Description
Incredibly reluctant sale of my pre-production Jaguar XF 4. 2 V8 Premium Luxury. It was registered in December 2007, months before the XF officially going on sale. Looking at VIN numbers, I believe this to be one of the first dozen off the production line. Being a car bore, this makes it extremely interesting to me.
I bought this 9 months ago and we have enjoyed over 5000 fault-free miles in this future classic (it’s fashionable for me to say that, right?). Sadly, circumstances revolving around a significantly increased mileage requirement and a big, daft dog, mean that it’s just not a practical family car for us anymore. It has been sitting on a SORN since just before Christmas while I decided what to do, as selling was absolutely a last resort. However, I’ve finally decided to sell this and a number of our other cars that simply aren’t getting sufficient use to justify keeping them.
It has had 3 owners, with the first being Jaguar. I bought it from a retired aerospace engineer who’d owned it for 10 years and cared for it incredibly well.
It comes with a full service book, original handbook pack in the leather Jaguar wallet, lots of receipts for over £13, 000 of maintenance, two keys, V5 and clean MOT until 10th September 2025. Current mileage is circa 133k and will not be going up due to being declared SORN.
Outside of regular servicing, receipts include, but are not limited to, an OSR door actuator, front and rear brake discs and pads, correct high speed rated Dunlop Sport tyres, expansion tank (common fault), wheel refurb (would need doing again if picky), spark plugs and coil pack, brake hoses and fluid, control arms, NS and OS rear anti-roll bar links, damper bearing, seat climate control module, battery, instrument pack (£710 part plus VAT), boot harness link lead, exhaust clamps, tyre pressure monitoring system delete, battery monitoring lead, NS and OS rear lower wishbones, OS and NS rear lower damper bearings, four-wheel alignment, NS and OS rear stabiliser links.
Being the V8, it is also ULEZ compliant.
The bodywork is generally befitting a 17-year-old daily -driver, with various light marks and imperfections, but still a very good looking and well cared-for car. The worst area is a small dent in the NSF arch, which looks like it has been caught against a fence post or similar, and touched in. I have always intended to have this rectified by a bodyshop, but life has always got in the way and ensured that I’ve not had time.
Being an early Jaguar car, it has been loaded with an extraordinarily high spec, with keyless entry and start, 19-inch wheels, blind spot monitoring, sat nav, heated and cooled seats in the front, reversing camera, incredible Bowers and Wilkins stereo and even a heated steering wheel. The interior is in lovely condition, although the leather dashtop has started to lift in places and one of the rotating vents doesn’t always want to rotate, but it does indeed still vent.
It also has adaptive cruise control, although this has never worked during my ownership. The heated front screen, wheel and seats have been utterly incredible in winter.
There is plenty of space inside, the leather is supple and in good condition, the boot is huge and even the rear seats fold down for even more space. There are ISOFIX points in the rear for child seats.
It drives brilliantly. The V8 sounds glorious yet refined and subtle, and the handling feels very tight, with only a vibration when you first brake. This may be dirty discs or a lightly worn bush or top mount. The 4. 2-litre V8 pulls extremely hard throughout the rev range and the six-speed auto is extremely smooth. The steering wheel paddles give extra control over the gearchanges when you need to push, on simply want to hold it in gear to hear the V8 sing. Being the naturally aspirated V8, it is far better on fuel than you might expect with no worries over the reliability of the diesel’s turbos, EGR valves, DPFs or manifolds – I have regularly returned mid to high 30s MPG on a long motorway run.
