Advice needed on XKR purchase please…

[KevinM2]

Hello,

I am new on here and hope it’s OK to ask for some advice on a car (which is listed in the PH buy section)…

I am on the lookout for a Jaguar XKR and this one looked interesting to me

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12505414

Can I ask if you knowledgable people have any thoughts on it please?

It’s slightly higher mileage than I was hoping for (looking ideally for sub 50,000), but the spec does seem high…

Also, it has a pleasing colour combo, as I am not keen on black interiors…

It’s quite far away from me, otherwise I would just pop in and give it a look over (it’s a shame that I don’t know any PH members in the Bradford area that could take a look for me, but that’s an unfortunate consequence of being a new member)…

I just wanted some knowledgeable opinions before I considered paying for a pre purchase inspection to be done…

The company does seem to be OK, and has quite a few high performance/high price prestige cars listed, so I am assuming that they are genuine…

Anyway, any thoughts and assistance would be most gratefully accepted…

Many thanks,
Kevin

[KevinM2]

That’s so kind of you James, thank you very much…

Appreciate the help!

Cheers,
Kevin

[KevinM2]

Hmmm, interesting...has made me think twice, especially as it is higher mileage than I was really looking for.

I have a budget of £27000, so I would need them to be a bit flexible anyway (but Autotrader has it listed, saying it is £1500 above market, so I was hopeful that there would be some wiggle room)...maybe I will hang back and see what else appears...there are bound to be more in my price range...

Thanks for the local knowledge!

[KevinM2]

georgeyboy12345 said:

Give the dealer a ring and see if they will give you the reg of the car. Do an MOT history search and if that seems to check out, buy a VCheck to more thoroughly check the cars history. If the dealer is unwilling to give you the reg or something looks amiss with the MOT history or Vcheck, I’d look elsewhere.

Thanks...I've got the reg already, as it is also advertised on cargurus which actually lists the reg...

Thant's a good idea doing a check...I was going to splash out £250 to get a full PPI done on the car, which I believe would include a full service history and MOT log, but it can't do any harm doing one myself...

Would an MOT history check list things like advisories and can I do a service history check that would show things like what work had been carried out etc? and would a check of the current reg also give the history of the car for its previous registrations? it has a private plate on at the mo...

Thanks

[KevinM2]

joropug said:

Google mot history check and the government page is very straight forward to use and free.

You’ll need to see the servicing documents to get a feel for those.

As a rule I have always avoided buying from areas known to be high risk but that looks like a lovely car. Is it lowered?

Also vcheck shows you more than HPi but not sure if it offers the same protection. They scour salvage sites too as sometimes cars are damaged unrecorded etc.

Yes, it has (I think it's the XKR-S) Speed pack which (amongst other things) lowers it by 10mm...and one thing I noticed on the back was the 550 'badge', which has presumably been added by a previous owner, as no XKR has that on it, so I am assuming it has been remapped aswell...(aswell a performance exhaust added too)...

A lot to consider, as it seems to have had a lot of additions/mods...but sometimes that just means there's more to go wrong...

One concern I have (without yet seeing it or having it checked) is that if it was remapped to 550 bhp, then that might well mean it was done by someone who likes to hammer their cars, and with the high mileage, that's a bit of a concern...

[KevinM2]

I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone for their comments and advice yesterday…

I hadn’t ignored everyone, but as I am new here, the system doesn’t let me post any more than 5 posts in any 24 hours, it seems, so I couldn’t reply…but I did read all of your comments, and appreciated them!

I think I have decided against the silver dropped/modded XKR in Bradford as there are just too many flags hanging over it, so I will keep looking…I’m sure there is something out there!

Cheers,
Kevin

[KevinM2]

samoht said:

I guess the question back would be, is there any particular reason that you're looking at a car that's at the other end of the country, in a disreputable area, with a bodykit, wheels and lowered and possibly other mods ?
Searching for XKRs with engine size >= 5.0 (to select the facelift) and max £27k or so, there seem to be a few dozen for sale, mostly looking un-messed-with:

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/search?M=1037&...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price...

