I'd love an LS7 powered XK8 *ducks* What can I say...I'm a sucker for pushrods and big inch V8s

The removeable hardtops are cool.....but way too expensive for my tastes. The soft top doesn't look that bad to me and its well insulated. I've taken the car out a few times in -20* conditions with snow, just so the car gets run occasionally during its winter hibernation. High performance tires and snow make for some fun drives with the TC off

 

Oh that's just a beautiful sight.

The removable hardtops are entirely necessary. I find the coupes look so much better than converts, but converts are a babe magnet and with my T-Tops and car claustrophobia, as much open air as possible is necessary.

Yes, I am the kind of person who drives with the roof off and the windows open while weaing a winter jacket, gloves and a hat as the heat blasts.

 

Have you priced the hardtops? You can just about get a second Jag for the price of one:

Arden Hardtop for XK8 / XKR Convertible
High-strength plastic compound. Painted in body colour. Headlining in genuine Connolly leather. Rear defrost. Incl. hardtop stand and protective cover.
7.140,00 EUR (9.823.93 USD)
netto 6.000,00 EUR (8.255.40 USD)
http://www.arden.de/aade/produkt.php...63738363d34696

 

I completely sympathize with your love of your Camaro as I also have formed an attachment with every car I have owned--even the bad ones.

On the other hand, I had always sort of gravitated towards cars that were a bit unique or ones that you did not see so many of. That is one reason why I opted for the 1995 Corvette for my mid-life toy rather than the Camaro.

I believe in a previous post you mentioned that you were 23, so if you are considering that it might be time to move on from the Camaro, my advice would be to spring for a used Corvette rather than the XK8/XKR. For one thing, there is just something dissonant about seeing someone in their 20s in certain cars, the Jaguar being one of them (no offense to Westra or other young-ins). On the other hand, a used Corvette is pretty affordable, would be similar to maintain and work on as your Camaro, and is certainly still quite a unique car due to the fiberglass body and history.

Just saying.

Doug

 

Yes and no. I've managed to find European pricing but have yet to recieve any North American. I've e-mailed Eurotek and XKs Unlimited for their pricing hoping it's something more reasonable.

Doug, I understand where you're coming from gravitating towards Corvettes and other less common cars. A weird anomoly here is that Corvettes are a dime a dozen. Only C1s and C2 are harder to come by. But the other four generations are just disproportionately common. If you had asked me three years ago, a Vette would've been in the running with the likes of SLK and SL500 but unfortunately for my automotive taste, I had to "settle" with the XJ6/8/R as a potentially necessary option at a very young age. As it turned out a 2+2, remained competent and still does, even for longerish road trips.

A true 2 seater is definitely out of the question. Even though it is legal in Ontario to have a forward facing child seat in the passenger seat, but it is frowned up for obvious reasons which I am in total agreement with. If I want/need four doors and a full back seat, I'll be grabbing a F-350 sporting the 7.3L Turbodiesel and a boat.

I've always desired European, mainly British, vehicles over domestic. Whether it's a Jaguar, MG, Austin-Healy, or Rolls Royce, everytime I think of a new car, my eyes look East first. I didn't even really know what a Camaro was until I saw a car in the dealer's lot and said "Hey... that looks cool and it's not a Sunfire or Grand Prix, what is it? And there was my first car purchased the same day. I must admit the guy whom I was low balling for his '73 MG Midget was pretty displeased when I told him I had found something else.

To me, a car is an extension of my personality. Jaguars look just as great coasting at idle as they do whizzing past at 100mph. Just like me, they like to take their time and smell the roses but when necessary, or desired, they can blow the pedals off. Like me, Jaguars don't need to fight (race stoplight to stoplight) but can do it pretty well when they need to, especially against a totally unsuspecting victim. They represent the finer things in life and demonstrate maturity, responsibility and beauty. I take care of myself and my daughter amazingly well for being a 23 year old single father (the mother and I haven't been together for well over a year and she isn't too involved). That examplifies responsibility and to some extent maturity. So I feel the "aura", which can no longer be called a "je ne sais quois", is a perfect match for my personality and lifestyle.

