Hi everyone! I am new to the forum. I am officially joining after months of browsing through the forums. I have never owned a car, but I am not a teenager just getting their license. I am a 32 year old, who has lived in NYC and never had the need for a car. I have always rented a car when needing to drive out of the city so I am an experienced driver. Now I am in a place in my life where I want and need a car and having admired the x308 since it was new, want some insight on them as a first car. My budget is $8,000 and as you all may know there is a ton of examples available. I've always admired the XJR mainly for its asthetic differences (larger wheels, mesh grille, etc) but figure I don't need a supercharger. So I was thinking of a "Sport" edition. I found one somewhat close here (https://www.carstory.com/detail/2002-jaguar-xj-bohemia_ny-SAJDA12C12LF45075) Added plus is that it is in the color I want.

A little about my lifestyle:
1. I still live in NYC, will be commuting to work primarily by subway still.
2. The car will be for leisure and trips to NJ to see grandma and the family twice a week (dealing with public transport to NJ is getting old) so I won't exactly say it will be a "daily driver".
3. Single guy with no dependents and good income, which may come in handy since I have no hands-on experience with fixing cars. My aunt does know an experienced mechanic in NJ who used to work on Jaguars (I can ask her for his name).

Am I biting off more than I can chew? I know people say your first car should be a beater, but I feel my situation is a bit different. I've read that x308s can be extremely reliable if well cared for. Considering I will be driving only a certain amount of miles a year, do I qualify for a special insurance?

 

At the end it comes down to how well maintained your Jaguar to be is/was.
A bit of luck helps too.

we lived in Kansas City from 2009 - 2012. The very first evening having literally arrived a few hours before, I bought my 2002 XJR of Ebay for $ 10.000, had 93.000 miles. It had an excellent maintence history, still I had it checked over by a Jaguar specialist who gave it the thumbs up.

i drove it for three years as my daily drive. Took it to/from work every day and we did most of our road trips in the XJR. I did about 20-22.0000 miles a year. When we moved back, I took it with me to my home country. I still own the car, but nowadays it is more of a hobby car. It has about 175.000 miles on the clock.

I do most of the maintenance myself and yes I have had several electrical glitches I had to sort over the years.

I have owned dozens and dozens of car, but this is still my favourite!

The one thing, it is completely useless on snow. Rear wheel drive, thick tyre and lots of torque do not go well together. Which gave me a good reason to also buy a 98 Jeep Cherokee at the time!

Enjoy

Jeroen

 

Welcome fanboy...in my signature below there is a How To link, prompt that and it will take you to what to look for when buying one of these beauties. Its an older thread, but still applicable.

Now, the car you linked (btw...nice looking, low miles, good find), I feel may be a bit overpriced IF....
...the tensioners haven't been replaced. For a non-mechanic, this will cost you.
...the coolant hoses going under that supercharger haven't been replaced. Same as previous.
Both of those will eat you up in labor, not so much material cost. Now don't run from this, its not a do or die if your Tech (don't call a Jag Tech a mechanic, my Irish Tech let me know that) is experienced with the process.

The tires on her, I've never heard of (but did a quick review, fair tire), I am very partial to Michelin's and a couple other name brands. Thus I am suspect of someone putting cheap performance tires on just to get it out the door. I would also check the build date of the tires, here's a nice described link for review... https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...-of-your-tires
Saying, I am not only suspicious of cheap tires, I am suspicious that if they were old when put on and even though you have good tread, you may have to replace them soon, via what the link tells you. Thus costing more money.
Do the usual checks (yes, I know, this is your 1st, but make and take a checklist, CYA), brakes, fluid levels, cleanliness...i.e the link in my sig. Don't be afraid to take some pics and come back here and post them with Q's. We'd be happy to help.

Be sure to fully function the sun roof, there are a few threads here on folks who have had issues. Hey its a movable part, it can break, no matter what you have. Be sure to check the seals as well (to include the door and boot).

I would have the codes scanned to see if there are any lurking. Most any Autozone, O'reilly's or the like can do this....or I would contact that aunt and ask if her Tech friend could accompany you? That would be the ultimate thing to do since he has knowledge of the car. Buy him a nice lunch for his time.

