Jaguar XK8 - money pit or future classic ?

Strat54

I was in the motor trade for over 30 years. Had dozens of these. Not a bad car, typical Jag though....looks great till you lift it up on the ramp, and then they resemble something that lived on the sea floor for 30 years. Rust city. I'm sure there will be one somewhere that was properly protected underneath from new and not used on wet salty roads.....but that is not going to be the one for £4k. Sorry.....PASS.

Gassage

I had a CLK55AMG.

On a run, 24/25. Snarl galore.

Boot it, 15 ish. So still better than the Jaaaag.

Handling could be a tad unruly but on the plus side you had AMG badges on the seatbacks.

My E350 Coupe is pretty much as quick and will do 48MPG.

Bucket

Moltisanti said:

This is a serious vehicle for 4 grand!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201709089109504?onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&sort=price-asc&radius=1501&postcode=wa160az&model=XK8&advertising-location=at_cars&make=JAGUAR&page=1

I don't know if all XKs are money pits, but at £4k and with 121,000 miles on it, I can almost guarantee that one will be.

Danny1969

rlw said:

Its a Jaguar, made in England by the same company that made the unreliable and rust prone XJ series.  It might be progress but it would still be best to walk away.  Think of it as a marginally better built Alfa if you need more help.  That should put you off.

For that money you could buy a CLK55AMG which is German, better built and a lot more reliable.  It might never be a future classic but at least it will have a future.

The XJ series was terrible under BL but improved immensely when Ford took over. My first Jag was a BL one, an XJ40 which was indeed prone to problems with bad electrics, poor paint quality and door handles made of cheap metal which were prone to snapping. The actual AJ6 engine was reliable though
My next Jag was under Ford ownership and it was a great car. Fast reliable and superb looking IMO. Mine had 159K on it when I sold it and the engine was still as sweet as a nut. 

chillidoggy

Beautiful car, but avoid. As has already been said, rust can be a major issue. As usual, if you get a good one, it's good. But get a bad one, and......well you know the end of this story.

Dominic

all classics are expensive to run and maintain -they were invented to keep middle age men from early retirement and give them something to fondle on sunday afternoons
" Anything for the weekend Sir ? "
Yes please, some copper grease,leather connoliser and tube of Autosol !
that's called lubricating the old girl

mike_l

The biggest with modern cars is everything needs a diagnostic computer to see what the ca needs when something goes wrong. Unlike the older classics where it can be fixed. I've seen a tech spend 40 hours in one week trying to sort a wiring problem, including hours on the phone to the technical dept at head office.
IIRC the fault was never traced and the vehicle was completely rewired.
Thank fuck I work with trucks these days.

chillidoggy

True.

My Lotus has a shitload of electrical string, however the earlier versions were as basic as anything. If ever anything goes wrong the first job is to plug the laptop into the ALDL socket. Thankfully, some kind, clever person wrote a diagnostic software programme and made it free to use (espritmon), and I can use Freescan and Tuner Pro, too. So that does make diagnosing faults easier.

But it's no substitute for simplicity!

boogieman

mike_l said:

The biggest with modern cars is everything needs a diagnostic computer to see what the ca needs when something goes wrong. Unlike the older classics where it can be fixed. I've seen a tech spend 40 hours in one week trying to sort a wiring problem, including hours on the phone to the technical dept at head office.
IIRC the fault was never traced and the vehicle was completely rewired.
Thank fuck I work with trucks these days.

I bet Edd China could sort any problems out in 10 minutes. He always seemed to manage it on Wheeler Dealers. Amazing mechanic ...almost like he already knew what the issue was before he looked at the car. 

Gassage

boogieman said:

mike_l said:

The biggest with modern cars is everything needs a diagnostic computer to see what the ca needs when something goes wrong. Unlike the older classics where it can be fixed. I've seen a tech spend 40 hours in one week trying to sort a wiring problem, including hours on the phone to the technical dept at head office.
IIRC the fault was never traced and the vehicle was completely rewired.
Thank fuck I work with trucks these days.

I bet Edd China could sort any problems out in 10 minutes. He always seemed to manage it on Wheeler Dealers. Amazing mechanic ...it almost like he already knew what the issue was before he looked at the car. 

And, his hourly rate must be one of the best in the country considering Mike's business model.

boogieman

Gassage said:

boogieman said:

mike_l said:

The biggest with modern cars is everything needs a diagnostic computer to see what the ca needs when something goes wrong. Unlike the older classics where it can be fixed. I've seen a tech spend 40 hours in one week trying to sort a wiring problem, including hours on the phone to the technical dept at head office.
IIRC the fault was never traced and the vehicle was completely rewired.
Thank fuck I work with trucks these days.

I bet Edd China could sort any problems out in 10 minutes. He always seemed to manage it on Wheeler Dealers. Amazing mechanic ...it almost like he already knew what the issue was before he looked at the car. 

And, his hourly rate must be one of the best in the country considering Mike's business model.

Lol, absolutely. I've got a mate who was in on the DeLorean episode. Unsurprisingly he told me the whole show is rigged, from beginning to end. I still can't resist watching it though. 

goldtop

Lovely thing, but I'd never buy one with my own money. Go for it!

The fact that so many are rotting and breaking makes it more likely that the best survivors will increase in value.

Danny1969

mike_l said:

The biggest with modern cars is everything needs a diagnostic computer to see what the ca needs when something goes wrong. Unlike the older classics where it can be fixed. I've seen a tech spend 40 hours in one week trying to sort a wiring problem, including hours on the phone to the technical dept at head office.
IIRC the fault was never traced and the vehicle was completely rewired.
Thank fuck I work with trucks these days.

I once wasted hours on a Mk7 Transit, the Ford diagnostic software stated the injectors were fine and there were no problems or fault codes reported from any part of the engine. Even had a real Ford mechanic come and look at it and he was none the wiser as he basically did the same tests I did
Then basically I decided to go ol skool and started stripping it down. One the air filter was off and a mass of hoses and the rocker covers I could see the injectors were indeed fine but 2 of them weren't sat in the cylinders anymore. A Y shaped bracket which holds them in had sheared and the force of the compression had pushed them out.


So always take the fault codes with a pinch of salt, it can be a good pointer but not always. I've learned over the years to not even open the bonnet until I've researched the fault online, paying particular attention to forums where some people have incredible detailed knowledge on particular cars. 

For Jags use www.jag-lovers.org it's a mine of information