A few months ago I was looking for a car for my daughter. I was getting so pissed off at sellers who would flat out lie to me on the phone and then when I saw the car in real life I'd realize it was a POS. The best (worst) example was a Grand Cherokee I went to look at. The Craiglist ad said it had a leather interior, great condition, runs great, etc. I called the guy up and asked a bunch of questions. He told me what good shape it was in. It was immaculate! Even the 12 year old leather. I drove an hour to see the car, and when I got there, I could tell from the outside that it was a piece of crap. But I had driven an hour, so I opened up the door to look inside. The seats were covered with cheap, generic seat covers. I lifted up the corner and saw that the leather was literally shredded to pieces. On the seat there wasn't a single strip more than an inch wide. I was like "WTF DUDE? You told me the leather was in great shape!" He said "I said the seats were in great shape. With the covers on you can't tell that the leather is torn." I went off on him for wasting two hours of my day. We were yelling at each other as I left.

The thing is, why not just say exactly what condition the car is in before wasting someone's time? If the car has dings, tell potential buyers that it has dings. If the upholstery is torn, let people know. I think it's much better to set people's expectations low and then have them pleasantly surprised than to set their expectations high and have them disappointed.

 

My father has a 2002 Camaro SS with only 51k. Nice car(but it's more bacause of the nice condition).

No comparison.. The Jag is in another range of car... Maybe only a 928 comes close..

 

Jared,

I drove the car today and will give you a heads up here and email you a more detailed report. It's a small world!! A good friend of mine in the Atlanta Jaguar Society is friends with the owner of Marietta Sportscar (MS). I had a conversation with him and learned some interesting details.

The car looks very good overall. The wheels were recently installed by MS and they made the custom Jag center inserts. The wheels were picked by the owner of MS. The tires are new BF Goodrich G-Force. The interior leather has some cracking, but no tares. They are a good candidate for a re-dying that is easily done. Even you can re-dye them. I understand you like the wheels, but he does have the OEM chrome "Revolver" wheels if you preferred them. I have copies of numerous repair receipts that I will send to you. Nalley Jaguar has done some work on the car. The last owner was an 85 Y/O man that trades cars with them on a regular basis. The windows have an extra tint. All electricals work and engine sounds fine. ( They do not know about the tensioners) Recent tranny flush and filter replacement. The repair receipts will show a multitude of work done on the car since 2007.

As speed aproaches 70mph the car starts to produce a wheel shake. Their shop does not have a high speed balancer. The steering wheel is slightly off center to the right. This indicates to me that a high speed balancing and an alignment is in order. More to follow in an email............

 

The goal is to get you there in person to try and sell you the car, as if they hope their charm will overcome you.

 

Lew,

Thanks again! You wrote a pretty solid review and covered most of my areas of concern! Thank you very much.

A couple of highlights from the repair records:

There was grinding noise from the rear end - 05/23/2007. Seal rings (p/n jlm20327), bearing kits (c2a1421), and pinion flange kit (c2n2581) were used to "overhaul rear end" in 14 hours of work.

New battery (reconditioned) - 02/27/2009

Transmission issue - 01/26/2010 resulted in a new filter and new plug. Fluid replaced as well.

Various bolts were loose on the chassis and were tightened as needed. As were brackets for the exhaust.

ACC Belt pulley was replaced as was teh ACC Belt Tensioner.


As it stands now, based on what Lew has shared and what I have discovered more locally, this may very well be my car. There are some minor issues that could be dealt with. The weak spots as far as I'm concerned are the tensioners and wheel vibration/alingment which are a potentially big issue and a major peeve of mine respectively.

I will call them in the morning and find out if they can verify the tensioners for me. I will also discuss shipping/import options in case I don't feel like making the trip.

Thanks again Lew!

 

I feel like I'm a part of a new baby being born or something. I'm getting all weepy!

 

Come on now Sam, we are men, lets go out and smoke a cigar

 

I'm sure that Lew did a great inspection, but I would never buy a car that I had not personally looked at and driven. Jared, if this is the car you want, IMHO you should go to GA to pick it up yourself.

 

I am not in disagreement with this statement!

 

Isn't that what you are supposed to do when you have a new baby! Then comes the ****.........

 

I've often thought like that too. But what I believe, and I know I'm not too far off the mark is that 95% of the people on these forums (whether it's www.jaguarforums.com or www.camaroforums.com or anything else) and 99% of the people that frequent them are loyal to the brand/car and are generally more mature (especially on these forums). These people are dedicated to these vehicles and want to see more of them kept on the road and more people enjoying them just as much as they do themselves. If they were to go out and create a BS story about a car, they would be doing the brand they love, the car they love and the enthusiast community they love a great disservice.

The difference is places like www.cardomain.com and www.streetfire.com where every Joe Jerk (usually younger and/or less mature) with any pride in their car and an internet connection accumulate to promote their own "rides", despite how tasteless and tacky their cars actually are.

In conclusion, dedicated forums are dedicated to the preservation of the brand/car. It is much more like a local enthusiast club than anything else.

Open/Broad forums are dedicated to shameless self promotion of the owners and their cars and do not care about the preservation of any brand/model.