Now one of the most important things in this whole scenario is....you need to understand British terminologies...i.e. a trunk is called a boot, a windshield is a windscreen and so forth....lol. They also talk in those metric terms.

Last and hopefully not least, we would hope to see you provide us with some photos and exuberant descriptions of your new purchase here....https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ictures-52060/ ...oh, and to set the mood....prompt the video in my sig and imagine yourself rolling across the GW on to the Palisades heading up to Poughkeepsie for a weekend.

Cheers, good luck, and we hope to see you soon....HH

 

You will hardly find any better vehicle for $8000. This one seems well cared for. But all old cars (Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans) will have issues arising from age and mileage. I don't think these Jags cost any more to maintain or repair providing you stay out of the dealers service bays (which is just as well, as most of their mechanics have never worked on this model) and find a really good independent.

HH have provided good advice. But if you can see the maintenance receipts that would close the deal. $8000 seems high, but looks like nearly new in the interior.

And, as you have probably figured out, this Forum is a superb source . . . What we can't help you with is where to park it in the City.

 

X308 has its peculiar maintenance issues as you can read about in great detail on this forum. As a first car for a driver its a great car. It does offer one huge benefit to a novice driver; excellent visibility almost 360 degrees. I don't have to parallel park often here, but I bet it would be great at that in New York compared to so many other cars you can't see out of. My X250 its like the front of the car ends at the windshield wipers, but the X308 I can tell where all four corners are. As a first car for a novice DIY mechanic though, probably not so much. Its got a lot of complicated systems and needs a lot of specialized tools which would be a challenge for a beginner.

But my concerns center around the use and storage of the car when not in use. Being in New York proper and commuting mainly by public transit means your car will sit unused a lot. Do you have a garage? I know parking is expensive there. Being already 17 to 22 years old, these cars are getting brittle. Everything about the X308 was meant to be soft for comfort and soft materials seem to deteriorate quicker than harder materials as found in some cheaper cars. Parts made of plastic, rubber, vinyl and leather will be suffering some deterioration at this point and if it has to sit outside in the sun and weather, that deterioration will accelerate. There's preventative maintenance, products you can apply to slow it down, but know that even though you're not racking up the miles, its not going to last as long as you might hope unless its kept indoors.

Also, being only occasionally driven, I would worry about the battery. These cars electronics are very sensitive to a weak battery. Its fine if you are driving it frequently enough and far enough each time to keep the battery fully charged, but if its going to sit for more than a week at a time at less than 80% charge or less, that's not good. You might get only two years out of a battery that way, need to carry around jumper cables and suffer the car throwing random check engine lights at you when the battery is drained too far. Not critical, but it could be frustrating. Many of us keep our cars plugged into CTEK battery maintainers when they are not being driven but that may not be possible in a public garage or on the street. Plus on the street overnight, somebody's gonna swipe the leaper off the hood eventually.

A friend of mine who lives in Manhattan has several collector cars, but stored in a warehouse in New Jersey. He keeps an older base model VW Jetta in the city and travels to play with his toys on weekends when the weather cooperates. I recommend you move to Fort Worth and have a large house with a three-car garage full of Jaguars and a personal mechanic for what a tiny apartment costs up there.

 

No . I have an x308 will be honest . I wouldn't buy an x308 as my first car this car need good experience in cars and many parts are not easy to change for example the fuel pump and the tensioners and the parts are expensive its good car but needs more care than other cars and spend more than and more than others . Well i enjoy driving it honestly and i like everything in it but to keep it maintained you need to spend more money.

I would get 2001 ls400 cheaper parts easier fix good quality ride and last for long time . Most of us here have more than 1 car
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I would stick to 1998-2003 xj8.stay around 50,000 mile mark.i bought an 01 out of PHILLY,PA 3 years ago,it had aarp stickers all over it and a jaguar air filter;that tells me a little old lady had it and was dealer maintained.now I found this car on copart salvage site. it had 46,000 miles on it and was totaled out because it was an old car but just light damage on right front,i've had very few problems with it and for less than $4 grand [car and parts] I put it back on the road. its the 3rd xj I've owned .and the look is timeless,steve