Have i bought a lemon?

[Gordon from Edin]

Hi guys, please pass on your expert help....i don't think its a lemon but maybe neglected a bit....

Recently bought a 1997 xk8 for very little cash.

Computer lists no faults.

New engine and gearbox 13,000 miles ago
Bodywork excellent - tyres and exhausts look very fresh....

Door trim loose on drivers side.


Everything works, but engine sounds a bit noisier than i expected. It is due a service - not sure how much that will help?

Feel every bump on the road - knackered shocks?

Car rattles a lot inside - put that down to age?

Slightly underwhelmed at power - apart from sport mode admittedly
(mind you last car was c class merc coupe with 3.2litre lump - so it was no slouch....)

Also, (don't laugh) is slick50 still worthwhile???

And finally, best place to get parts? Me and a mechanic-minded mate are gonna roll up sleeves and tackle things ourselves but i would appreciate any good advice/sources/etc

Thanks in anticipation

[mxi933]

The interior stuff is easy to fix - a lot of noise may be coming from dry vinyl connecting with dry vinyl.

I cant see that a service will cure the engine noise - what kind of noise is it? wheres it coming from? I think you need a Jag mechanic. As for suspension bushes - I believe they are an absolute bh to fix.
Why do people expect to buy cheap with these cars? If its cheap - theres a reason and I think you bought a lemon! Sorry!

Also I reckon a decent XK8 should eat yer Merc for lunch

[P700DEE]

Join a decent Jag club for the discounts , the advice and details of your local specialists. Quite a few on here with the xkec, XK Entusiasts Club but JEC good if you need to hire tools. New engine and gearbox, no excuse for it being noisey. You bought an 8 it should waft in style but needs Sports to woosh. Get a copy of the JTIS disc , handy for DIY. They should not rattle, if around windscreen check the bolts that hold the dashboard in, they have a tendency to work loose and rattle.

Edited by P700DEE on Sunday 21st March 10:35

[Gordon from Edin]

mxi933 said:

The interior stuff is easy to fix - a lot of noise may be coming from dry vinyl connecting with dry vinyl.

I cant see that a service will cure the engine noise - what kind of noise is it? wheres it coming from? I think you need a Jag mechanic. As for suspension bushes - I believe they are an absolute bh to fix.
Why do people expect to buy cheap with these cars? If its cheap - theres a reason and I think you bought a lemon! Sorry!

Also I reckon a decent XK8 should eat yer Merc for lunch

Ha ha - thanks - the merc was able to hit 155 and was only 2 tenths slower to sixty as quoted by autotrader, so no, xk8 would not eat it for lunch.

There is no bad noise - just noise! Engine sounds rorty - again maybe the merc has spoiled me, it was incredibly silky and quiet - but then, it had only done 41,000 miles.

Just discovered the Jag had bushes etc fitted 8 months ago - shocks are not too expensive, quite happy to get new ones all round as i have a 2k budget to get it back to a good standard.

[Gordon from Edin]

P700DEE said:

Join a decent Jag club for the discounts , the advice and details of your local specialists. Quite a few on here with the xkec, XK Entusiasts Club but JEC good if you need to hire tools. New engine and gearbox, no excuse for it being noisey. You bought an 8 it should waft in style but needs Sports to woosh. Get a copy of the JTIS disc , handy for DIY. They should not rattle, if around windscreen check the bolts that hold the dashboard in, they have a tendency to work loose and rattle.

Edited by P700DEE on Sunday 21st March 10:35

thanks mate , good advice.

[bennno]

Before you buy shocks and spend any money on it my suggestion would be to refresh its mot and to ask an independent Jaghwaah specialist to give it a decent inspection, as your findings might be normal for the model purchased or the car may be feccked in several areas.

I bought a cheap elise the other year and in replacing the dampers it was noticed the steering rack was gone, and a couple of ball joints, and the anti roll bar mounts and etc etc - ended up going from a cheap car to one I had spent too much money on

Bennno

[pete5570]

I would have been tempted to use the 2k to up the budget and buy a good car in the first place. Don't know what you paid for it but add that 2k and i'm sure you would have been able to get a well looked after, enthusiasts car. Putting a dodgy car right could swallow you budget up very easily.

[mxi933]

Im tempted to agree with the last two posts - theres no such thing as a cheap XK8!
Unless of course its this one - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1579898.htm

It was good before I spent £4500 - so if yours isnt that good now - be prepared for some very BIG bills!!

[Gordon from Edin]

mxi933 said:

Im tempted to agree with the last two posts - theres no such thing as a cheap XK8!
Unless of course its this one - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1579898.htm

It was good before I spent £4500 - so if yours isnt that good now - be prepared for some very BIG bills!!

Well i got it for 4400 so i am happy with that.!! I'm also happy to spend some cash on the car. It looks and drives great, all interior features work, it corners well and i discovered that spanners and bolts in the boot were loose under the spare wheel - since removing them, the rattles are greatly decreased.
The truth is however, that Jag cannot build as well as Mercedes so i should not expect it to be as good as my coupe.......

[mxi933]

Not sure I can argue against your comment on build quality but compared to the beautiful lines of the XK the Merc really does look like a shed. Let's face it - you bought one !

