Hello all

I've said this before in the general introduction area but first a huge 'Thank you' for such a great site with so much information about these stunning cars! It has really helped me make my decision on which car to buy, so much more informed.

Thought is should give a quick introduction and tell you the tale of how I ended up buying an XK this week.

I'm an Englishman living in MN (there's a couple on here) and my wife (Cheese Head Packers fan but otherwise lovely) thinks I have a car problem .

I recently finished up this little puppy as my 'get out from under the good lady's feet' toy, which meant my Elise became surplus to requirements! So she ended up being bundled off to a nice guy in NC and I had some space and a few $$$ in the bank.

I had decided that I wanted something else to tinker with, so was looking for an early Porsche 924 to lower and generally spend far too much money on. Then I saw an xk8 drive past me and it reminded me how back in 1998, I used to see a light metallic blue one with an oatmeal interior parked in the same car park as I used. The owner being a high up in the pension company that shared the group of buildings.

At the time I wondered if I could even lease one, but even on a strict diet of beans, it would have just been too much of an outlay for a car.

Now was my chance I thought and living in the US now, I could even afford the gas!

So I started looking for different coupes and learning more about them. As I worked my way through the issues etc that some of the early cars have, I had a few false starts. The first being too good to be true - clean car fax, sub 50k miles and $6k. Turned out to need a lot and had quite a few replacement panels...

Fueled by this picture... the search was still on(!)


Eventually, I realized that a number of the owners of these cars now are real enthusiasts and as such, anything worth having was going to be $10-15k. I think that the next couple of years will see the values of good ones really start to rocket.

Then I quite by accident, put 2007 into one of the search pages (I was searching every day) and saw that for just a little more, I could have a new shaped XK!

I drive about two hours a day and have been getting really tired this year of the 'road construction season' here in MN and my current daily (2015 Subaru STi) and certainly doesn't provide an effortless 'waft' to work...

I've had a couple of false starts with some low miles XKs at garages, the first I put a deposit on via credit card - non-refundable as I was pressured into 'someone else is interested and coming to see it tomorrow' only to get a call the next day to be told they sold it to the other person. They finally admitted that the other person had offered more than the asking price. Got my deposit back though.

The second raised the price on me AFTER I told them I had booked a ticket to fly out and drive the car back. It was 'only' a $130 hike... I told them I wasn't going to pay the extra and after a lot of excuses including 'the money is coming from the wrong type of bank account' they didn't know who I was banking with and it turns out as the same bank they use... They got to keep the car and I kept searching.

Finally I found a car being sold by Madsen Motors in NC. A black 2007 XK that they sold previously back in 2012 and the owner has bought 6 other cars from them. 28k miles on the clock to be delivered in the next couple of weeks!

I've promised my wife I won't do anything to the car and keep it nice and stock for the daily commute, but...

So what started out as a $3k 924 has ended up being a little bit more...

Sorry if I ask any obvious questions, I'm new to the whole luxury car thing, let alone Jaguar!

 

Congratulations! I am sure you will love it. I love the wheels..and 28K miles... Nice. Jac

 

My doppelgänger pictured last. She's a beauty. Congrats, welcome and I'm sure you'll love it, then you'll want to start your Mods like any sensible enthusiast.

Soon you'll be pining for the XKR, because you'll want the low end torque.
Of course, I've been working on an excuse to my wife already - "Honey it's a safety issue. I need to be able to merge on to freeway traffic safely." The base model just doesn't have quite enough giddy-up. Do you really want to chance it?"
After 2 restorations of 80's model VDP's and a brief encounter with an 05 Super V8, she's not having any of it, so my 07 will be my last.

At least she's not a cheese head but she's a Hawkeye fan so I still have to deal with that.

 

Thanks both

I just heard that a company has agreed to do the transport, so fingers crossed, I might get to see it in the flesh (or metal) this week.

I would have loved an XKR, but keep telling myself that I have cars to go fast in, this is just my work cruiser... I wonder how long that will last(!) Also the extra cash for one was hard to justify... That's a lot of extra Brett Farve memorabilia

I've seen a couple of black cars on here with the rear chrome blacked out. Is the usual mod for that; removal and painted, wrapped with black or painted with plastidip?

 

Welcome and congratulations! Great forum with lots of good advice. We all look forward to another new contributor. And by the way, I have both X100 and X150 and love them both, however, there is no comparison in driveability, the X150 is so far superior, suspension, handling, and power wise that you've made the right decision. Now looks are a toss up.

 

I'm on my third X150, and I can tell you there is a huge difference between the NA engine and the supercharged. Welcome to the Forum and enjoy the ride. Your XK looks spectacular.

 

Congratulations on your new toy, you will love that XK! You win the prize on new owner intro, that was a very entertaining opening post, I enjoyed reading the story and the pictures of your previous and current go-fast sports cars.

 

Welcome and good luck with the car. I don't see the antenna, was it changed? The car looks slick.


If you are not aware of it; cars of your period have a water leak issue which I think comes from an ac vent clogging. There are a number of threads here about that.


One word of advice. don't drive a S/C car; especially an newer 5 liter car. It could lead to the worlds unhappiest cheese head when you tell her that you "just have to have it".

 

Thanks Tberg - I do think both cars are stunning lookers I've not really seen an XK coupe up close yet (I know, I know) I'm just hoping I fit mine (being 6'2"). I should find out in about a week!

RalphWG - I'm guessing the NA is a higher compression engine. I've read on the x100 forum that it's a big job to attach a supercharger to an NA 4.2. I'm hoping that my other cars will fill the void for speed but... like you say, probably best just to keep away from them(for the time being - I don't want to be married to a Heated Cheese Panini!)

Thanks TampaMark. I wish it hadn't been such a trial finding a good one. Fingers crossed this one is what it supposedly has been described as. You can always trust a used car salesman in the US, right?

SickRob - thanks for the advice. I'll have to read up on that. Here I was thinking I would just be working against overheating problems - now it looks like wet toes too!
Looks like the Superchargers are addictive... Has anyone tried thick gaskets on the heads to lower compression and then adding a supercharger set up? I guess stand alone fueling on such a complicated beast is also a bit of a nightmare - best just stay away from the 'R's for now

 

Munky,
I'm 6'2" as well, you should be able to find a comfortable seating arrangement without too much problem. The seat back may not tilt back as much as you'd like before hitting the column under the rear window, but you should be okay.

 

"...hitting the column under the rear window.."(!)
That sounds crazy!
Thank you for the reassurance. It looks like it might be here before the end of the week!
I'm excited and also a little worried about what I might have got myself into.
Hoping it's a good one!
Soon to be:

 

Welcome and congratulations. I am sure you will last at least one week before you start to modify things. Enjoy!

 

Welcome to Jaguar ownership, and to this great forum!

Given your circumstances, it sounds like you picked the right way to affordably get into an X150. Especially given your intended use as a daily commuter, rather than a weekend canyon carver. It will give you thrills every time you look at it, and will deliver a unique and luxurious driving experience everywhere you go with it.

Congrats!

 

Digging your former Lotus!

Welcome to the forum!

 

Thanks for such a kind reception!

Well, I got a call at 9:00 last night that the truck with my car was 20mins away. I agreed on a place about a mile away to meet and waited for a further call (technically I live on a small island of a lake connected by two bridges - lots of small twisty roads that the truck would never get down) .

About an hour later I called the truck driver back and was told he had just about reached the meeting spot. I convinced the boss lady to give me a ride over there. They were just unloading the most gorgeous looking car! And it was mine!

The driver told me that a couple of people had asked if it was an Aston Martin during his pit stops,Mobutu told them it was a cool jaguar.

Wow, the thing looks wonderful!

Paperwork done, I jumped in and went to drive away - looks like the curse of Lucus has been inherited by these modern cars... The bonnet open warning immediately popped up.

Got out and pushed it - still on, opened and closed it, still on. Oh well, looks like I have my first project and purchase! A new hood sensor or at the very least cleaning this one!

Drove home and tucked the car up in the garage. Can't wait to see it in daylight. I had to drive to work first thing before I could see it, so looking forward to looking the car over tonight when I get home!

 

Welcome and good show. Enjoy the ride . You usually don't get over walking out to the garage and saying to your self "is this mine". Have fun and bring on the pictures.

 

Great news...before you chase the rabbit down the hole give the battery a solid charge with a maintainer and see if your error goes away.

 

That's a damn good idea - thanks!
I was forgetting that these like a tip top battery. It has just sat on a dealer floor for two to three weeks!

Only problem is, I'm going to have to break the news to the current user of the voltage drip...


I'm sure I had a larger battery than that in my first digital watch!

 

Hey Munkey,
Congratulations, beautiful car. Heed the battery charging comment, if the car has been sitting for a couple of weeks, charge it up to capacity and then see if the warning goes away. These cars are notorious for throwing warnings as a result of low voltage. Then go out and enjoy!

 

All of the above remarks are right on the button. Welcome to the wonder world of XKs enjoy your ride.