Attainable V8 Grand Tourer
Discussion
Hi All,
Welcome to my thread on my new purchase
2008 Jaguar XK 4.2 , in Indigo Blue with Ivory interior
This replaces my 1990 2.9 Granada Saloon , which you can read about here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
As with all my vehicles I will be doing a careful gathering of fuel usage, mpg , avg speed etc hopefully this is good information for the data geeks
For now here are some more pictures
Welcome to my thread on my new purchase
2008 Jaguar XK 4.2 , in Indigo Blue with Ivory interior
This replaces my 1990 2.9 Granada Saloon , which you can read about here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
As with all my vehicles I will be doing a careful gathering of fuel usage, mpg , avg speed etc hopefully this is good information for the data geeks
For now here are some more pictures
So a bit more about my decision to settle on the Jaguar XK , specifically the X150 model and perhaps even more the 2008 model.
I always look for a car that can give me a sense of a certain thing but perhaps is a tad left field. I wanted something that would be a great continent crusher and cruiser , something that makes any bad road surface disappear, something sleek, reliable and exciting
I realised the Jag was under valued for all these things (in my view) I had discounted its auto gearbox and too much of a negative, however after having the Granada I kinda realised auto isn’t too bad (although that was as old school as they come). The jag comes with plenty of goodies that make daily driving easy. Cruise , heated seats , auto wipers and lights .
So I decided to start looking, values appear very wildly spread from £4,000 all the way to £25,000+. I knew from the off I would be more inclined to the XK with its softer suspension and NA power, I didn’t want the added complexity of a supercharger nor the MPG hit. I had concluded I wanted the later 5.0 2009 onwards model however , I preferred the look of the 4.2 and the probably over hyped stories of the 5.0 timing chain did get to me. But also I like the slightly more simple 4.2.
So I settled on the 4.2. I searched a lot but found it hard to find a dark colour with cream / light interior. Until I stumbled on this car on the Jaguar enthusiast club. Indigo Blue with Ivory interior.
I went to view it at the weekend, met the owner who had kept the car in fantastic condition. Seeing the car in person I forget just how squat and purposeful the XK is. With the 20” Senta alloys, to my eyes it was gorgeous. I had to have it, so a deal was done and I would return the following Friday to collect
As part of buying and owning a car, I love the adventure of it. Collecting the car I decided to make into a little trip and turned down the offer of a lift and later collection from a local station, instead catching the train and walking to the owners house, taking in some views I’d not seen before
Once there we spoke about the car in great detail, handed over the money and then set about tweaking the various parameters, mirrors , seats and steering wheel , ready for the road home. I checked my phone for the route back and thankfully the M5/M6 was gridlocked with well normal Birmingham Traffic. Which meant one thing the back roads.
This is where the car impressed me the most, it was composed and settled while still not wallowing all over. Once I broke through the smaller B roads I was treated to quiet dual carriageways where I settled in and set the cruise control.
Then it was straight to cleaning, and reading the handbook
I always look for a car that can give me a sense of a certain thing but perhaps is a tad left field. I wanted something that would be a great continent crusher and cruiser , something that makes any bad road surface disappear, something sleek, reliable and exciting
I realised the Jag was under valued for all these things (in my view) I had discounted its auto gearbox and too much of a negative, however after having the Granada I kinda realised auto isn’t too bad (although that was as old school as they come). The jag comes with plenty of goodies that make daily driving easy. Cruise , heated seats , auto wipers and lights .
So I decided to start looking, values appear very wildly spread from £4,000 all the way to £25,000+. I knew from the off I would be more inclined to the XK with its softer suspension and NA power, I didn’t want the added complexity of a supercharger nor the MPG hit. I had concluded I wanted the later 5.0 2009 onwards model however , I preferred the look of the 4.2 and the probably over hyped stories of the 5.0 timing chain did get to me. But also I like the slightly more simple 4.2.
So I settled on the 4.2. I searched a lot but found it hard to find a dark colour with cream / light interior. Until I stumbled on this car on the Jaguar enthusiast club. Indigo Blue with Ivory interior.
