acepower84

Its been nearly 3 years since i last posted and i am happyto say i have finally purchased an XK8 coupe! Its in British Racing Green and is supposed to be a special Emerald model but im sure other members on here will know better than me. I will more than likely start a new members thread very soon with pictures of the car.

Well, its been quite a long time since I last posted and I have also checked out John Dees videos which have been very helpful. I never did end up buying a jaguar, instead opting for a four door sedan, a Lexus GS450h on a 2008 plate. Had 7 months of bliss and then the timing chain decided to give up. Ended up selling it to Copart and had to get some temporary wheels after that. I am still undecided what route I will be taking but more than likely if I do purchase an XK8, it will be a coupe to start with.

Thank you to everyone for giving me replies within such a short period of time. It may be a case that i should possibly start my journey with a coupe instead to get a grip and then maybe delve into a convertible later on. I have two young children aged 6 and 4 so i would have thought that i should be able to get away with storing them im the back seats...I have just been to see a Lexus SC430 and it' a very small sized interior. Definitely a two seater car. I would hope that an SO would be slightly bigger and roomier inside. My current Skoda road tax is £270 so its not a marginal increase. I guess the type of driving would be sedate and respectful so no boy racer thrashing of the sort, otherwise the pocket will feel the pinch. I was hoping that it could be insured as a classic considering the ages they are now creeping upto but i could be wrong.

Thank you for your honest opinion and outlook as that is what i am after. I understand its not going to have Japanese reliability and neither has my Skoda but i can live with that. What would you consider is a reasonable amount to set aside within the brain in terms of running costs for the year excluding fuel? Car would be seldom used for work, around 5 miles a day and maybe the odd long commute. All in all around 5000 miles per year. I have read some of your posts and you appear to have some good knowledge about these cars. I would think that i could pick things up quite quickly with a lot of help of here and other sources from the internet so i am hoping that some jobs can be tackled at home.

This is my first post on the forum so please accept my apologies in advance if i have posted in the wrong section. I currently run a Skoda Octavia VRS and will be replacing this with a car that my wife can use around town. I am also looking at purchasing an XK8 convertible, preferably an earlier model. I have no experience or knowledge with jags myself, although my lasting impression of an uncle's XJR 4.0 V8 (X300 shape) have always made me want one. My main reason for posting is what should i be looking for when searching for the right car. There appears to be quite a few cars on the market and many seem to have required some sort of welding for mot purposes. This frightens me as i have had to mend plenty of rust repairs on old Ford's (and still doing at this present moment of time!). I really dont want to be buying a rust bucket as a daily/leisurely driver. Please note my budget is not an open cheque book as my old fords tend to chew that up most of the time. Failing that, i have also been looking at Lexus SC430 mainly for reliability issues but i fear it will not tick all the boxes for me and may regret not buying an XK8 instead. Look forward to hearing some of your views. Altaf (a very frightened potential jaguar owner).