Hi there,

I haven't bought a car for almost 14 years and I'm feeling out of date and left out so I though I would have a look for something that I don't need!

Big engined cars are getting comparatively cheap even in Germany and my eyes lit up when I saw the prices of the Maserati 4200 GTs, but they started watering when I saw the prices of spares. The Cambiocorsa also seems to be fragile and expensive to repair. Manuals are almost non-existent.

The basic Jaguar XK 4.2 (aluminium-bodied) seems to have a good reputation for reliabilty, reasonable parts prices and is not so popular here to keep its value well. I'm quite taken by these.

Any thoughts? Any advice? Any alternatives (not a 911 though, just not me)?

Cheers,
Neil

You're living my dream, Neil!

I love the XKR and personally I think it would be the ideal way to get around the costa. MrsC keeps mentioning things like food and bills, but surely you have to live a little.
Could you go for something insane like a 760i? You could probably rent part of it out to a small family and it's still faster than is decent.

Well it feels like a retirement car bought at an age when I can still get into it and drive it I should probably look at a cabrio but I like the shape of coupes.

I have always liked Jaguar coupes, except for their internal space usage (and a bit iffy engineering). However, the 2006 XK is a Jaguar that you don't have to make any excuses for. I will see the third on my list at the weekend, which should be the best so far apart from the conservative metallic grey. Owning one V8 sometime in my life and before petrol runs out would be nice.

Now back to cleaning and painting the last brake caliper on my FIAT Coupe. I finally gave in trying to keep the original look as they were not looking good any more.

I have driven a very nice 2009 xk around the uae. Very very very nice. I'm surprised you do the usual checks you won't go far wrong, from memory it's more the suspension that you have to worry about than anything else.