I went to view it at the weekend, met the owner who had kept the car in fantastic condition. Seeing the car in person I forget just how squat and purposeful the XK is. With the 20” Senta alloys, to my eyes it was gorgeous. I had to have it, so a deal was done and I would return the following Friday to collect
As part of buying and owning a car, I love the adventure of it. Collecting the car I decided to make into a little trip and turned down the offer of a lift and later collection from a local station, instead catching the train and walking to the owners house, taking in some views I’d not seen before
Once there we spoke about the car in great detail, handed over the money and then set about tweaking the various parameters, mirrors , seats and steering wheel , ready for the road home. I checked my phone for the route back and thankfully the M5/M6 was gridlocked with well normal Birmingham Traffic. Which meant one thing the back roads.
This is where the car impressed me the most, it was composed and settled while still not wallowing all over. Once I broke through the smaller B roads I was treated to quiet dual carriageways where I settled in and set the cruise control.
Then it was straight to cleaning, and reading the handbook
After getting the car back I started into sorting some of the minor issues / changes I wanted to make
First up the engine bay plastics were missing their fixings, I had some left over clips from another car which I think fit ok
Once that was sorted I moved on to the interior, I noticed on the first viewing the two side vents had started to peel, so I ordered some new ones but I went with a gut instinct and a change of colour to suit the interior trim. This year car has Tungsten coloured vents but the later models switch to chrome / silver.
Removable and fitting was extremely easy
I think the vents now look more cohesive with the other trim panels
Like a small child I couldn’t resist taking out the car “oh I need to fill it up” driving probably further than needed to “save on the price of fuel”
At night the interior really feels special with the dash illuminated, I wasn’t bowled away with the exterior light spread but I think this might be partially to do with the UV damaged headlights and the fact it wasn’t fully dark
Topped up for the first of many brim to brim data points, handy to get 1p or 2p off a litre with the JEC membership too. Making it easier to justify driving that little bit further as an excuse to get to the “local” Shell
First up the engine bay plastics were missing their fixings, I had some left over clips from another car which I think fit ok
Once that was sorted I moved on to the interior, I noticed on the first viewing the two side vents had started to peel, so I ordered some new ones but I went with a gut instinct and a change of colour to suit the interior trim. This year car has Tungsten coloured vents but the later models switch to chrome / silver.
Removable and fitting was extremely easy
I think the vents now look more cohesive with the other trim panels
Like a small child I couldn’t resist taking out the car “oh I need to fill it up” driving probably further than needed to “save on the price of fuel”
At night the interior really feels special with the dash illuminated, I wasn’t bowled away with the exterior light spread but I think this might be partially to do with the UV damaged headlights and the fact it wasn’t fully dark
Topped up for the first of many brim to brim data points, handy to get 1p or 2p off a litre with the JEC membership too. Making it easier to justify driving that little bit further as an excuse to get to the “local” Shell
That looks fantastic, especially in that colour combo. 
I've always liked the looks of the XK but the X150 looks better than the X100 IMHO and is seemingly more rust resistant, although the Road Tax is painful.
But I still don't feel ready to give up on manuals yet even if I did make an exception for my Scorpio.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it - and if you ever manage to get more than one passenger in it!
I've always liked the looks of the XK but the X150 looks better than the X100 IMHO and is seemingly more rust resistant, although the Road Tax is painful.
But I still don't feel ready to give up on manuals yet even if I did make an exception for my Scorpio.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it - and if you ever manage to get more than one passenger in it!
First big road journey, I had 110 miles to cover. With my short previous trips and me getting used to the car, seeing how hard it accelerates etc. The full tank range was showing 250 miles to 65L roughly equal to a predicted 17.5 MPG. Not ideal at all for the plans I had.
Knowing full well the car can exceed this MPG figure I thought I’d see how well it could do on a longer drive, Cruise set to 70mph, I set off….. only to join the M6 30 miles later and join crawling traffic. Once cleared and back out the other side of Birmingham the car settled into its stride. At 70mph the car in 6th is doing around 2,000, from my estimates doing a barely believable 34-35mpg !
