This is my first post, and I found this forum as a result of my quest to learn more about Jaguar cars, specifically, the XK8; now I need your help.

A friend of mine, who recently passed away as a result of colon cancer, has owned a ‘97 convertible that he purchased new, and his widow has asked me if I would like to purchase his “baby”. Without hesitation, I told her “yes, of course!”; after all, I’ve been driving it (at his request, to keep it exercised) about once a week for the last six months. But, after reading various posts on this forum, I‘m having second thoughts. One major issue I’ve learned about is the poor design of the upper cam tensioners. In addition to the need to replace these with the updated design, I’ve also noticed some other problems:

The front wheels are canted in at the top (control arm bushings?) resulting in massive wear of the front tires on the inside edges. The tires (original Pirellis) look new on the outside edges, but the wear on the inside edge is so bad that I’m thinking they are trash.

The other tires appear that they have never been rotated, and the rears are worn down almost to the wear bars.

The inside rear-view mirror (auto-dimming) is screwed-up with about only 1/3rd of the image being usable and it no longer functions properly.

The power antenna doesn’t extend or retract correctly.

The sound system’s rear speakers have no bass and rattle badly; their foam surrounds have probably deteriorated (?).

The engine has died on me numerous times during periods of long deceleration/coasting. For example, driving along at highway speed using cruise control for 30+ miles, then hitting cancel to slow down for an exit, and at the end of the exit ramp the engine is dead! I turn the key to off and immediately hear a continuous, rapid “beep-beep-beep-beep-beep………………”, but it always re-starts with no problem. What’s up with this?!?

Other than this stuff, everything else works perfectly; it has only 28K miles and looks immaculate.

Kelly Blue Book (KBB.com) tells me this car’s selling price should be in the range of $7900 to $9200, depending on condition. Now I’ve rebuilt many a muscle-car V-8 in my past, so cam tensioners don’t scare me too much. Neither do the control arm bushings. As far as tires go, IMHO there are many other options to the P-zeros that are just as good if not better and cost WAY less. I can find a replacement mirror from a salvage yard. The same goes for the antenna, or I could replace it with a fixed mast. Speakers are easy, too. Obviously I could use all the problems to negotiate a purchase price toward the low end of the scale. I’ve even considered taking it to the local Jag dealership for an official evaluation (including a full report of the service records) and appraisal.

So, my questions to this forum are: What do you think? Should I go for it? Do you think it’s wise to have a dealer evaluation & appraisal, or is this just a waste of money? Is there anything else major that I should know about before I take the leap into Jag ownership?

 

As you have apparently found out there is a long list of issues with the early XK8's none, other than the Nikasil failure, are beyond reasonable range of hobby repair. With that few miles Nikasil is probably not an issue. I would check for the throttle body recall. There should be a label on the 'B' colume, driver side indicating that this recall had been preformed. The dealer can easily pull the warranty repair records, as well any other dealer service and repairs. They can even print out copies of all invoices provided the current owner will authorize it given that they are the original owner. A $200 full dealer evaluation is the quick solution to those questions but you may get a list of $10k or more of repairs.

A search of this, and other forums, will also produce a long list of things to check.

Based on your quick reply of interest in buying the car you already know that you are going to love it. The only question is what is a fair price to pay for it based on the expected repairs. You will love the car more if you do the research and repairs yourself for a tenth of the dealer cost.

 

Thanks, for the feedback, Test Point. I'll be taking the car to the local Jag dealership this week for an appraisal and mechanical evaluation. I'll let you know what they have to say.