Originally Posted by Deepsea21

I'd certainly add JoeO's crossfire as a possibility while you are looking as that is a good price for a spotless 2004 with no issues and 52K on the clock! If you look an Autotrader and XF's and see what people and dealers are selling and what they are asking for them I'm convinced many are looking for a total fool who would pay those prices. Maybe they'll find one but I tend to doubt it and it will probably be a 1st time XF buyer who love the look of the car for the price compared to other used cars but they don't know what it takes to keep these old cars in good condition. If JoeO's RCM has been repaired there's no reason to change it out but do keep a new spare in the car in case something happens. There is also no need to change out the crank and cam sensors until one fails in my opinion... Just keep a spare of each on hand... I mean, how many times do people replace a working OEM part and the replacement fails right away?

My prior post on this thread kind of poo-pooed you buying one of these but if your dad has tools and you don't mind wrenching on it and gaining skill I'd say get one! These days there are piles of Youtube videos and forums like this where people can learn how to work on cars and do some pretty difficult work without too much fear. If you get one and you perform the Sticky Key fix yourself you'll gain a great deal of confidence and as other issues may present you won't be spooked to attack them yourself. I was lucky when I was your age as I had old beaters from the 70's and 80's that were EASY to work on. They aren't that easy anymore BUT a 2004 XF is easier than most new cars and unless one spends a fortune most new cars all look the same and like crap in my opinion... Every increasing MPG requirements mean every design is subjected the wind tunnel so today's autos all pretty much look the same.

I'll tell you one thing... I'd take a XF any day over one of the new cars that cost way more $ with their common turbocharged 1.5L engines and variable speed transmissions. Those turbos and VSTs will need replaced before the engine and transmission in a XF even if you bought it with 100k on the clock needs replaced in my opinion and those are COSTLY repairs/replacements. I was looking at a new Honda Accord about 2 years ago and I had negotiated an absolutely great price but after I read about the untested nature of the turbo'd 1.5 and that VST, I passed. I just have no interest in dealing with that crap down the road because when I buy a car I maintain it and drive it into the grave. Unless you unload these new cars on someone else before those major expenses hit you're gonna get stuck with them at some point and it's not fun to be shelling out $1000's of dollars on an older car with 100K on the clock.

Originally Posted by JoeO

It’s been my experience that the majority of problems........(And by that I mean things that go bump in the night)......can be solved by coming to this site and:
1. describing what the events or conditions were that led up to the problem
2. remembering unrelated events that may have been a contributing factor

....and usually within a day or, the back and forth chit chat and ridicule from these experienced folk will give you a to do list that will save you money and/or time. Even if you can’t turn a wrench you will be able to go to a garage and look them in the eye and describe the solution..... and scare them with your troubleshooting skills. Don’t go in like an unmarried school marm for they will ravish your pockets.

quite a number of their solutions will be following their directions and simply doing some fairly uncomplicated stuff........the exceptions to the untrained are multimeters, reading
schematics, and learning what screem means.

when you were younger learning clefs, metronomes, and taking piano Lessons ....these guys were under a car in the driveway.