I'm making a side trip to Jaguars of Novi, Troy and Lakeside in Detroit tomorrow to scout their selection(s) after I pick up a brand new front bumper cover for the Camaro.

 

Stick with your Chevy, you don't want a Jaguar. Your posts show this. You say you don't want/need HP then you say you can boost your Chevy's HP for little money.

You contradict yourself in several messages. You want a coupe but want the roof open, you'll but a hard top for a Vert Jag that costs as much as a used Jag.

You ask for people's opinion then you say the people are a joke.

I think you're just trolling.

 

It's interesting that you say that since the very best potential customer I came across while I was trying to sell my 95 (it took more than a year) was some guy from Alberta who was coming down to California and Oregon in search of a few Corvettes. He said used ones were going for much more in Canada than here in the States and when I did the research on sites like Autotrader, I found out that he was right. While I was struggling to get $10,000 here, I found many similar vintage but much much higher mileage examples in Canada for at least 50% more (even in $US terms). So it did not appear that these were a dime a dozen in Canada--at least not in the Alberta area.

I just think that every serious car lover owes it to themselves to own at least one Corvette. How many cars out there have had fiberglass bodies for over 50 years? There is just something uniquely interesting about these, even the various quirks.

Doug

 

It's interesting also that his photobucket album (at least I believe it is his) has a bunch of photos of an XK8 in addition to the Camaro. So he is probably not really trolling but either already owns one or is very serious about getting one.

Doug

 

I'm probably one of the younger owners on the board (28) and I'll admit that in general people usually do look at me strangely. My best guess is most people think I'm too old for the XK to be my parent's car, but too young to be riding around in a car this nice.

Over the years I've had several flashy cars (including a Camaro) which have recieved plenty of compliments. When it happens in the Jaguar I find it much more humbling because the people who appreciate it and stop to talk to me in parking lots, at gas stations etc... are usually twice my age and much further along in life.

As everybody has already stated a Camaro and an XK8 are completely different animals. Camaros are good cars, there is a reason why they have remained so popular over the years and production numbers have always been high. To get from point A to point B very quickly there isn't a much cheaper alternative.

I see the Jaguar as a much more refined automobile. It is capable of great performance and is packed full of electronics and comforts which are luxurious, convenient, and many times unnecessary, in my opinion this is what makes it so desirable.

What any buyer who plans on keeping one of these cars past the warranty period needs to understand and be comfortable with is that more parts in the car (especially electronics) = more parts to fail. Also, smaller production numbers = more expensive parts and labor, especially if you can't do the labor yourself.

Anytime I'm away from the XK for more than a couple days I think to myself that I need to get rid of this car before it bankrupts me. After one trip down the highway with the top down my brain goes through a system reset. I've driven a lot of cars, but I'm convinced there's nothing that drives quite like this XK when everything is in working order.

 

You ask for opinions from Jag owners and then come down on them for their enthusiasm with their posts, You want more horsepower out of your existing car (400) as posted. Many recommend a XKR since aftermarket performance options are not readily available, but your satisfied with your performance of your Z, a little hypocritical.

Sorry that you didn't like the opinions you received, but it was uncalled for you to come down on everybody who's trying to help you make a decision. What did you expect from enthusiasts of these cars., most of us are in love with them. As for Camaros my first muscle car was a 70 1/2 Z-28 that I loved dearly.


Amen Green Jewel
Doug
2001 XKR Silverstone

 

I'm not sure how you can assume I don't want a Jag. I don't need more horsepower, the 300 I have is much better than the 176 my previous Camaro produced and I was happy with that. But if I have $X to spend on a car, there's not much in after market body work for Camaros that tickles my fancy. So if all I can add is a paint job, might as well boost the performance of it and it would definitely help resell.

