I was browsing through this forum yesterday and saw that one member said that older S Types can be bought at very attractive prices because they are not very popular. As someone who will soon be in the market for a 10-12 year old Jag I am wondering if the S Type has some inherent flaws, or is it a design issue? Personally I like the look of the front grille of the S (especially the 2006 model), but never was very impressed with the rear design.

 

If the particualr word 'unpopular' was used, it was probably in the context of the love it or hate it body styling. The low resale prices of Jags, meaning all Jags, not just S-types is due to people having long memories of the dark days of British Leyland and Joseph Lucas.

The S-types have reliability comparable to any other similar car of the same age and mileage.

 

They can indeed be great bang-for-the buck highway cruisers. That's why I essentially stole ours from the local Jaguar dealership back in the depths of the depression in December 2008 and ours continues to perform its specified role admirably to this day. But it is true that the current demand for these cars is nearly nonexistent. That's one reason for the low values, along with the previous mention of the longstanding perception of Jaguar's low reliability. Ford's ownership of Jaguar fixed much of that, and Ford still owned Jaguar during the S-Type's reign. Most owners agree that the 2003-and-newer models had more of the persistent bugs worked out of them than the earlier models did. In my opinion, the newer the better as long as the car was properly cared for....

If you can maintain the car yourself without having to pay someone else astronomical amounts of money to do it for you, they can still be a very effective sedan from a cost/benefit analysis standpoint. This forum quickly becomes the most important tool in your toolbox. But if you cannot turn your own wrenches, this is not the vehicle for you....

 

Yes they are not popular.

In fact we had a thread on the 10 worst cars and the S Type was on it but the worst they could come up with is it's unpopular but a decent car. Not very high praise!
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I have purchased many Jaguar cars over the years and have never once experienced any of the 'legendary' issues people refer to, even the issues with Lucas components. Never has a Jaguar left me stranded on the road, nor broken down from an electrical fault.

Beginning with the 'classic' Jaguars: E-Type (Series 1), Mk2 3.8 Litre and others, I have driven and owned over the years, I find it comical to listen to people talk about Jaguars being unreliable. When I inquire as to which model or year they owned, most say it was something a friend of a friend experienced, but that they personally have never owned one.

If one has nothing positive to say from one's own personal experiences, one should say nothing at all.

 

>because they are not very popular

The real question is if they are any less popular than non-XK Jaguars? How are XJ8 and XJS versions regarding holding their value? Not too good, I think any non-XK Jaguar is a tough sell.

The members of my Jaguar club always tell me how beautiful my S-Type is. Nobody ever said that about my X-Type...

Look we don't own Merc/BMW/Audis because we wanted something different. We have something different because most people aren't interested in owning one. That means the prices will always be low.

Get used to it, we're weird...
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You dreamed of a big star
he played a mean guitar
He loved to drive his Jaguar...

 

The 1962 Jaguar XKE my brother owned in the 70s had all the horrible unreliable issues. The car only had about 60K miles on it and EVERTHING kept breaking on it or failing. We had harness fires, stripped window mechanisms so the windows wouldn't go up and down. Speedo and Tach cable problems. Worn out distributor bushings that caused the Rotor to hit the distributor cap, SU carbs that wouldn't tune evenly, The car would often over heat at idle at a stop light. Stripped splines on the wire wheel hubs. Broken spokes on the wheels. Leaked oil out numerous places on the engine. Continuous non-stop failures. Eventually we stripped the car, put a Boss 302 Mustang engine in it and it became an autocross car. We were a slave to that car! But, it was fun to drive when it ran! Even more so after it had lots of power, fender flares and a lot wider tires and beefed up suspension.

 

The s-type styling, even at debut in '99, was considered, 'retro', and didn't age well since.

Then the 'luxury' segment exploded over the 2000's, and every consumer wanted to be seen in a BMW/BENZ/AUDI, wearing fancy LED lighting pods and signature 'big mouth grill'...

The modern jag's, starting with the 07+ XK and new XF, adopted a whole different styling direction for the brand. This leaves all the previous models really looking dated and completely irrelevant. Your average image-concious consumer wouldn't want to seen dead in an S-type sadly...

Oh, and the notorious reputation for 'reliability' , means there is very little demand for these models, and therefore, very low resale value.

