Where are all the decent XJ's?
Discussion
For your car Prizam.You could find, drive and buy a perfect Eurohatch in a couple of hours. It's much more difficult to find a really good XJ with so few to choose from. You have to keep looking - for weeks or sometimes months. My current XJ took me over a year to find.
Even though I'm not thinking about selling, I have a quick look on Autotrader, carsandclassics, classic cars for sale, Gumtree, Ebay and the JEC classifieds almost everyday as you never know what might turn up. This helps you to keeep a feel for the market and see what's selling and for how much. If you're serious you have to be prepared to travel too and I usually combine looking at potential replacement XJs with a day out somewhere we've maybe not been before and a pub lunch which keeps Mrs JS happy.
Most of the Jaguars the specialist dealers sell are rubbish IMO. They may have a few reasonable cars on display, but the more you look the more you realise that pretty much everything else on offer are worn out stone rashed main dealer part exchanges. There's one dealer in the south east who's cheaper cars at the back of the forecourt area looks more like a breakers yard to me.
My gut feeling at the older/cheaper end of the market is you really need to find an enthusiasts car in a private sale. Often these will have been bought and kept as a long term pride P&J and maintained accordingly. Once you've found a good one - and if you've watched the market and looked as several others you'll know it's good for sure - then don't faff about and loose the deal over a few quid or a couple of bumper scuffs, just get it bought and drive it away before somebody else does.
If you're right then you'll have a car that's way better then almost anything else you'll find, and it's worth preserving and maintaining it as a keeper yourself.
BTW - in case you're wondering, mine is in a garage that reeks of Waxoil with tyres inflated to 45PSI and a trickle charger hard wired to the battery. It'll come out when the weather improves.
Even though I'm not thinking about selling, I have a quick look on Autotrader, carsandclassics, classic cars for sale, Gumtree, Ebay and the JEC classifieds almost everyday as you never know what might turn up. This helps you to keeep a feel for the market and see what's selling and for how much. If you're serious you have to be prepared to travel too and I usually combine looking at potential replacement XJs with a day out somewhere we've maybe not been before and a pub lunch which keeps Mrs JS happy.
Most of the Jaguars the specialist dealers sell are rubbish IMO. They may have a few reasonable cars on display, but the more you look the more you realise that pretty much everything else on offer are worn out stone rashed main dealer part exchanges. There's one dealer in the south east who's cheaper cars at the back of the forecourt area looks more like a breakers yard to me.
My gut feeling at the older/cheaper end of the market is you really need to find an enthusiasts car in a private sale. Often these will have been bought and kept as a long term pride P&J and maintained accordingly. Once you've found a good one - and if you've watched the market and looked as several others you'll know it's good for sure - then don't faff about and loose the deal over a few quid or a couple of bumper scuffs, just get it bought and drive it away before somebody else does.
If you're right then you'll have a car that's way better then almost anything else you'll find, and it's worth preserving and maintaining it as a keeper yourself.
BTW - in case you're wondering, mine is in a garage that reeks of Waxoil with tyres inflated to 45PSI and a trickle charger hard wired to the battery. It'll come out when the weather improves.
Edited by Jaguar steve on Sunday 3rd February 07:47
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