This one's a private sale at a good price with under 50k miles (unless it's cheap for a reason?)
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12690286

and a few others in budget under 50k miles on AT too

Hi,

I’m not quite sure what parameters you are putting in to the PH car buying engine, or if it’s just me not using it correctly, but if I put £27,000 budget, 2009 and later (to get the 5L V8 engine) and a max of 50,000 miles, then it only comes up with 3 XKRs…2 of which are over 300 miles away, and the other is 180 miles away…

Certainly not dozens…

[KevinM2]

I have found a nice looking XKR (2009) fairly local to me (about 200 miles away) and the price and mileage are looking good...can anyone give me their opinion on this please, as I am going to take a train trip down to see it...

Maybe someone has used these guys before, but it seems to be a small family run car business...the main guy, Chris, sounds very nice, and was helpful last night and sent over a walkthrough video of the car...

https://www.wilsonsmotorcompany.co.uk/used-jaguar-...

Many thanks!
Kevin

[KevinM2]

samoht said:

What happens if you click the first two links in my original message? Those links should have the search parameters set in them, so if you just click it should show the cars that meet your criteria, I think - unless I'm missing something?


The latest car you found looks decent to me, at least it's well presented in the pics and the MoT history looks clean, dealer reviews look positive. But will defer to those with experience of the XKR. Unless you can find something else significantly closer than 200 miles away, I don't see any reason not to go look at the black car.

Thanks mate...I have decided that the black car is too good a price to turn down, and I have gone ahead and purchased it...Paid my £500 deposit, and will go down next Monday or Tuesday to give it the once over and collect it...

The guy was very helpful on the phone and answered all of my questions, no problem...the total, including the 12 months full warranty (parts and labour for the entire car, except wear and tear items, obviously) was £23,000...a steal in my book, and I am looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

Thanks for all of the help to everyone...I wouldn't have found this car without you all, and might even have ended up with a bit of a pig in a poke!

Cheers,
Kevin

[KevinM2]

Thanks guys, will do...I need to transfer my private plate (which I have on retention) over to it first, so hopefully it should be fully up and running by the end of next week...I'll post some nice pictures then, and let you guys know how it runs.

Oh, and this is my 5th post today, so the system will not let me post any more until tomorrow, so thanks again to all...

Cheers,
Kevin

[KevinM2]

samoht said:

Cool! I agree the price looks good for the miles, so as long as it checks out, seems a good buy.

The fact that the dealer's taken the ad down already is positive about their competence and commitment to you as a customer.

I don't know how committed you are now, but when you see the car - in general it's worth having a look at tyres (tread depth, condition, age) and brake discs, if you're going to be paying for ~£800 worth of tyres immediately it's nice to be aware of that up front. Obviously perfectly normal that tyres etc wear out, just worth knowing how soon that expense is coming, as they're not cheap in these sizes and I wouldn't put anything less than good quality rubber on a 500 bhp RWD car. Plus check it drives ok obviously, and ideally the interior features (electric seats, mirrors, etc).

But yeah... on the evidence so far it looks nice, hope it's as good as it looks and you have a great time with it!

Thanks! It's funny you mention the tyres, as I asked the seller, simply "how are the tyres", and he came out with all of the depth figures for all 4 tyres and the remaining brake pad depth too, and all seemed perfect...The two front tyres have 7mm depth and the two rear tyres have 5mm depth, so based on my average 4,000 miles per year, he said I'd easily get at least another 12 months out of them...

Same with the brake pad depth (remaining)...I forget the numbers, but he said they would again easily last 12-18 months...

All in all, it's looking good. I also took out a Gold warranty (covers all parts and labour) and despite the car being 12+ years old (just, which would normally preclude the Gold level of cover), they did honour the Gold warranty, and let me take it for the full 36 months Gold aswell, so I think, certainly as far as engine related issues, I am covered for the next 3 years...

He's a great, genuine guy to deal with, and I would certainly not hesitate in recommending him!

Thanks,
Kevin