 

It seems that the low resale value works in my favor so long as I personally like the style and am willing to fix any gremlins that may pop up.

In response to Jon89 "But if you cannot turn your own wrenches, this is not the vehicle for you..." I'm afraid that #1, I am not mechanically inclined and # 2, I'm pushing 70 years old. So, working on the car myself isn't going to happen. I do know a very good Jag master mechanic who I used when I owned an XJ6 and XK, and, while not cheap, he only does work that the car really needs.

 

Personally I love the look of the S-type. The retro look comes across as more high end than any BMW or Benz.

To me there are so many BMW/Benz/Audi on the road I cant go anywhere without seeing one. When I got my S-Type I wanted sometging that had class and wasn't seen on every street corner.

 

Jon's comment could be taken to mean that the car is less reliable, harder to work on or more expensive to repair than it's equivalents made by other OEMs. That is not the case.

 

I love my STR, but it was 7 years old when I bought it and I knew bad things were going to happen unless I was pro-active about maintenance. This wonderful forum gave me all the info I needed, and many things were replaced before they gave trouble (lug nuts, DCCV, thermostat and housing, coolant reservoir, spark plugs, water pump).

The worst thing I found was the idiotic temp gauge that showed Normal even with coolant temps nearly at max, so that a burst coolant hose can lead to major engine damage in seconds. So, replaced all 18 coolant hoses after the first scary incident. Yes, my indie does most of the work after I supply the parts.

The only thing passengers complain about is the lack of legroom in the back. Otherwise, nothing but admiration from the public.

But I do agree with GT42R...

So, am going to replace that 'retro' leaping cat with this badge I found on EBay in the UK.

 

Personally, I want to remove the leaper as well. But i would like to weld the hole shut and repaint the hood from there. I would likely 'delete' the washer jets on the hood this way as well.

 

I had driven Mercedes for many years before I bought My Jaguar S type 3.0L in 2000. And how happy I have been. It has been much more reliable than my last Mercedes was, and over the last 14 years I have had relatively low maintenance costs. Mine is white, so it keeps its looks. The fact that Jaguar did not change its design for many years meant that my 2000 S type always looked new. Obviously this was not good for the overall marketing and sales of the S-type, as clients always want to buy something that looks new and stands out as being the latest. But for us it was a treat. in fact even today my car is still looking great, people still often comment on the great looks of the car, and even though I have some aging issues, i am happy with the overall reliability of the car after 14 years and 144,000 Miles. Resale value is low, but I would prefer to keep it for many more years to come.

 

The looks & reputation etc are the reasons why I could afford to buy (used)

It's been great for 5+ years so far and has more than paid for itself relative to anything else I considered...

 

However, with my experience of owning XJ40s from the BL era and this S-type (rebodied Ford) I would suggest that the pre-Ford cars are more reliable and easier to fix (certainly easier to fault find on) as well as having higher quality interiors.

 

Richard-

You've done nothing but 'find fault' with your S-type since you showed up here. I would have scrapped or sold the car long ago if it was half as bad as you make out.

Perhaps you have an explanation for the terrible reputation of BL era Jags?

 

I don't have to find faults, they are blindingly obvious and make their presence felt without any need to look for them. Maybe mine has been neglected mechanically but the poor quality of the interior fixtures and fittings is not a maintenance issue - it's design and manufacture. The Ford era saw the time when engineering came second to accountancy and the cost cutting that was evident harmed the company in many ways that perhaps are only becoming evident as the cars age.

The reputation of the XJ40, for example, is undeserved and I think is a carry over from the time of the series 2 XJ6 in the dark days of the 1970s. It's a problem that haunted all the BL era companies - mud sticks and during the union-dominated, state-ownership era a lot of mud stuck (deservedly). After that the media and general public were not prepared to take an open minded view although it may be that JLR have finally crawled out of that mire.

 

Unfortunately you have the original era S-Type, built the way Ford wanted (down to a price, hang the quality, poor plastics, poor suspension & handling, etc). Shortly after (2002.5) Jaguar revised it enormously and it's FAR better. Dump yours and get a decent one. Yours is very old now anyway. I don't know how you couldn't see the interior items before you bought it.

 

Is the SType unpopular? Are we caring about what other people think now? Live and let drive..