[pete5570]

Jaguar cannot build as well as Merc hey??
I think you'll find Jaguar at the top of the satisfaction tables, way above Mercedes. The XK8 is a very well built car,obviously some are better looked after than others and you get what you pay for. I've seen 'cheap' E class mercs with rust and mechanical issues. In my opinion Jags built after 1995 are far superior to Mercs of similar vintage. If you want a good Merc you want to go back to the early 80s.

[peterzoom]

Here is a name and number that may well be a massive help to you. Give Jamie Gibbon at Gibbon and Wilson a phone [phone]. Jamie has looked after several Jaguars for me and presently fettles my XJR. His advice over the last 20 years has been invaluable, he is a great source of knowledge and always willing to give sound advice and able to source hard to get bits at the right sort of cost.
Good luck.

[Gordon from Edin]

peterzoom said:

Here is a name and number that may well be a massive help to you. Give Jamie Gibbon at Gibbon and Wilson a phone [phone]. Jamie has looked after several Jaguars for me and presently fettles my XJR. His advice over the last 20 years has been invaluable, he is a great source of knowledge and always willing to give sound advice and able to source hard to get bits at the right sort of cost.
Good luck.

Wow, thanks for that.

Car getting checked over in next couple of days, will see what they say and react accordingly!
Number stored in my phone tho! Thanks again...

[cardigankid]

Gordon from Edin said:

The truth is however, that Jag cannot build as well as Mercedes so I should not expect it to be as good as my coupe.......

Oh no! An undercover Mercedes troll. Operating with characteristic German subtlety, too. Are you by any chance the Lord Haw Haw type they get to do the voiceover on the Classic FM ads, and tells you that driving a Merc is like having strawberries and cream at Glyndebourne? Shoved up your arse by Leni Riefenstahl probably.

Look, if blowing away your Merc was the prime concern, then get an XKR which will do the job not possibly but guaranteed. As to Jaguar not doing smooth silent cruising as well as Mercedes, well that may be what happens in your £4.5k lucky bag, but its not what happens in the real world. As to Mercedes build quality, they have to build them to a price and it isn't what it was in the good old days. Not by a long way. So please don't kid us on that one.

This is a Jaguar forum. I don't really want to know about your Mercedes, which I sincerely regard as looking and feeling in every respect like an upmarket taxi.

You have bought a right old Jag without so far as we can see much prior technical examination. Are you going to have trouble? Of course you are, Shock Horror Probe. Kindly don't come on here whining about it.

[steve-p]

I don't think I would pick Mercedes as a paragon of build quality. I had three warranty faults on my SLK55 AMG in the first few months, including one major one where all airbags, ESP and ABS disabled themselves. With modern cars which are so complex it's partly pot luck. I had a recurring electronics issue with my XKR which was difficult to diagnose and meant it was at the dealer for over a month out of the first four months of ownership. That was unwelcome and inconvenient, but was rare and intermittent, and hasn't put me off buying another Jaguar - it's fixed now and I still love the car. Nor did the Mercedes faults particularly put me off either. And with a 13 year old car, well, anything can happen. Not so long ago I had to spend £2500 in repairs on a one owner '97 E320 with low mileage and FSH, so an old car is always an old car.

[cardigankid]

mxi933 said:

Im tempted to agree with the last two posts - theres no such thing as a cheap XK8!
Unless of course its this one - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1579898.htm

It was good before I spent £4500 - so if yours isnt that good now - be prepared for some very BIG bills!!

That looks really really tasty - but you should have a few pictures from the front, which is these cars best angle. The interior is remarkable for 121k, and the wood wheel and dash are lovely.

[a8hex]

[quote=Gordon from Edin]The truth is however, that Jag cannot build as well as Mercedes so i should not expect it to be as good as my coupe......./quote]

Please
Please
Please
can you come around and make my Mercedes as well as my Jaguar.
I'd be happy if it was half as good.
Hell if it only need the attention of the Mercedes dealer 4 times as often as the Jag has needed attention it would be a damn good start.

[X100]

I would bet that with verry little expense you will have a good reliable XK8.
Well done for getting an older example, it should be a very rewarding feeling getting such a great car for that money.

I have always loved Jaguar motors, and bought a 97 xk8 in 2003. It had over 100k on it, and now has done 130. It has been faultless, only needing the usual suspension components replacing.

Oh...Cardigankid, as you must know, Jaguar owners usually possess a lot more substance than you showed in your rant earlier. That was a disgusting response to a new Jaguar owner. You may feel quite established on here, but that means nothing, other than you sit at your computer too much.

[mxi933]

X100 said:

I would bet that with verry little expense you will have a good reliable XK8.
Well done for getting an older example, it should be a very rewarding feeling getting such a great car for that money.

I have always loved Jaguar motors, and bought a 97 xk8 in 2003. It had over 100k on it, and now has done 130. It has been faultless, only needing the usual suspension components replacing.

Oh...Cardigankid, as you must know, Jaguar owners usually possess a lot more substance than you showed in your rant earlier. That was a disgusting response to a new Jaguar owner. You may feel quite established on here, but that means nothing, other than you sit at your computer too much.

I'm not sure that it was a rant - more a gentle reminder of the folly of extolling the virtues of Mercs on a Jaguar forum

[WDRV12]

Well done on buying a lovely car, if the engine is a bit noisy, then ask someone to have the timing chain tensioners checked ! Its a critical problem if it fails but not expensive if you catch it before !!