.

I like the look of a longer more squat cat and I feel like you get that into about '02, but more in the late 90s.

I figure getting into this will cost me somewhere in the $8k or $9k range—which is delivery of the Jag plus any initial immediate mechanical issues. Then what, an average of $500 a year or so to make sure it doesn't turn on me?

I find that fair for what it provides.

A couple of interesting options that as I'm looking around sort of jump out to me are:
2000 VDP
1998 supercharged VDP

Neither at the price they're offered, of course. And it's mostly coincidence that they're from the same seller. They just tend to do a lot of high quality pictures so that helps the initial read on what they have.

Then there's this which sort of fascinates me. It's a '96 VDP which I know even less than nothing about, but I feel like there might be something to this car.

But as was said above, I know I need to be extremely careful about this decision based on the years I'm looking into.

I make the wrong call here and it will cost me dearly. Literally.

 

Hey JoeP,

i've just put my 2001 XJR up for sale. This is the link to the forum thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/p...-000-mi-91939/

I have quite a bit of pictures but here are some to give an idea. Let me know if you are interested. I can send you a picture of any area of the vehicle you would like. I did not wash the car before the pics so please excuse the dust.

 

Honestly, TF, the single best thing that could probably happen to me in my quest is to purchase my Jag from someone here. That way I could be certain it had been taken care of the right way.

I lurked your post and your XJR is beautiful. The only problem with yours—for me—is I can't do a black interior. I live in Vegas and at work during the day my car lives outside. For roughly four months, even with a good tint, black leather is kind of miserable unless you can stay out of the sun.

The outside being dark is fine, but I can't do a dark interior. Truly a shame because I really like your XJR..

 

1998 to 2003 is the same body style on the XJ8. It really easy to go through
$3000+ a year on maintenance. Some shops see $$$ if you have a Jaguar. The newest, low mileage car will be less expensive in the long run if you can't do most of the repairs yourself. I think the XJR typically has a dark interior. All great cars, but as they age, they do need more maintenance.

 

$3k a year just on maintenance? On a VDP?

That sounds .

 

Ha. This forum embeds the whole clip. Sorry about that. But unless it's going to destroy the thread I'm going to leave it.

 

You will love the black on black- it is the best combo in my opinion... just park in a structure. (you WEREN'T thinking of parking OUTSIDE were you?)

 

Ha. Exactly.

I had a black/black BMW 330 in LA for years with a serious tint on it. Great car, really. I love black/black, despite how tricky black paint can be to keep up.

But knowing how hot that car would get there I can't fathom the sheer nut-melting pain one would be in for come July in this town with black leather.

 

As I am known to be VERY impatient person (looking for a 2003 XJR). let's talk about your car. Email or PM, whatever you prefer.

 

This is one black cat which will make you happy that it's crossed your path

If the black interior becomes too hot in the California sun, just stoke up the blower & roll on some serious speed-I'm sure the windchill factor will cool things down & you'll end up looking extremely cool in such a magnificent beast

 

i've got a 96 vdp that i just parked for my 2000.xjr and for the 2 yrs i drove it never spent a penny on it other than oil changes. (178000) so a nice 96 6 cyl would be a good car.

 

There was a factory recall on 1999-2000 XJ8's due to the Problem of the Cylinder bores (Lack of Linings), and many had their complete motors replaced under warranty. My 1999 VDP was one of the recalls. I checked this out prior to my purchase. If the prospective owners kept in touch with their Dealerships, they would have also had this done under warranty. ????

 

They did not recall the nikasil lined engines, but replaced many under warranty because the high sulfur fuel in use at that time eroded the lining. High sulfur fuel is a thing of the past. A nikasil engine with good compression will outlast a steel lined engine. Porsche and Ferrari still use nikasil.

 

Steel-linered engines are quite capable of lasting to very high mileages. I ran steel-bored BMW's to well over 200k miles & Diesel engines with steel liners can sail past 300k miles easily if properly serviced-reaching over 500k miles in some examples of high-mileage taxis.

Way back in the 1980's BMW did an endurance test where they constantly drove an E30 325i round a track constantly, using teams of drivers-the vehicle only stopped for re-fuelling & servicing. After it had covered a million miles it was then stripped down by the BMW engineers & all components were found to be still within the manufacturers tolerances.

That had a steel-bored engine

I had the head off my old E30 BMW 325i once at 180k miles-there was no wear ridge on the bores & you could still see the faint cross-hatch pattern from manufacture...

 

Come to az and take my 2002 vdp off my hands. 102k miles tons and tons and tons of work done with receipts. 20 inch rims as well. Hit me up :}