ok all , ive been away for the forum for a couple of years but have been a long time jaguar lover. my last was a 2006 super V8 which will go down as one of those "should have kept" units. anyhow , i was looking for a drop head 4 seater to tool around with the family and had a foray into a mustang GT convertible , which i am now growing weary of. turns out the kids dont want to go out for tours through the country side nearly as much (10 and 12) and now i am pining for the refined ride and style. i have it up for sale and shouldnt have an issue selling within reasonable time. so now im looking at a couple of options for the next tenant of my garage. although some enticing options with XJ's are out there, i dont want to retread, also i have seen a beautiful s-type R , but doubt it will be around when i go to buy. so while searching Jags, i am enamored with the 07/08 XK or XKR (would be perfectly happy with a base as long as its clean). apparently the prices of these cars is at the point where i may entertain (23k or under) as long as its under 100k miles., whereas i would have never been able to touch one previously as this is a pleasure car and not the family workhorse. i would like to narrow my options to a GT or coupe , so its this or a 06 - 08 merc CL500 or CL550.
now my dilemma... the CLs do have workable rear seats and are very pleasing to the eye, but i know im a Jag fan at heart and really have never entered into the german car realm. now the XKs of this vintage , to me , are just plain SEX on wheels and im emotionally drawn to them. so shall i forgo the usable rear seats and tell the wife "the jag does have a back seat" (she doesnt think two seaters are practical for us)? im about 5-9 and normal build , my daughters are normal 10 and 12 year old size... so shall i throw caution to the wind and stick them back there for the occasional trip out to dinner or some afternoon excursion? i dont have a problem moving myself forward as much as possible as would my wife. but really in the end , the most use of this car would be for my jaunts about and my wife and i going out.
i value the opinions of this lot , you guys have been great over the years!

 

I dont know whats the dilemma. Buy the car you want, its your car and your money....unless your wife is buying it for you. If the XK speaks to you, get it and be happy.

 

ok... yes i know all that. perhaps was expecting some more cheery feedback from some who may have gone down this road. thanks

 

"Yes Honey the boot is small but the rear seats hold luggage too" cuz the kids aren't going to fit unless you were pretty good at Tetris.

 

It depends if your car has to pull double duty as a kid hauler. If so....yer a few years late stuffing a few tweeners in. Our set up has mostly been Jaguar Xj (Wife), Range Rover for me and my fun car(s). I am with you on the CL class from that era as its one of the most beautiful cars MB ever produced. But, but.....they can be a nightmare to own maintenance wise. Small .30 cent O rings that take 20 hours of labor to fix and the ABC hydraulic system is notorious to cause issues. Ive watched more than a few youtubers buy and fix CL's and the recipe is the same....lots of work and money if you arent turning wrenches yourself. Get the car that speaks to you because, lets be honest, they are at the age where you loose them till they hit collage age.

Both the 4.2 and 5.0 XK variants have proven to be very reliable long term. Just look at the high mileage examples still on the road today

 

thanks for the input. no this wouldnt be a kid hauler, but... would be nice to at least be able to share the experience of going out in the "special car" with them sometimes. ive been combing the internet on the reality of these rear seats and have actually seen pictures of some people in them ! .. smaller people. have any of you tried at least with some real use of the rears?
im pretty handy with the spanners which allows me to even consider cars like ours. granted there are sometimes that call for just writing the check , but for the most of everything which is mostly minor things, yet expensive at the shop, the info on these forums and youtube have saved hundreds. ive been researching the CL's heavily as well for common issues. ive went to see a couple which were obviously auction cars that were rode hard put away wet. saw what seemed to be a gorgeous 07 gold XK with 68k miles , and it turned out to be a disaster. over the years ive been to probably every slimy dealer and lot over the tri-state area here chasing down leads. ive broadened the search to nationwide as it seems there are much nicer examples out west.. if i decide to say eff-it and go for the XK, ill have a third party inspection done out of state.

 

Don't worry about including your kids on those rides, they'll only be looking at their phones the entire trip! As long as you got a good family hauler you are good to get whatever you want. I've got a late model, three row Ford Flex for any family duties and my Wife prefers to ride in that. I've got a big pick up to haul stuff, so whatever I choose for myself is up to me. We're empty nesters finally, darn millennials!

 

When I was actively looking, I set up daily notifications on Ebay, Cargurus, Autotrader etc. Then I did daily searches on Autotempest and nationwide searches on Facebook Marketplace. I had a very specific color combo, mileage XK in mind. I tried to get a PPI done and ended up with an online company that was a crap shoot as they sent out Ray Charles. In the end, I took a day trip (airline) with a quality code reader, flash light and paint meter. Renegotiated some $$ for non disclosed issues and closed the deal. I hate buying from dealers but they had what I wanted so I had to do the dance.

FB and Craigslist are where I was finding the interesting out of the way cars.

 

Did you find my photos while you were searching?

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...2/#post1670698

I used to regularly pick my teenage daughter up from the mall with a friend and occasionally had 4 up.

I wouldn't inflict it on someone for more that 15 minutes or so but it is definitely doable.

 

the back seats are no different than the 2006 XKR you had.I had a 2001 XKR and it's hard to fit a kid back there after they reach certain ages and the back seats are probably worst in my 2013 XKR i have now and the seats have been the same since the 2007 models.It would be better if the XK had as much room as a Maserati gran turismo since they do look sort of similar.

 

all millennials are grown. This is generation X now that the millennials themselves are raising lol

 

I was referring to my millenial!

 

I would say the rear seat on the X100 is slightly worse than the X150, but both are not great by any means. The CL550 is legitimately a much bigger car and you can see it in back.

I also own a GranTurismo; it's much roomier, but unless you need one to plop people back there, I prefer the overall experience of my X150 XKR. The XKR has no ABC, and that alone is a big boon over the CL, and the XKR in 4.2L guise has solid timing bits (no cam variator issues), no sticky buttons I've seen, and really the biggest oopsy poopsys on Jaguar's part have been an AC drain and a wrinkly leather dash (ask me about Maserati sticky buttons and **** vinyl while I've redone the dash and a lot of trim plastic and vinyl in my GranTurismo...). I've looked at CLs through the years, the W215 and C216 always looked like great dailies but unless you get a RWD only model, they aren't fast; and if you get a fast one, you get reliability issues, even if you shy away from the V12s and stick to the SCed V8.

Go for the X150, put kids back there when essential and accept that its basically a 2 seater most of the time.