New member XJ purchase advice, HELP !!!!

[lwyatt]

Hi all,

I've just joined and would like some advice on purchasing my first Jaguar. I'm 42 and have been a fan of the style and refinement of the XJ series since I can remember. When I passed my test at seventeen the Jaguar was out of my reach financially as I was only a mechanical apprentice, from my mid twenties until now there's been family life etc.

I now work as a fitter in the Ford Bridgend Engine plant where we currently build the AJ33 V8 Jaguar engine and are at the start of production for the new AJ126 V6 engine. These are exciting times for our plant and Jaguar engines, so with all the talk in work about Jaguar I felt that I'm now ready to dip my toes (gently) into owning the car that I've dreamt of all of my life.

Unfortunately for me my wife is the most sensible person I know, She's reigning in the purse strings. This means that I haven't got a great deal of money to spend initially, a maximum of £8,000.

I've been in touch with a dealer in Brighton who had a XJ8 LWB 4.0 Sovereign for sale at £3,700 on a 51 plate which had covered 69k, with full service history and the brakes recently renewed. What are your thoughts on this? The mileage seems good for the year (2002) and he swore over the phone that it was pristine. I'm thinking seriously about it but don't want to commit to his "non-refundable" deposit without getting some good advice first as the round trip from South Wales to Brighton is probably close to 7 hours!

On the other end of my budget a Jaguar dealer has a 04 plate 4.2l XJR for sale at £7,891 which has covered 96k with a full JSH. It would be lovely to have such a machine :D, but the mileage is an issue (or is it?)

The running costs come into the equation a little when buying a prestige car, not so much the fuel consumption but the servicing, spare parts, tyres etc. are all an unknown quantity to me on this type of car. To prevent any unnecessary costs are there any known faults with the XJ's that I should be aware of before I purchase a car so that I can get it checked out?

Also, I fancy the bigger of the V8 engines, well if I'm going to get one I might as well make it over 4 litres! My price range bobs between the 4.0 l and the 4.2 l which one would you recommend? Also I'm finding it difficult to get the information which differentiates between the spec levels on the cars eg. Sovereign/Sport etc etc. Could someone offer some advice on this too please.

I know I'm asking for a lot here, but any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully my XJ wont be that long in the waiting.

Thanks for any help

Regards

Leigh