So if I can't make the trip, I've taken enough cars out over the past three years to know what they should feel like, I can trust that if someone from this forums says "it feels just like any other xk8" I know what it feels like. Unfortunately time doesn't really permit me to make too many more trips. Actually I think I've already eaten up my ration of "not available if my daughter needs me immediately" time. I don't want to risk the ex attempting to pull a fast one on me while I'm gone and unable to protect my daughter's best interests. But that's another story.

But yes it's a risk, it always is. However I'm pretty sure this is one I'm willing to take if buddies nearby don't drop their prices or get me what I ask for prior to purchase.

 

Ahhh! My eyes, my eyes! Make it stop, please!

 

My thoughts exactly. Every time I come across that picture, I wonder which kind of Benz that it is I'm looking at.

 

Regarding Car #7:
Latest note from the owner:
"Just a bushing on the upper control arm
I am having him do both bushings while he is there
$75 for bushing and 1.25 hours labour
It is being done tomorrow or Fri depending on parts"

Ladies and Gents, I think it's time to start making some offers. Let me weight the pros and cons to each.

Car #1 - $14 000 + $600 travel + ?? Maintenance
Pros:
Is amazingly attractive. Will not "need" any exterior changes.
Lower base price point is attractive.
Some maintenance records available.
Dealership offers 3 month/3000 mile warranty and has a return/refund policy.
Dealership is reputable.
Original wheels available (for winter use)

Cons
It will cost approx $600 just to the car and get it home.
Import hassle (3 day wait in the US, import fees, duty and taxes)
Will need alignment and/or wheel balance
Paint, quoting Lew: Paint is in good shape. Some minor scuffs that will be easy to buff out. The paint is not a clearcoat paint and is in need of attention
TENSIONERS' status unknown.

Car #7 - $14 000 + $800 for wheels + $300 touch up body work
Pros:
Car is fairly local.
No import hassle. Available immediately.
Very few condition issues.
Tensioner work and water pump work completed.
Possible tax break.

Cons
Driver's seat in need of attention
NEEDS NEW WHEELS!
May need new paint (Sea Frost of course)
Minor paint issues on the nose (stone chips, car was snow-banked once, etc)

That's all I can think of right now. Truth be told, I think I'm leaning towards Car #7 now rather than Car #1. Car #1 will require more hassle and more patience while Car #7 is available right now with no hassle for similar prices.

I will make some calls/e-mails tomorrow and break it down a little more.

 

patience has been said to be a virtue...and how about 'good things come to' ... yada yada yada

 

That's usually what's said. I've taken the opposite view. As I can only speak for my experiences, when I wait, I miss the train. Everytime I've had something good sitting there waiting for me to wrap my hand around it, I've waited for something better and it's never worked out, whether it's been car shopping, relationships, sales at the grocery store, you name it. I always miss it.

With that said, if I bought an XK last year, I wouldn't have found my amazing Z28 in the fall. However, I wasn't looking for a Z28. I was just using my usual search pattern on Kijiji and came across what appealed to me in Camaros. So I bought it the next day.

 

Car #1
Dealership is stuck on the driveaway price of $11 000.
If I buy the car for USD$11 000 it will cost me CAD$13 806.77 after the exchange, taxes and import fees. It will cost me approximately $300 to fly to Atlanta and another $300 to drive back (gas, food, etc). Not to mention the mandatory trip to the Georgia Aquarium. It will take me a minimum of 3 days to import, a trip to a local Jaguar Dealership for inspection and the necessary modifications (if any). It will take another trip to Canadian Tire (National auto parts stores and service centres) for a safety inspection and e-test and then finally another trip to the Licence issuing office to make sure it's all cool.
Subtotal - $14 406
Grand total after all of the trips: >$15 000 and no guarantee the tensioners have been done.

Car #7
Owner is having both upper control arm bushings fixed. Has agreed to drop the price to $11 500 saftied and e-tested.
Car will need wheels ($800) and eventually winter tires (for the old wheels)
If I buy this car for $11 500 it will cost me $13 110 after taxes and approximately $100 in gas to drive there and back. It will cost an additional $800 or so for the wheels.
Subtotal - $13 910
Minor body work (stone chips, miniscule dent in door from another car) - $200
Grand total - $14 210

Leaves extra for winter/all season tires for the original wheels which will be about $1000.

I think Car #7 is the car I will be getting. The tensioner issue with Car #1 and the fact the mid speed vibration Lew noticed will not be adjusted into the price is a speed bump I don't think I can overcome. Let's hear what you have to say.

 

Sounds like logic prevails, by deduction, #7 is the car for you. Now, commit to the owner before someone else snags it.

Now, are you sure you want to do the big aftermarket wheels? Can we not talk you out of it...if we use sound reasoning and logic? We can surely find you some attractive Jaguar issued ones. You won't have to worry about offsets, excessive camber issues (you'll most likely be faced with with aftermarket, wider wheels).

 

After the latest e-mail from Marietta Sportscar, I think it pretty much seals the deal.

Followed by this after I again bluntly stated my fear of the tensioners.

I don't understand the logic but obviously they aren't too willing to move. They have their own shop and won't bother just taking a look? All I asked for was some confirmation. I could pay them the money and everything work amazing or I could pay the money, snap the timing chain, blow the engine, contact them for warranty information, find an appropriate place to repair it, get it repaired...oh summer's over? There goes $16 000 and a hell of a lot of time.

Of course you can! I almost always follow logical advice. However, I did find this in my search and those are the wheels I'm looking at.

 

Well, I will try. Get the car secured, then that battle begins.