XK8's pricing in November issue

I'm stunned by the XK8 pricing in the article on page 125 and confirmed in the pricing on my local Craigslist.

What could drive the price of this car down 90% in a decade. What is wrong with the car?

Jack

Don't underestimate how bad the reputation is for modern Jaguars, justified or not.

They are cheap as chips. Beautiful cars. (especially the coupes IMHO) From what I've heard they have their faults, but aren't terrible.....especially the XKRs.

I think they look absolutely amazing lowered just a bit, with nice wheels. It's a shame they were never imported with a manual trans.

I really like them. They're getting so cheap, it's hard not to look one over, but only the coupe version for me. A couple of years ago I "tried" following one through an interstate on ramp with my Miata, the XKR was very impressive. It looked to have almost no body roll and put the power down well.

Yeah, they're a deal. Plus supply seems to be pretty good.

Thanks guys! I'm still stunned. Around here (Seattle) most of them are right at $8k asking for apparently perfect cars. Weird stuff.

Jack

Being the person that wrote the piece in the magazine, I have been watching these cars for many years. As lots of you know I own a DB7 and I personally would find it difficult to justify the price of the Aston Martin over the XK8. I think my Aston is a better looking car, both the interior and the exterior and it has the magic of the Aston Martin badge on its nose, but I would in no way discount the XK8. They are truly equals and the Jaguar due to higher production is the car that was better developed.

Also many people try to tell you that you need to buy the R model. Before you take their advice be sure to drive the standard XK8 first.

These cars do have some issues but all are known and none catastrophic.

You are likely to hear about a problem with flaking Nikasil liners but this is not a problem for cars in the US as we do not use high sulfur content fuel here.

I am not sure if I would make the choice of the DB7 again over an XK8 coupe.

I totally agree; Jaguars reputation is terrible(i own an XJS,v12),

great car,wonderful GT cruiser,But make one small mistake, and the whole world knows about it!

make 100s of good innovations,and nobody cares! they only remember the bad.

I think Ford sold them out,because they couldnt get past BL ,British Leylands, Labor Unions!

it seems to be happening with TATA,Jaguar cars, also values are dropping at a very fast rate.

most of the people i talk to about the new jags love them.

and some of these newer jags are really great cars.

i cant even buy(from local dealers) a 2012 Jaguar 2.2L turbo DIESEL sedan. 135mph,, 53mpg, 4 doors, whats to want for a hiway cruiser.

little off topic; went to an auction couple weeks back,tried my luck with my XJS,

what learned,was do not go to a redneck muscle head auction(muscle cars), totaly insulted!

one guys says,OOHH i never seen a 12 cylinder motor.

my remark was,Chevy dont make a 12 cylinder motor.

another SAD,but perfect conditon car came across the block, 1995 AUDI C4 ,5 cylinder turbo 4 wheel drive, dark blue,pefect interior, 82K miles, did NOT sell at $2200. hi bid, what is with some car people???

my XJS i got around 30K in it, hi bid $6000. and it shows as a 9.9 car, got winning trophys!

ronbros wrote: my XJS i got around 30K in it, hi bid $6000. and it shows as a 9.9 car, got winning trophys!

That's about all you can get around here for a cherry condition XJS, sadly.

A lot of high end luxury cars seem to depreciate faster than fresh salmon. I think it's that people who want status don't want a five year old car, and people who want basic transportation are scared of maintenance costs. With BMWs, after a decade or so, the 7 series models often drop below the 3 series.

While not catastrophic, the cost of upgrading the plastic timing tensioners and the usual life span of 100k miles on the trannies on pre '2003 cars is significant. Prices quoted here in Vancouver by two of the local indie Jag repair shops is close to $4 g's for tensioners. That's with Jag factory parts, however. Some could be saved with aftermarket, but the labour is intensive. So I guess if you can get a pre '03 car cheap enouigh it might warrant it, but better to buy '03 and later.

You can do the tensioner job yourself. I have a nice how to I got in Jaguar World magazine. It is time consuming but in no way impossible. Most of the job is labour and not parts.

Didn't see the article, but have been following the post-2004 V8 Jags generally and have intermittently considered taking the plunge. I thought the tensioner job was a R and R the engine type service? Certainly possible in a home shop, but challenging if so.

The XK8 is a great looking car, especially after the 07 (I think) refresh, and the 2007 models have also depreciated sharply.

I have been casually looking mostly at the S-Type R, and also the 4.2L "Sport" S-type, as well as the occasional XJ8/XJR. I believe the same drivetrain is involved. As much as I love Jags, I just don't know if I can handle unexpected repairs for one. I am moving on to monitoring depreciation for the CTS wagon instead!

Contrary to popular mythology a newer Jaguar has very few unexpected repair issues. These cars since 2003 have been reliable and remarkably trouble free. The 97-02 cars are also reliable and many have had the tensioner job done. This is not reflected in asking prices and as a result these cars represent what is possibly the best value in European high performance cars.

And darn it, so far twice this week I have found myself cruising the ads for one.

This article is now available online: http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/depreciation-station-1997-2006-jaguar-xk8/

I want one of the mid 2000's s types. I think they really pay homage to the early cars. I really love the look and they are cheep as dirt.

...and here I thought i'd finally forgotten to think about the DB7/XK8 XKR, thanks for making me head over to Autotrader/CL guys

They're a great looking car for very little cash. I'm wondering is there any sort of Grassroots manual swap for these? It's the same block used in the lincoln LS and T-bird right?

David S. Wallens wrote: This article is now available online: http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/depreciation-station-1997-2006-jaguar-xk8/

Dangit!!! I was looking for a 911 replacement when I return and had considered these. But I could stave off the idea having not read the article. Now I am screwed.

I'm easily enabled, so thankfully there are none on my local CL to tempt me

MadScientistMatt wrote: A lot of high end luxury cars seem to depreciate faster than fresh salmon. I think it's that people who want status don't want a five year old car, and people who want basic transportation are scared of maintenance costs. With BMWs, after a decade or so, the 7 series models often drop below the 3 series.

This is so true. My 740iL was a $75k car when new in '98, and 8 years later was bought by me for $7500. Typical of a status symbol after it can't be used to show conspicuous consumption...

I was looking at these Jags when I bought my Mustang, and the timing chain thing was the only real problem area I found, and I though it not bad considering the same job usually needs to be done on the BMW 4.4 liter V8 about the same mileage, and I got over 185k miles out of mine...

In reply to Wonkothesane:

I had to go looking so I found this:

http://www.xkrt.co.uk/

Looks like it's been in development for a while. I'm sure a kit won't be cheap.

I keep looking these up on search tempest, eBay, etc. I also keep looking up the value of my low mile 2007 Mazda3 hatch. The two are close enough that I could probably get a 2002 - 2005 XK8 (Mercedes transmission) with 60k - 75k miles for about what I could get out of my daily driver.

My commute is 15 miles a day, round trip, no highway. I doubt I'd really notice the difference in fuel economy that much.

So, how are these to drive in the winter? I assume that like most modern convertibles they have highly insulated tops. I'm the kind of guy who uses winter tires, and I've owned RWD cars before. Is an XK8 something that can get through 3-5 inches of snow with a set of Blizzaks?