With spring fresh in the air, now’s a good time to get some of that air in a fancy convertible, and today’s Jag should do the trick since its top seemingly doesn’t go up on its own. A new pump is included in the sale, but we’ll still have to see how pumped that makes us over its price.

With Nissan having just debuted a new Z car, one has to wonder if the company also has a new, smaller sports car waiting in the wings. The Japanese carmaker once did have such a one-two punch in its lineup, with the six-cylinder ZX sharing dealer space with the four-pot SX. It would seem, though, that in today’s crossover-crisscrossed car market we’re lucky just to get the Z.

That leaves the used car market for lower-end Nissan fare, and we did find a fairly tidy if mileage-heavy over which we could fawn just yesterday. So popular are these models that the ad for our candidate was pulled by the seller before we were finished having our fun. That implies that the car was sold, and hopefully, the new owner didn’t see the 68 percent No Dice loss you all gave to the car’s $12,000 price. That would have been a drag.

Today’s not going to be a drag because to start it off we’re looking at a Jag. Or, as Jeremy Clarkson likes to call them, a “Jaaaaaaag.”

Jaguar has long been a builder of sports cars and sports saloons, having brought to market such venerated nameplates as the D-Type, XKE, and XJ12. Today’s is more of a grand tourer than either a true sports car or a saloon, although this platinum metallic over oatmeal edition seems a little less grand owing to its age and what looks to be some deferred repairs and maintenance.

Of course, at more than 20 years of age, you’d expect some issues to crop up on a car of this ilk. After all, Jaguar hasn’t ever enjoyed a reputation for durability in the same way that, say, Lexus does. To be fair, the XK8 has never been quite as calamitous as earlier models when build quality and durability are considered thanks to Ford’s influence as corporate parent at the time of the model’s development.

One area where the specter of Jaguar quality of old rears its ugly head is in the heads of its 290 horsepower 4-liter V8. Well, it’s actually just below the heads as that’s where the plastic cam chain guides reside and those do tend to fail fairly regularly on these engines. Other issues that can cause a bad day include failing water pumps, stuck thermostats, and a ZF five-speed automatic that can go belly up without much warning.

Remarkably and quite thankfully, this XK8 seems to suffer none of those issues. Plus, the problems it does have seem more annoying than day-ruining. According to the ad, what this Jag needs is a good cat groomer. The problems listed are a tired interior, a failed power window switch (although for which window is anybody’s guess), and the need for a new hydraulic pump for the convertible top. That pump is apparently included in the sale, however, it comes in the trunk rather than doing its job behind the seats.

What the seller describes as a tired interior doesn’t actually look all that worn out in the ad’s pictures, although there is some age evident on the seating surfaces. There’s also the weird choice to have glued (?) a fender badge to the top of each bucket seat backrest. That must have been a true “hold my Guinness” moment and will require some careful work in their removal.

Another custom bit is the Leaper on the hood. That was never a part of the XK8’s original Ian Callum design, and as such has been mounted way too far up the hood so it doesn’t look like it’s diving into a swimming pool. It’s probable that the Leaper has been bolted down, which means its removal will require metalwork and a respray. I would just leave it and blame the prior owner for the lapse in judgment.

Other issues on this 160,000-mile car include a front bumper that looks to have seen better days, missing headlamp washer caps, and a sizable chip or decal under the Jaguar badge on the boot lid. No mechanical woes are noted in the ad.

What is noted, however, is the car’s $3,999 asking price, which the seller claims is firm and warns crypticallythat “offers ignored so please no timewaster.” It should be noted that, when new, this car carried an MSRP of about $66,000. That pegs it currently at about 6 percent of that original cost, or about what you might expect from a 20-plus-year-old Jag. That doesn’t make it a bad car in any way, but expect that, along with the good looks and the wind in the hair motoring experience this Jag brings to the table, a new owner is also going to be saddled with a good bit of maintenance and repair costs.

That all makes for a careful weighing of the car’s $3,999 asking regardless of the seller’s caution about lower offers. With that in mind, what do you think this Jag is realistically worth, based on the description and pictures in the ad? Is it really worth that $3,999 asking? Or, is that too much to let this cat out of the bag?

You decide!

out of Panama City, Florida, or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to phalvorson for the hookup!

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