X300 & X308 gearboxes

[mccrackenj]

Hi all.

Ref my previous post re considering an X300 (or possibly X308) - I've a couple of questions re gearboxes:

1 - I've just got a back copy of the recent Jaguar World issue with the article on buying an X300 and it surprised me by recommending the manual box, and not just for the XJR. I always though 'conventional wisdom' was never to buy a Jag without leather and auto, because re-sale would be a problem. Have things 'moved on' and is this just tosh? Grateful for your opinions & advice.

2 - I've seen threads on Jag-lovers.org re problems with the autos on X308s, along the lines that they're sealed and should last 100k but after that they go pop and replacement is V expensive. Is this a real problem or is it very rare? Can you buy a warranty against it, would that be sensible? I can't take the risk of buying a car at, say £5/6/7k only for the gearbox to need replacement soon afterwards - at a cost of what? £2k?,£3k? Again, I'd be really grateful for advice from those of you who know.

Thanks all


John

[deadslow]

Re sealed auto boxes - I've got one on my BMW which has just gone pop (no reverse) at 110K miles. Only solution seems to be a £1700 rebuild - OUCH! Beware.

[agent006]

[quote=mccrackenja Jag without leather and auto[/quote]

I wasn't aware there was such a thing.

[a8hex]

mccrackenj said:

Hi all. Ref my previous post re considering an X300 (or possibly X308) - I've a couple of questions re gearboxes: 1 - I've just got a back copy of the recent Jaguar World issue with the article on buying an X300 and it surprised me by recommending the manual box, and not just for the XJR.

I can't imaging driving my X300 with a manual box, it makes as much sense to me as driving a Cateram7 with an auto.

mccrackenj said:

I always though 'conventional wisdom' was never to buy a Jag without leather and auto, because re-sale would be a problem.

Certaninly when I bought mine, one of the dealers had a second hand manual in stock, it was loads&loads cheaper than the autos, and even then he didn't expect to be able to sell it. The salesman said they would only take in manuals as part exchange if they really had to, but just would not buy one in at all.

mccrackenj said:

Can you buy a warranty against it, would that be sensible?

Yes several people will sell you warrenties on second hand cars, even Classic cars.

The JEC has a used car warrenty scheme. So do the RAC.

mccrackenj said:

Thanks all John

Cheers

Ken

[groomi]

a8hex said:

mccrackenj said: Can you buy a warranty against it, would that be sensible? Yes several people will sell you warrenties on second hand cars, even Classic cars. The JEC has a used car warrenty scheme. So do the RAC.

Not that it's worth the bog roll it's written on...

[mccrackenj]

Thanks for your advice so far everyone.

Re: warranties; sorry, I wasn't clear enough in my question. What I really meant was, would it be possible to buy a warranty for specific items such as just the gearbox. I wouldn't be considering a V8 without checking out service history carefully for eg Nikasil, water pump and tensioner problems, so it's the gearbox that would worry me, especially as it'll be a 2nd car so my budget would only be around £5-6k and therefore the car is likely to have done nearly 100k miles already.

Should I just play safe and limit myself to X300s, even though that means I'm limited to a car of at least 9yrs old? Or am I being an old woman for worrying about it so much?