How many are still nice and what are my chances.... ?

[bigkeeko]

Air con worked on passenger side but not on drivers side. Wierd. Bit noisy too (the air con I mean) like something loose. Maybe just a pipe adrift.

The oil underneath was a mess.

I kinda wondered why that car hadn`t sold. I was on the verge of viewing it but my spidey sense told me otherwise. A few things spooked me.
A bit like yourself oddcat , I sold my last car (by all accounts mint) so I`m replacing it with similar.

[black olive]

phil did have a prototype heater valve fitted, but didnt bother doing the final tweaking, this is sortable.
wheels wise, I think it has the 11 spokes fitted, the Apex alloys are a nicer looking wheel, rimmers had some in, they do look good, but the paint finish is a bit thin.

gearbox oil seal sortable at a price.

spoiler- well not to my taste on a mark 2 and would leave holes if taken off

[Goose]

Phil's old car would be at the top of my list if I was looking to buy one today.* It may not be in perfect condition at the moment, but it wouldn't take a lot of work to sort it out, as discussed above.
This car's history is 'known' by Two-Sixties members, which would count heavily in its favour for me. £7,500 isn't a lot for what it is, prices don't seem to have fallen much in the last couple of years as far as I'm aware.
*so would Peter's, but not if silver wasn't a possibility!

[MG mad]

For reference, we paid 9500GBP for an 11.5k miles, XPG ZT-T SE. Leather is like new apart from small amount of wear on drivers bolster - you can't avoid that really. All the alcantara seats I've seen have been worse. Gearbox oil leaked, had it sorted by local garage (much to my shame I didn't have the time to do it myself, first time I've ever paid for work to be done on a car of ours). Cracked output shaft, repairs cost just over $400 NZ (less than 200GBP) including replacing diff oil. We were looking for a a year or so, about 4 months seriously (ie cash burning a hole in bank a/c).

To me, it sounds like you want a new car with a new car warranty for s/h money. I've never yet bought a car that has been 100% as described, it's what you do when you buy a car - spend more money on it.

These cars are rare and quite a niche car, hence why they take longer than most to sell.

Can fully understand not wanting a silver car though, not our cup of tea.

[Phil]

It's not wood effect. It's burr walnut laid on metal.
The rear spoiler is nice I think and a V8 should stand out a little from the crowd, but I accept it's personal choice.
The dealer lives down a long track which could have hurt the wheels, but they weren't perfect. Less than £200 for a full refurb of the set.
I asked Scooter about a weep from the gearbox a while ago and he said to leave it, but it sounds like it's got worse. Hey Ho!

£7500 is peanuts though, isn't it.

[Oddcat]

Hi Phil

I stand corrected re the burr walnut. Yes, it is personal taste. Same with the spolier.

[Phil]

The simple answer is this.
As I was putting the ad on Autotrader, I saw an advert for a DB7 which looked like exactly what I wanted. I phoned the dealer, viewed and bought the car the same day.
So, the ad was not on long enough for anyone to come and see it.
I always have this problem as I live in Cumbria and no one wants to make the trip up here to view.
Two people on here expressed an interest, but one needed to sell his house and the other wasn't interested when he discovered that it wasn't registered as an SE. That again is personal preference.

Good luck in your search for a Jag.

[Will.S]

Hi Phil

I stand corrected re the burr walnut. Yes, it is personal taste. Same with the spolier.

Would be interested as to why, given your status on this site and that your 260 seems to be considered by folks on here as amongst the best, you were not beating buyers off with a stick ? Did anyone actually come and see it ? If they didn't then, as it appeared in your old Pistonheads ad (that I've now seen after the event) to be a minter, presumably there just isn't a market for these above £7k ? Or did people come and see it and walk away ?

The trader said he'd pre sold it to a company (Elite ?) at £7,500 but that they had "changed their minds" and offered him a lot less without yet having even seen it which is odd too (as an aside, if they did do that, and backed out on an agreement, then they deserve to be put out of business but then I am an idealist who believes in honour etc which I think puts me in a minority these days !). I would expect the car to retail at £7,995 max with all faults corrected. Given the cost of repairs and the need for the usual £1,500 dealer profit, and a bit of "knocking down" margin I'd expect trade value to be maybe £6,000. So why Ellite would offer £7,500 trade is beyond me unless they expected to retail it for £9,450.

Crikey - it's complicated all this. At the end of the day I just want to pay fair money for a nice clean, fault free, sorted and well loved car. Doesn't seem likely though so I guess I'll be back to scouring the UK for a decent XKR / S-Type R after all.

Oh well there you go. Thanks all for contributing here. Much appreciated.

OC

The XKR is a good car and not something I would put up against the ZT, but the S-type? it's based on a lincoln, a yank chassis, the ZT has it's origins with BMW owned Rover and was set up by pro-drive, I have driven both and preferred the ZT, I have to say the reason for the low price is badge snobbery and spineless press. If you want the S-type crack on, but the ZT has more character and a far better chassis.