Faults:

When I purchased my XK8, the previous owner had replaced the tensioners prior to my purchase, so I thought everything was OK, but what I didn't know is that the transmission was faulty on the 1997 XK8, and the hub in the transmission would become brittle and break. The good news is a friend of mine owns a repair shop, so it only cost me 1200.00 to repair the transmission, and he installed the new upgraded hub. 10 years later, the car drives and looks like a dream.

The only other problem was the front end bushings went bad, but that was a very low cost (200.00).

So for 10 years of driving and 1400.00 in repair costs, besides oil changes and brakes, I would say not bad Jaguar.

General Comments:

The beauty of owning a 1997 black Jaguar coupe is most people think it's a late model car, and it's as rare as a black pearl.

The lines and styling of this vehicle are timeless; people still walk up to me and say I love your Jag. I have to race my wife to the car keys, because she loves the looks, and the great gas mileage. The interior is well crafted.

When you see a modern day 2012 Aston or Jag, you see the legacy of the 1997 XK8.

Faults:

The tail lights have a problem where the harness attaches to the light assembly, and trying to find a new harness end is next to impossible.

The stereo system sounds like the rear speakers are blown, and of course they are not easy to get to, so I have to wait until I have time to remove the rear seat and side panels to fix that as well.

Some of the plastic interior trim pieces are cracked or broken, especially in the seats like the covers at the lower seat where it's hinged, and the trim where the lever is to disengage the seat to access the back, and once again the parts are next to impossible to find.

General Comments:

Now that the bad is out of the way, the upside is that this car handles great, and when you put the tranny in Sports mode, this car flies. It is quick and responsive, and of course is rolling art.

For the original sticker price of 73K, they could have used better parts on it, or at least made them easy to obtain, but it seems that every higher end car I've owned had its fair share of quirks, with the exception of my Infinity Q45 T, which was the perfect car, and I never had to spend a dime on, but falls short in the fun department, whereas the Jag rates a solid 8 for joy of driving.

Faults:

Minor electrical fault - passenger window would roll down and inch or two on its own during heavy rainfall. Fixed under warranty (leaking weather-strip in door, and window motor damaged by water).

Headlight bulbs failed with unexpected regularity. Easy to self-replace, and spare bulbs provided free by dealer after I said I didn't need a service tech do the work.

Water pump failure at 24K. Replaced under warranty. Excellent prompt and attentive service including all transportation costs covered by Jag (including a $200 ferry fare - round trip - to get to/from the dealer).

General Comments:

Elegant, sophisticated, comfortable, beautiful and powerful.

The seats on the early XK8 models, with the fixed headrest, were not perfect. A fully adjustable headrest would have been perfect.

Faults:

-The cruise control required a vacuum line repair, which my dad performed at home in about 2 minutes, saving lots of money.

-We had preventive work done on the engine to avoid timing chain failure. This work included all new tensioners, guide rails, chains, water pump, etc. This work is about $3,000 vs. $12,000 for an engine replacement if you wait for the timing components to fail. This seemed fairly cheap considering what a bargain the car was.

-Other than these two items, the car has been excellent.

General Comments:

This is my grandfather's car. My grandmother has a 1999 XK8 convertible (See review: "It's a keeper"). She had the timing chains fail on hers, which was still covered under warranty. This prompted us to go ahead with the preventive parts replacement on the coupe since it was out of warranty.

The new parts are far superior to the old parts because they are made almost entirely of metal instead of using large amounts of plastic like the original parts.

This car has been totally reliable. Everything on it works properly and it was showroom new when my granddad got it at 31,000 miles.

This car is a blast to drive. It handles beautifully and will go as fast as you want it to. The ride is comfortable, but still sporty. It's a good car to travel in. And talk about a show-stopper! It turns heads everywhere.

The coupe has a back seat that is borderline inhabitable when compared to the back "shelf" in the convertible. The Harman/Kardon sound system is incredible, and rare. H/K was only offered on the early XK8s.

The dealer service has been terrific, though it can be expensive if you use them for every little thing, which we don't. The only work that had to be done at the dealer was the engine work due to VVT programming. Plus, that kind of work is expensive no matter where you go.

They do use the dealer for oil changes and such, which is practical because it shows continuity in the records and the dealer will throw in little extras such as software updates and loaners at no charge. The oil changes really aren't much more expensive at the dealer, especially considering the great service.