Good afternoon all,
I am a new member here and I am hoping I can avail of other members' expertise. I do not own a Jaguar yet but I have my eye on one of three potentials. All are XF 3.0d V6 S models. They are all some distance away from me on the west coast of Scotland, I am on the northeast coast so I am relying on photographs only at the moment but the bodywork and interior on all 3 appear to be in very good condition. The first is a pre-facelifted 2010 MY Premium Luxury with around 57000 miles. It does not appear to have had any MOT failures but there is an advisory to say that the rear sub-frame is showing signs of corrosion and in the photos there appears to be a milky discolouration around the outer edge of the windscreen (possible delamination? No confirmation from dealer). The second vehicle is a pre-facelifted 2009 MY Portfolio with around 92000 miles. It's had one MOT failure due to a headlight aim being too low and in the most recent MOT there is an advisory regarding damage to the O/S windscreen which isn't impeding the drivers view. Although it is the oldest vehicle this is the one that interests me most as it has the upgraded Bowers & Wilkins audio system (which is what brought me to the website in the first place as I wanted to see if it was worth it over the standard system). The only real concerns I have are that, looking at the photos, the front seats don't appear to have as much lumbar support as the other 2 vehicles but I'm unsure whether that may be part of the Portfolio specification? The final vehicle is a facelifted 2011 MY Premium Luxury with around 124000 miles. Again it does not have any major flags in the online MOT checker. One thing which is causing me major concerns is that none of them have any service history. I have spoken to JLR who gave me a link to use their online service history checker and said all I needed was the VIN numbers. Unfortunately the dealer has said he isn't happy to provide me with the VINs but has checked on the JLR website and has confirmed there is no service history at all for any of them.
To get to my point I guess I am posting to ask whether any of the information above would be a cause for concern to any current XF owners? My current vehicle has a full service history but my colleague has said he has never asked to see, or been concerned about, service history on any of his previous vehicles, so am I being overly worried about the lack of history in this case? I spend a lot of time in my car travelling to and from work so I like to listen to a lot of music. Although I am wanting the upgraded B&W audio unit I prefer the look of the facelifted model but this has an additional 30000 & 70000 miles worth of use over the other 2 cars. Assuming they have been well looked after (there's that concern over the lack of SH again) the higher mileages should not really be a factor and there has to be something said about a vehicle's reliability with mileage pushing or getting into triple figures. From my previous investigations it would appear that if these were being sold in the US, 100000 miles would almost be seen as the car having just been run in. However, the UK is a more temperate environment than the US and it appears they use less salt in their winter road clearing material so corrosion is less of an issue. If any members were considering a purchase which would be the most attactive:
2010 Prem Lux: Lower than average miles. Corrosion to sub-frame, not significantly weakened. Potential delamination/debonding of windscreen. Higher price (£10000). Standard audio system. Mk1 front end. Potentially more supportive Sports front seats.
2009 Portfolio: Slightly lower than average miles. No MOT concerns other than tyre wear and the damaged windscreen. Reasonable price (£8000). Premium audio system. Mk1 front end. No lumbar support(?).
2011 Prem Lux: Slightly higher than average miles. No MOT concerns other than tyre wear. Good price (£7000). Standard audio system. Mk2 front end. Sports seats(?).
Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.