Jaguar xk8/r - what do i need to know?

Cyrus

Cyrus

Cyrus

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,669
Location
Bubblin in Dublin
a mate is looking at buying a 98-00 jag xk8 or maybe r.

he knows nothing about them apart from the fact he likes them!

can anyone point me to a forum where he can educate himself on what to look for when buying and what running costs to expect

anyone any experience? im sure they are costly to run, are they anyway reliable?
 
www.jaguarforum.co.uk is a good one.

Alternatively. Jag-lovers is best for techincal issues, but its old fashioned forum is a bit tricky.

The XK8 is neither reliable nor unreliable. Modern Jaguars have a good reputation, but XK8 is one of the weaker ones. The 2 main issues to be concerned about re timing chains and Nikasil.

1999 and earlier cars may have a Nikasil lined engine - that's important to read up about.... problems are getting rarer as its been 8 years since high sulphur has been around but its worth baring in mind.

Timing chains can cause problems as they were initially made of plastic and had a tendency to snap, they were upgraded to a stronger plastic in 99, and to metal in 2002 with the launch of the 4.2. Many older cars will have been upgraded though.

Expect to average 22mpg for the XK8 and 20mpg for the R (realisitically) although with lots of motorway, these can hit 27/25.
 
Cyrus said:
a mate is looking at buying a 98-00 jag xk8 or maybe r.

he knows nothing about them apart from the fact he likes them!

can anyone point me to a forum where he can educate himself on what to look for when buying and what running costs to expect

anyone any experience? im sure they are costly to run, are they anyway reliable?
Click to expand...



XKR is the ideal one to go for, plus the MPG wont be much difference between that and the N/A.

XKR= 17/18MPG XK8=21/22MPG

With the XKR your looking around 400BHP, which is basically a chipped XJR engine. What car has he owned before because he really doesn’t want to be stepping into one of these out of Saxo or something similar.

Either model are quite reliable, early ones suffer from a few problems as already mentioned I believe. But don’t be to concerned with regards to the Nikasil problem with a Jag that’s done over 100k, it would have had problems well before this point if it was going to.

My main concern is the fact you (your friend) has to ask about running costs. Petrol.....well you can image, also they go through tyres quite quickly and they aren’t cheap for a decent set to do the power justice.
 
Last edited:
Used to love cruising around in an XK8 then XKR. Lots of fun, especially through the summer. Not cheap to run, lots of electrics to check, definitely check the hood a few times if going for the soft top.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom