The £700 Jaaag
Discussion
When your neighbor comes over to you and asks if you want to buy a cheap car, the answer is always yes. And due to this we ended up with a Jaguar X type Estate 2.2D Sovereign (turns out that means its the top spec level - I think?) . Bit of a delayed post as we bought the car early this year.
The neighbor had bought the car a few years ago when it was at 40k miles and had used it as a taxi until earlier this year where it was sat at 140k miles. The car is shown below - I need to get a picture of the interior still.
(the light on the dash is a cold weather warning)
The car is a bit rough around the edges but everything works on it, including the heated seats, cruise control and aircon. Also has a very outdated satnav and a worn steering wheel, what is there not to like. It came with 12 months mot with only one advisory for a tyre being worn . All in all for £700 I'm classing it as a bargain. My mum is going to be using this car as a daily so we will see how it goes. My dad had a very similar x type estate years ago and got that to 320k miles before replacing it so we shall see how many miles this x type can get to
The neighbor had bought the car a few years ago when it was at 40k miles and had used it as a taxi until earlier this year where it was sat at 140k miles. The car is shown below - I need to get a picture of the interior still.
(the light on the dash is a cold weather warning) The car is a bit rough around the edges but everything works on it, including the heated seats, cruise control and aircon. Also has a very outdated satnav and a worn steering wheel, what is there not to like. It came with 12 months mot with only one advisory for a tyre being worn . All in all for £700 I'm classing it as a bargain. My mum is going to be using this car as a daily so we will see how it goes. My dad had a very similar x type estate years ago and got that to 320k miles before replacing it so we shall see how many miles this x type can get to
Jumping back to current day now.
Car was bought at the beginning of March and has now covered 5k miles. Nothing has gone wrong on it at all and its been a great reliable and comfy everyday car.
I changed the oil and filters myself - i like doing it myself and at this price point its not cost effective to get a garage to do it. During the service I did spot that both rear tyres had worn down a lot on the very inside of them. We had also noticed that any weight on the back at all caused the suspension to droop massively, even shopping in the boot made it sit on its arse. This combined with the worn inner tyres I decided new shocks and springs aswell as new tyres were needed, Then an alignment after it to see if it will align correctly - hopefully solving the issue
Car was bought at the beginning of March and has now covered 5k miles. Nothing has gone wrong on it at all and its been a great reliable and comfy everyday car.
I changed the oil and filters myself - i like doing it myself and at this price point its not cost effective to get a garage to do it. During the service I did spot that both rear tyres had worn down a lot on the very inside of them. We had also noticed that any weight on the back at all caused the suspension to droop massively, even shopping in the boot made it sit on its arse. This combined with the worn inner tyres I decided new shocks and springs aswell as new tyres were needed, Then an alignment after it to see if it will align correctly - hopefully solving the issue
New tyres mounted to the wheels and ready to be fitted onto the jag once the suspension is replaced.
We went for Mazzini ECO603 tyres. To be honest they were one of the cheapest on blackcircles and they will do the job. I'm very against cheap tyres on my cars, however this car was bought very cheaply as a stop gap for a year or so, it snot worth spending the value of the car just on tyres. Plus the car sits in traffic everyday and doesnt exceed 30mph so these will do. They came in at £55 a corner so £220 for 4. They get decent reviews too so we will see how they do
Looking at the shock bolts I'm not sure they will come off without snapping, there's 16 years worth of corrosion on there. As my mum requires the car everyday and needs it back this weekend I'm not taking the risk so we are going with just changing the springs - not ideal but we cant afford for the car to be off the road for long at all. The shocks will have to be done when the car can stay off the road for longer - just incase I run into any issues.
On removal of the wheels they have the stupid jaguar lug nuts with the silly caps on them so they have been replaced by some solid metal ones without the silly caps on - will make my life easier every time the wheels come off
adean22 said:
On removal of the wheels they have the stupid jaguar lug nuts with the silly caps on them so they have been replaced by some solid metal ones without the silly caps on - will make my life easier every time the wheels come off
Are these that same sort of thing as on my Disco 3 - perfectly good bolts, with metal covers, under which corrosion causes the covers to expand beyond the limits of the normal socket / wrench?skwdenyer said:
Are these that same sort of thing as on my Disco 3 - perfectly good bolts, with metal covers, under which corrosion causes the covers to expand beyond the limits of the normal socket / wrench?
they are the same, my MG had the same too. I hate them, the caps always get stuck and just cause issues.adean22 said:
skwdenyer said:
Are these that same sort of thing as on my Disco 3 - perfectly good bolts, with metal covers, under which corrosion causes the covers to expand beyond the limits of the normal socket / wrench?
they are the same, my MG had the same too. I hate them, the caps always get stuck and just cause issues.
Rear springs were fitted this evening.
The replacement were napa springs - I believe these are the oem ones for jag?
They were really easy to do . Only had to jack up the rear, take both rear wheels off, undo the anti roll bar, undo the rear hub nots and just swap the springs out.
Car now sits a little higher at the back, it should settle down a bit once its done some miles. Looking at the condition of the old ones im happy they have been changed.
With the springs and tyres it being the total spend to £1,002 . This should do the car another 8 months till its MOT unless something unexpecting goes wrong. Not a bad spend at all considering its now got 4 new tyres and new rear springs.
The replacement were napa springs - I believe these are the oem ones for jag?
They were really easy to do . Only had to jack up the rear, take both rear wheels off, undo the anti roll bar, undo the rear hub nots and just swap the springs out.
Car now sits a little higher at the back, it should settle down a bit once its done some miles. Looking at the condition of the old ones im happy they have been changed.
With the springs and tyres it being the total spend to £1,002 . This should do the car another 8 months till its MOT unless something unexpecting goes wrong. Not a bad spend at all considering its now got 4 new tyres and new rear springs.
Edited by adean22 on Thursday 27th July 20:40
skwdenyer said:
adean22 said:
skwdenyer said:
Are these that same sort of thing as on my Disco 3 - perfectly good bolts, with metal covers, under which corrosion causes the covers to expand beyond the limits of the normal socket / wrench?
they are the same, my MG had the same too. I hate them, the caps always get stuck and just cause issues.6 Month Update with the car
Its been pretty much 6 months since we purchased the x type so thought I'd do a little update.
After changing the rear springs nothing else has been needed. I did get the car aligned as it was badly needed - when we got it on the machine it was way out. The car drives way better now.
There is one small issue which is a vibration on the steering wheel at around 70. Its a little annoying and cant work out exaclty what causing it. Wheels have all been balanced and car aligned so I'm guessing maybe its just down to a worn steering rack or some other suspension part that's worn?
Iv been taking the car on longer trips now its got new tyres and I am loving it - very different to the 911 and MG but not in a bad way, its just so comfy. Iv found myself choosing this over the 911 a lot as I can park it anywhere and not have to worry.
Total cost so far
Including the purchase of the car we are at £1081.12 in total, so thats £381.12 spent on the car in 6 months. This was for new tyres, new lugnuts, rear springs and a wheel alignment.
The car has done 6,000 miles in our ownership so it stands at 6p a mile for maintenance which isn't bad at all. Things like tyres and suspension shouldn't need replacing any time soon so I'm hoping this number drops in the future - it is a shed after all so the less that is spent the better
I did add one small mod at the weekend - a proper sized rear plate.
Old plate :
New plate:
Id like to say I did this so the car had the correct size plate, but the real answer is there was rust on the bootlid above the old plate so the new bigger plate covers that up.
Lotusgone said:
Glad to hear the car is going well. You have what must be one of the last pre-facelift cars, given the 57 reg; my 08 2.2d saloon gave sterling service for about 86k miles (over six years, not as a taxi) though I'd have been even happier if it had been an estate.
I have always wondered that, iv never seen another 57 reg that is a pre facelift. I wish this was a facelift as they look a lot nicer in my opinion.mac96 said:
I used to have a car with a vibration at 70-80mph- then the solution was easy, just drive faster. Perhaps more risky nowadays.
The Jag looks very nice, hope it lasts another 100k miles!
Thanks for the kind words and the vibration does seem to clear at around 90/95 (kmph of course) and then stays clear at higher speeds too . Seems odd , unless at higher speeds there's more force keeping the wheels straight , I dont know? The Jag looks very nice, hope it lasts another 100k miles!
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