It may seem like a contradiction but it's not. I like open air. I don't like the looks of it with it's top up when compared with the Coupe. If on a hot sunny day I can drive around with top off, excellent. During the fall when it's raining and the winter when it's snowing at -30C, the top is required to be up most of the time and with it the top being up that often, I would like to have the Coupe's looks. Or have a T-Top custom made for the Jaguar?

I don't say people's opinions are jokes. If you read why I said they were jerks...See post #19...
I didn't mean to come down on anyone for their enthusiasm. Instead of being happy pursuing any old XK8/XKR then finding out I want something better/different, I've been convinced that I need to find the one that won't leave me wondering "what if..."

I am quite satisfied with my power output. Doesn't mean I don't want more. I was satisfied when I took 3 months off from school over the summer. Doesn't mean I wouldn't have gone for 4 or 5 months if it was available to me without putting me too far behind my classmates. So if I can cheaply boost my HP, why not?

I love the opinions everyone's provided. I found the purgatory comment pretty humourous. A little unfair to compare a Camaro to purgatory as I would save that comparison for a Neon, but still made me chuckle.

I had a deposit on a 99 XK8 Convertible last Summer but the dealer went back on his word so I got my deposit back. That car is still sitting in the lot with a significant price decrease and still with only half of my issues taken care of. I did have a photobucket album with pictures of the car I put a deposit on. I was advised not to get it for the price, but I worked him down considerably and had him agree to certain repairs for my deposit. Unforunately he broke the deal and I won't deal with him again.

About the Corvettes. It seems to be a local anommoly here. I have three within spitting distance: neighbour to the east has a black 94. Neighbour to the west has a white 75, stingray I think. Just around the corner is a red C4. There's C5 I often see nearby and a long time local lacrosse coach has a red C5 he bought last summer. I can't take a drive in Sarnia without seeing a couple Vettes. There are always a few on sitting on lawns for sale. Having said that, I've never really compared American pricing to Canadian, have never been that serious about them, but I'm sure like most other cars, they are substantially less.

 

My trip across the border this morning was a nightmare. I called the dealer in Novi to let him know I was on my way down. He was excited about it, told me he'd have all the records ready and waiting for me. Offered to let me take it for a spin around town. Was more than willing to negotiate a reasonable price if I found any flaws or have the flaws corrected. The dealer at Lakeside wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but was reasonable and expecting my visit.

Sure enough, I have to wait for 40 minutes on the bridge before I even get to customs, then I pick the lane with the worst agent. He searches every vehicle I could see in front of me but not me. Instead, he sends me to secondary inspection where I sit for 3 hours only to get chastized for being short and frustrated with the agents. The scour my vehicle, take it apart and put it back together just enough to cause rattling and squeaking.

While sitting in customs, dealer from Novi calls to inform me that someone just put a deposit on the car (about the same time I was supposed to be there). While it saved me a drive, it was still a disappointment. After I cleared customs, I hit Jaguar of Lakeside. A gorgeous black/black/black 01 XKR is sitting on the lot but I missed that one by about an hour.

At this point I'm 0 for 2 and in a pretty foul mood. Get to the salvage yard for my front bumper cover, what do they do? They break it as they take it off. Zero for three on what turned out to be a 6 hour trip. So back to the internet scouring I go.

 

First off, LT1 camaros don't like boost allt hat much. The pistons in the LT1 are a high silica hypereutectic aluminum. They don't like boost very much and tend to crack. For some reading on this go here----->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypereutectic_piston

However you can get 400 horse no problem without ever bothering with the complication adn expens eof a supercharger on that engine. Parts are pleniful and cheap. The biggest issue they have is the POS Distributorless ifniton dubbed "optispark" they are an absolute nightmare and cost between 4-700 a pop to replace. They also cause all manner of wierd issues with the car, and here is why. The water pump on the LT1 sticks on top of the motor and wraps both around and above the optispark and joins the heads. The weephole for said pump is directly underneath the pump in the center, putting leaking water smack dab on top of the optispark. needles to say electronics don't particularly appreciate water. This is the camaros biggest issue. If you decide to keep the car, replace the water pump, tap the hole, install a nipple and run a hose for the weephole AWAY from the optispark. This will keep your camaro in good standing until the 2-4 band wears out in the auto trans. Otherwise, it's a bullet proof car and not a bad ride.

