I bought an X300 - by mistake!

[BruceV8]

Well, almost by mistake. It came upon fleabay: 97 on a P 4.0 Sovereign auto, BRG, cream leather, 131k,(almost) FJSH & hardly a mark on it. It finished up at £850 which was actually my absolute top bid. I bought it with the express intention of selling it on for a profit. I have enough cars as it is and, generally preferring older 'classic' motors, I thought I wouldn't like it. How very, very wrong I was! On the drive back from Norwich to London I absolutely fell in love with it, so will probably keep it, at least for now.

All my other Jags have been series XJs and one XJS V12 so I don't really know a lot about X300s. So now I've got it, what do I need to know?

Cheers

[jas xjr]

its still a lot of car for the money.just enjoy it for a few months and try and sell it on

[a8hex]

I'd run it for the winter.
You don't really want the classic XJs and XJS' out and about then. The X300 is galvanised and should be easily up for it. I've got to say that is an amazing price.
I've had my X300 since nearly new, if I'd known how long I'd keep it, I would have bought a new one. I've had mine since early 96 as my main car.
Been a great car, I still love it. It's been much the most reliable car I've ever had.

[BruceV8]

I didn't know they were galvanised (told you I didn't know much about them). That would largely explain the superb condition of the body. But the interior is next to mint as well. I doubt anyone has ever sat in the back. The driver's seat has a bit of bolster wear, but I've seen a lot worse on much newer cars.

And it drives like a dream. I know that people who are new to Jaguars often can't even tell if something is wrong, the ride and general ambience being that good, but I don't think I'm inexperienced with this marque - although new to this model.

Up until I got it, my daily smoker has been a 1977 Triumph 2500TC. I can see that having an easy time over the winter. But my problem is that I'm such a mug for a nice (or old and characterful) car. Someone has offered me a P38 Range Rover for equally sillily low money. I bet I buy it, intending to sell it on. And I bet I keep it. I'm rubbish!

[MrVelox]

BruceV8 said:

Well, almost by mistake. It came upon fleabay: 97 on a P 4.0 Sovereign auto, BRG, cream leather, 131k,(almost) FJSH & hardly a mark on it. It finished up at £850 which was actually my absolute top bid. I bought it with the express intention of selling it on for a profit. I have enough cars as it is and, generally preferring older 'classic' motors, I thought I wouldn't like it. How very, very wrong I was! On the drive back from Norwich to London I absolutely fell in love with it, so will probably keep it, at least for now.

All my other Jags have been series XJs and one XJS V12 so I don't really know a lot about X300s. So now I've got it, what do I need to know?

Cheers

That car in nice shape sells for $5-6k over here in the states even with megamiles!

I ran a 95 Daimler 6 (What we call a Vanden Plas) for 150k miles and hardly had any issues.

Watch for rust, headliners sag, motors for the steering column tilt fail, at least the US-Spec radios are rubbish, upper A-Arm bushings, diff pinion seals can leak, radiator bushes perish. That's all I ever really had to mess with on them.