A couple of single carriageway overtakes and some sleepy villages off the A14 and we had arrived with an average MPG of 33.0. Super impressive. The car seems to be quite frugal once up into 6th gear and above 60mph
And another milestone complete , in this one journey I had covered more miles than the previous owner had covered annually ! A trend I wish to continue , this car is to be driven and driven on long trips and adventures !
Above you can see each MOT mileage
The lowest miles done per year was 103! If you’ve read my other car thread you’ll know I love adding mileage to a car and infact spent a while fixing my odometer to accurately show the mileage I had done (vs leaving it broken and not counting) and now with this long journey complete I can confirm what an excellent GT the car is, the cabin is quiet and the range can be around 400+ miles to a tank.
Knowing full well the car can exceed this MPG figure I thought I’d see how well it could do on a longer drive, Cruise set to 70mph, I set off….. only to join the M6 30 miles later and join crawling traffic. Once cleared and back out the other side of Birmingham the car settled into its stride. At 70mph the car in 6th is doing around 2,000, from my estimates doing a barely believable 34-35mpg !
A couple of single carriageway overtakes and some sleepy villages off the A14 and we had arrived with an average MPG of 33.0. Super impressive. The car seems to be quite frugal once up into 6th gear and above 60mph
And another milestone complete , in this one journey I had covered more miles than the previous owner had covered annually ! A trend I wish to continue , this car is to be driven and driven on long trips and adventures !
Above you can see each MOT mileage
The lowest miles done per year was 103! If you’ve read my other car thread you’ll know I love adding mileage to a car and infact spent a while fixing my odometer to accurately show the mileage I had done (vs leaving it broken and not counting) and now with this long journey complete I can confirm what an excellent GT the car is, the cabin is quiet and the range can be around 400+ miles to a tank.
Edited by mintmansam on Monday 26th May 07:41
Mr Tidy said:
That looks fantastic, especially in that colour combo.
I've always liked the looks of the XK but the X150 looks better than the X100 IMHO and is seemingly more rust resistant, although the Road Tax is painful.
But I still don't feel ready to give up on manuals yet even if I did make an exception for my Scorpio.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it - and if you ever manage to get more than one passenger in it!
Thank youI've always liked the looks of the XK but the X150 looks better than the X100 IMHO and is seemingly more rust resistant, although the Road Tax is painful.
But I still don't feel ready to give up on manuals yet even if I did make an exception for my Scorpio.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it - and if you ever manage to get more than one passenger in it!
Yes it got an Aston look to it (I know that’s said a lot). Yes but the subframes are steel and it does corrode so I’m not off the hook yet, I admit the aluminium was a big draw to the car. Ah yes the tax, best not to think about it, hoping some months off the road and SORN during winter can ease the pain
The auto is actually very got especially in sports mode. Even does a little blip on the downshift. Paddles work quickly too. The previous owner had the gearbox serviced at 60,000 too so another thing not to worry about
Ah we’ve tested that, just about suitable for a child up to the age of 6 behind a passenger, not the driver though. Strictly a 2 or 3 seater if your lucky
Edited by mintmansam on Sunday 25th May 23:28
mintmansam said:
ManicMunky said:
Lovely! These have aged fantastically well.
Thank you, I really think they have , it has some fantastic curves ! I love the X150. I think cars peaked around this point. I genuinely do.
Excellent choice IMO (said man with 4.2XKR 2008 coupe).
Mine gets ~18mpg knocking about and averages about 24-25 on a longer run (US gal.s). A delightful thing that gets better at speed.
They do seem to be hard on rear end bushes but replacing the control arms is pretty straightforwards and I think you can buy bushes separately and press them in yourself. The climate control sampling fan is a common place failure but inexpensive and easy to replace.
The auto works great but even in paddle mode will change down if you inadvertently hit the kick-down switch. It would be nice if you could program that out like the later 5.0 cars.
I am in the process of re glueing the headliner...