Now, the Jaguar has quite a bit of engineering "nuance". You can bomb around this fine site and talk to its fine people and gather much of the info you need about such issues as well as all the info you need to fix them. However I personally wouldn't recomend it if you are on a limited repair budget or don't have another car for those days the Jaguar is just uncooperative. There will be (I'm sure) many dissenting opinions on this but c'est la vei.

That said, I would rather drive and work on,the jag than the Camaro. Just wait till you have to do the optispark and do the rear spark plugs....my god, what a headache.

 

I believe the 1995 and later LT-1 had a vented optispark which eliminated much of the problem. Also, when an LT-1 engine started running badly, "experts" on various forums were always too quick to blame the optispark when, in reality, the actual problem could more likely be plugs, wires, egr, etc. Still, it was a dumb design to have this located in such a way that you had to disassemble a bunch of stuff just to get to the distributor. Up until the time I owned my 95, I had always done things like change my own plugs and wires, etc. But age, a funky back, and lack of time absolutely eliminated my desire/ability to do any of this work on the Corvette. Some of those plugs were absolutely impossible to get to unless you were either a contortionist or removed wheels and wheel well access pieces to get to them.

Doug

 

[quote=SeismicGuy;219241]I believe the 1995 and later LT-1 had a vented optispark which eliminated much of the problem. Also, when an LT-1 engine started running badly, "experts" on various forums were always too quick to blame the optispark when, in reality, the actual problem could more likely be plugs, wires, egr, etc. Still, it was a dumb design to have this located in such a way that you had to disassemble a bunch of stuff just to get to the distributor. Up until the time I owned my 95, I had always done things like change my own plugs and wires, etc. But age, a funky back, and lack of time absolutely eliminated my desire/ability to do any of this work on the Corvette. Some of those plugs were absolutely impossible to get to unless you were either a contortionist or removed wheels and wheel well access pieces to get to them.

Doug[/quote

Well, that statement is from my personal experience nothing more.My 95 vette had all kinds of problems with the optispark. There was nothing quite like being out on a date on a hot summer night and having the 26k mile vette sputter to a stop on the side of the road... "I swear this wasn't planned", "no it isn't out of gas!" wait I would say, let it dry out... The looks of disgust and sometimes the sheer joy of triumph at any rate The firebird had the same issues. I never really had any other problems for a couple hundred thousand miles between them. I take that back, the frame was so mushy on the vette (mine was a convertable) that the hood would inevitably pop when i went over big speed bumps or hit large pot holes. "why are you stopping, it's just a speed bump" " I have to close the hood" .As for the rear spark plugs, !@#$%$#@ them. Contortionist is right! I feel that GM was supporting migratory underage asian workers when they shoved the motor under the dash. you need a small mail order malnourished Vietnamese girl with flexible bones to get them changed. I feel that GM was supporting migratory underage asian workers when they shoved the motor under the dash.

Man that Vette was crap, still one of my favorites! Huh, perhaps we are gluttons for self punishment between the older vettes and Jags

 

The reason I'm saying horsepower doesn't matter but then throwing out numbers is because it's not my highest priority. If all I wanted was horsepower, I'd stick the Camaro. Unfortunately Camaros just don't get the "ooh la la" like XK8s and XKRs do.

If you see a young man driving around in a Camaro that has a nice rumble and he looks like the kid that I am, most people think "there goes Joe Jerk being a hot rod" rather than "wow, that Camaro looks really nice, he must be really mature to be so **** about the care and upkeep of his car"

If you see a young man driving around in a XK, most people think "wow, what a nice car, *cargasm*, that kid must really be responsible and mature to own such a beautiful machine or at least for his dad to let him drive it".

