• Service history to 100,000 miles, sheaf of other bills

• Kept in good mechanical condition

• Modern classic in chic colour combination
• MOT valid until July 2022

A replacement for the ageing XJS, which itself replaced the legendary E-Type, the Jaguar XK had some pretty big shoes to fill – but managed it with style. Produced for nearly a decade before a redesigned second generation car followed on, the X100 XK8 still cuts as handsome a figure on the road as it did back in 1996.

This XK was first registered in September 2001, so it's actually coming up on its 20th birthday soon. The LJ prefix suggests the car was first registered in London, but it soon made its way out west to the Welsh border where it's spent almost all of its life up to 2019.

Our seller picked up the car just before Christmas 2020, as the sixth owner; it's been a brief ownership spell, but aside from one previous keeper who ran the car pretty much daily for 8 years – racking up 60,000 miles! - each previous owner has averaged three years and 10,000 miles.

A heart over head purchase, a change in business circumstances has meant it's just not the right car for him right now, so it's time for a new owner.

There is a substantial amount of paperwork for the XK8, which looks to account for every bill since around 2006 to the present day. Surprisingly there's very few invoices with significant numbers in them, but it looks like the car has wanted for nothing and not cost all that much to run – a £1,400 bill in 2014 is about the biggest in the binder.

As well as MOTs and the V5C, there's also an original Jaguar service book which is stamped by main dealers and specialists up to 100,000 miles/15 years in 2016.

The car also has a brand new MOT valid until July 2022.

The cabin of the XK8 is a very impressive place – though we wouldn't like to spend too much time sitting in the rear “+2” seats! It's a proper Jaguar interior, with thick carpet, leather, and wood on just about every surface.

Generally speaking, the interior is free of damage; there's no major cuts or tears, but a little wear on the most frequently used seats. The rear seats then are close to spotless – there's a darker mark on the front of the base of one, likely leached from some luggage and – while the front passenger seat has some wear creases and the driver's seat a few more.

The carpeting is largely in good condition too, with a few marks confined to the driver's footwell - mostly on a Jaguar-branded overmat – but we can't find any obvious damage. All of the wood is remarkably good condition too, with a couple of cracks in the laminate on the gear selector as the only clear blemishes.

As far as we can tell, everything electric in the cabin works just fine, including the seats, the windows (and the important mechanism when you open and close the doors), the aircon, and the stereo. There's an aftermarket JVC headunit and what appears to be a dual-mic system for phone connectivity.

The XK8 comes in a champagne gold colour called Topaz – a colour you'd more usually think of as blue, though this golden topaz is one of the birthstones for November. It very much suits the curves of the big coupe, and it's largely in excellent condition. There's a slight hint of cracking on the plastic front bumper around the parking sensors, but otherwise we couldn't find anything untoward.

With the exception of a couple of kerbing marks on three of the four wheels, which you can't really see from range, the 18-inch 7x2 alloys are all in good condition, with Continental ContiSport tyres on the front and Kumho Ecsta on the rear all showing moderate but even wear.

All of the car's glass is in good condition – a small spider-crack up near the rear-view mirror is the limit of any damage - as are the seals, and the vehicle lighting is all excellent and in full working condition.

Beneath the car there's more evidence of its age but little to worry about. The floorpan shows no damage or corrosion generally, and most of the suspension components are clean and new, due to being replaced just before doing the most recent MOT. 

Some oxidation on exposed bolts and parts of the exhaust system (which appears newer in some places) is the worst of it.

Out on the road, the XK8 is pretty special. The engine fires up with a little growl before settling quickly down to a quiet idle, and at low speeds with little throttle application you'd barely know it's even on. Prod the power though and it springs to life quite impressively; it's only the basic AJ V8 without the supercharger, but it's more than sufficient to really get moving.

The gearbox works well and shifts through all five forwards gears without fuss; the selector itself is smooth and effortless shifting between drive, reverse, and park too.

There's no unpleasant noises from anywhere on the car, with the suspension dealing well with rippled roads and the occasional speed bump, and the brakes bring the relatively heavy Jaguar down again without drama.

The XK8 was close to sensational when it was new – Aston Martin's DB7 arguably done better, and with a V8 – and the design only looks to have got better with age. 

Selling originally for close to £50,000 it's now something of a bargain, and if you need a car to cover a great deal of distance in comfort and style, you need look no further.