Mine gets ~18mpg knocking about and averages about 24-25 on a longer run (US gal.s). A delightful thing that gets better at speed.
They do seem to be hard on rear end bushes but replacing the control arms is pretty straightforwards and I think you can buy bushes separately and press them in yourself. The climate control sampling fan is a common place failure but inexpensive and easy to replace.
The auto works great but even in paddle mode will change down if you inadvertently hit the kick-down switch. It would be nice if you could program that out like the later 5.0 cars.
I am in the process of re glueing the headliner...
ShortBeardy said:
Excellent choice IMO (said man with 4.2XKR 2008 coupe).
Mine gets ~18mpg knocking about and averages about 24-25 on a longer run (US gal.s). A delightful thing that gets better at speed.
They do seem to be hard on rear end bushes but replacing the control arms is pretty straightforwards and I think you can buy bushes separately and press them in yourself. The climate control sampling fan is a common place failure but inexpensive and easy to replace.
The auto works great but even in paddle mode will change down if you inadvertently hit the kick-down switch. It would be nice if you could program that out like the later 5.0 cars.
I am in the process of re glueing the headliner...
Wow , really impressive fuel economy. I returned back today 31.2mpg (imp) over 110 miles plus many stops Mine gets ~18mpg knocking about and averages about 24-25 on a longer run (US gal.s). A delightful thing that gets better at speed.
They do seem to be hard on rear end bushes but replacing the control arms is pretty straightforwards and I think you can buy bushes separately and press them in yourself. The climate control sampling fan is a common place failure but inexpensive and easy to replace.
The auto works great but even in paddle mode will change down if you inadvertently hit the kick-down switch. It would be nice if you could program that out like the later 5.0 cars.
I am in the process of re glueing the headliner...
Ah yes so far the bushes seem good, although the climate control is weird , too hot on my side , I’ve ordered a new interior sensor , hopefuly that sorts it
Yeah the kick down, example Ive rather change manually down to 3rd and stay there and use the wave of torque vs shifting another gear down.
One of the good things the previous owner did was sort the headlining so no worries, but it looks simple if a fix is needed
Edited by mintmansam on Monday 26th May 19:09
I think these are suddenly being appreciated, absolutely gorgeous from every angle, better looking than the F Type to my eyes.
Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
J4CKO said:
I think these are suddenly being appreciated, absolutely gorgeous from every angle, better looking than the F Type to my eyes.
Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
They have a fantastic presence in real life.Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
For the refinement, kit and technology within the chassis as well as the gadgets it actually unbelievable. It really is 2 seater though
I personally wouldn’t be tempted by the Aston too, I know it’s faster but I don’t actually want to chase any more power, the ability to travel semi reasonable distances between fill ups is more important to me.
Reviewing the forums the car is (touch wood) reliable / the faults are known and fixable with strong independent support, which somehow seems quite unique to Jaguars
mintmansam said:
J4CKO said:
I think these are suddenly being appreciated, absolutely gorgeous from every angle, better looking than the F Type to my eyes.
Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
They have a fantastic presence in real life.Really is the modern E Type, mad to think you can buy one fairly cheaply. I was looking at them but the wife decided on a TT so need a four seater, so went XJ but you never know.
Someone I know had one, then “upgraded” to an Aston Martin, then went back to a very lovely 5 litre convertible, he and his wife massively prefer the Jag.
For the refinement, kit and technology within the chassis as well as the gadgets it actually unbelievable. It really is 2 seater though
I personally wouldn’t be tempted by the Aston too, I know it’s faster but I don’t actually want to chase any more power, the ability to travel semi reasonable distances between fill ups is more important to me.
Reviewing the forums the car is (touch wood) reliable / the faults are known and fixable with strong independent support, which somehow seems quite unique to Jaguars
I've had a good look myself over the years and noting put me off (except for the fact I barely use the 2 cars I've got and a 3rd didn't make sense).
The only very minor head scratch was how to get Android/Apply onto the dash as Jags of the era don't have an aux in unlike other manufacturers. There are ways round it but it could be easier.
Certainly not a reason not to buy one!
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