As much as I love my Camaro and how comfortable I am in it. I don't feel like it suits my personality and lifestyle as much as it once did. The XK in way will represent my new maturity and responsibilty, but more importantly it represents big transitions in my life, first fatherhood, and more recently single fatherhood. Those transitions in life are much more encompassing than just saying "I've grown up and taken some responsibility." By acknowleding those transitions with a more "serious" car, I'm wanting to shed the careless, wreckless and transient image of Joe Jerk that I'm sure I've created. I'm expressing myself to the public that Jared is no longer all about whizzing around acting "cool" and driving fast for no reason. I'm showing that I've matured as a driver, as father and as a person in general and that I now take life more seriously.

In conclusion, I've said in the past that I feel my cars are about expressing my personality. My Camaro, while it may win HP/$$ battles, it makes me comfortable and feel alive everytime I slip into the seat, it doesn't reflect my personality anymore. The Jaguar has become less of a vehicle solely to look like a million bucks, and more like myself if I were a vehicle with the added bonuses of being able to look like a million bucks while whipping around town.

So yes after daydreaming all day yesterday while sitting in customs and today while at the Canada Day festivities, I have come to the absolute, heart breaking conclusion that I will get finally get my XK.

I'd like to thank everyone for their input, the varying viewpoints have really opened my eyes and forced me to admit that while I love the Camaro with all my heart, a divorce is necessary, we're just not "one" with each other anymore. Besides, if I should not like the Jaguar, I can always sell it for twice the price here in Canada and buy a Camaro again.

Thank you!

Jared

 

To Vicious and Doug,

I think I may have been lucky with my engine then. The only problems I've ever had with my Camaros have been transmissions and driver's window motor. As soon as I bought my Z28, I put it in the shop and had the transmission rebuilt because it wasn't as grippy as it should've been, sure enough, my trusted neighbour said it was time for a rebuild and recommended a guy. I've already been through 2 window motors since September. My base Camaro was around for 4 years and went through 4 motors in the driver side, one in the passenger side.

I probably shouldn't curse at the frequency of my repairs when the only times my car has ever failed to work properly was when I crashed it or the cat converter finally became plugged/broken.

 

I started off with the 3.4L as my first car at 17 after driving the family mini van. Graduated to the Z28 last september. Looking for a XK8 or XKR. The numbers are below. As you can see, the Z28 is in between the XK8 and XKR in the performance category. Nothing major. The only big difference is the XK8 to the XKR. I threw in the Mustang for something current and a 95 Vette for SeismicGuy's reference.

With the XK8, I might miss *some* power and speed, probably nothing noticable if the music is turned up or a conversation is taking place. There will definitely be a lot more comfort and a certain je ne sais quois plus a lot more turned heads.

The XKR is just mostly gravy, a very, very, nice gravy though, but to the untrained eye, no more special than the XK8.

Is that a fair comparison?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedoraja1

The XKR is just mostly gravy, a very, very, nice gravy though, but to the untrained eye, no more special than the XK8.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedoraja1

Is that a fair comparison?

I'll be interested to to read the replies. When I was "looking", every single person I spoke to said he would get an "R" if he had to do it again - for the experience if nothing more tangible.

Now that I have one, I understand! DaleD

 

Hey--don't get me wrong. All in all the Corvette was one of the most reliable and reasonable-to-maintain vehicles I have ever owned, especially considering their semi-exotic mystique. The LT-1 engines and the automatic transmissions were pretty bullet proof given normal maintenance and care. I would have kept my 95 until I died were it not for the fact that I was getting tired of my wife being on my case about it for 14 years. Also, it was getting to the point where it needed some minor cosmetic fixes (typical floppy door panels) and it was time to turn it over to someone who had more time and $ to spare for TLC.

Just to confuse you a bit more other cars you might consider are the Infiniti G35 or G37 coupe or the new Nissan 350Z--these look just about perfect and you would be hard pressed to find a better performance/reliability package.

Doug