Hi all,

I am thinking to buy an used F-Type R, 5 years old, 40-50K miles AWD. I've been reading in the past months for many threads here discussing about this car's reliability but they're all quite old and it seems that, back then, no one had driven more than 20,000 miles. So I believe that in 2020 there must be someone of you having driven 50k+ miles who can better tell me his owner experience.
A little bit of background: my only sportscar was a 911 Turbo that I bought used with 40k miles and sold 2 years later with 45k miles. The car was very reliable also because I took a good care of it and (almost) never pushed it to the limit.
Thanks to whoever wants to give me a feedback.

 

I would not hesitate buying one with good service records.

40-50K miles is not an issue if the car was properly maintained. However, F-type engine variable timing is hydraulically controlled (via oil pressure), valve lifters are also hydraulically adjustable... neglecting oil changes can turn otherwise reliable engine into an intermittent hard to diagnose nightmare.

Fortunately, we do have a very good idea what is going to happen at higher miles. This is because 2012 and later Jaguar XKR is essentially F-type V8 within a different shell. This tells us that timing chain tensioner will become an issue, that water pump is on-going problem, that supercharger coupler will develop a rattle, and that plastic coolant pipes are problematic at some point before 100,000 miles. There are also problems unique to F-type that we can anticipate - differentials are prone to developing leaks, exhaust valves seem to be prone to getting jammed.

Why are you spending good money on performance cars if you (almost) never use it as such?

It is like saying "I have a beautiful wife, but I (almost) never **** her". Makes the reader wonder if there is a medical issue involved.

 

Thanks for your reply sir,

So, all the above issues can be easily fixed or it's going to be a nightmare?

Because bringing a 911 Turbo (so it is the F-Type R) to the limit is almost impossible if you're not on a track. When using a 500+ HP car on the road you just need 60-80% of its power to overtake another car, less than 50% to cruise at 120MPH (which is already a speed you might be arrested for in Italy), you don't need to overheat the brakes whenever you're approaching a traffic light by braking at the very last moment etc etc etc.

 

2014 V8S with 44k. No issues at all. Runs perfectly.

 

44k on my 2014 as well. Only issue has been the washer fluid low sensor had gone bad. Getting it replaced at next service in a few weeks.

 

2015 R with nearly 69k miles — just got it about 4 months ago.

As outlined in my other thread, had a CEL appear after a hard acceleration a couple weeks ago. Turns out that’s as likely due to a vacuum line somehow becoming disconnected.

However, it was also discovered the power steering and brake vacuum pumps were leaking and needed to be replaced.

I had read the same thing about these being very reliable but I’m getting a bit concerned having to replace those components at under 70k miles.

Will be using a can of BG 44k this week and will follow that up with a motor and differential oil change (after seeing @RacerXs post about his looking like sludge with less miles).

It seemed like it had a fairly good maintenance history, but after finding out it was tuned (supposedly only for a week) I’m starting to think about passing this one on and trying to find one that is still under warranty or eligible for a Jaguar extended warranty.

 

Nightmare is relative. Individually, these issues can be easily fixed if caught it time (i.e. don't wait until your chain jumps), but it is not going to be "nothing but oil changes". You need to be able to afford to pay $2000 mechanic's bill at least once, so factor this into your purchasing decision.

 

IMO the best thing about the F-Type is the ZF8, which allows extremely efficient gear ratios and passes a very high percentage of torque to the wheels. That results in excellent cruise mpg for the available performance, but who cares about that? The real benefit is very low engine revolutions per mile.

Compared to a 9000 RPM screamer, the F-Type is a big torque, low RPM dream. 8th is geared for around 320 mph, meaning the engine is spinning around 50% less per mile than under-engined higher-geared cars. Aside from the visable linear reduction in wear from fewer spins, metal internals wear, or do not wear, exponential to the surface speeds.

 

OP mentioned that previous car was 911 Turbo and was very reliable...And I would agree, having owned and modifying many Porsches....But even the wonderful Porsches are just as prone to some major and minor issues. Specifically the 911 Turbo with Mezger engines were known for a spun camshaft (variocam) and that ran an average of $8K to repair. Also the glue could/did fail on the coolant pipes, spewing coolant all over the rear wheels/tires with no warning and causing catastrophic results in some cases at speed. The front lips were very low and many times got destroyed and considered disposable. Also the OEM intercoolers had plastic tanks that were known to burst under boost. The linkage to the VTG actuator rod that controlled the Turbo charger vanes were know to rust and lock-up and stop functioning. And last, the water pumps and power steering pumps would develop leaks and fail...

I loved the 911 Turbo too....Awesome car...and fast as hell (I had about +$30K in upgrades on mine)....But they had issues as well...and they were not cheap to address. Most of them required an engine drop....

Just sharing for comparison. I think we can safely say that when you build/buy a high performance car, expect them to break at times....Prius is a safe option

I would also agree with others....Expect to spend/budget for some repairs on cars like these.....And drive them!

DC

 

Nightmare is definitely relative, I've spent more keeping my straight-6 turbo BMW running than I paid for it, new.

I still think the light oil weight is aimed at avoiding EPA fines and is not optimum boosted engine protection. So frequent oil changes may help, but running a rational oil weight is a better remedy.

A good and similar data point is fleet mass marketed naturally aspirated 5.0L Mustangs with a Ford reccommended 0W-20 weight, but supercharged 5.0L Mustangs use 20W-50 weight.

I have settled into 0W-40 Liqiud Moly changed every 2K miles with a dash of MMO to increase flow and cleaning. My idle has smoothed out beautifully and at 10K mile oil filter changes the element looks like its bathed in clear golden popcorn butter. It makes me hungry just looking at it.

 

You should have gotten one with M30 engine - absolutely indestructible (as long as you tied banjo bolts down).

A plausible explanation is that SC engine uses different rings to be able to take on additional pressure from SC. Hence, NA might be OK at 0W-20, but SC would burn a lot of oil at 0W-20. I am not a Mustang guy, I don't know what mods they do to the engine prior to boosting it.

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Anecdotally, with 70s-era Merceds V8 engine (that has hydraulic tappets), I experimented with oil. From 10w30 to 10w60 synthetic. With 10w60 I could tell by sound and performance that the engine wasn't happy, drained it within 100 km.

 

My BMW is a first run N55. Horrible engine from a reliability POV. Horrible car, too. I owned two older, new BMWs that were much better cars.
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Interesting. Also anecdotally, I have a show quality Ford F100 resto-mod with a high compression FE 390 out of a 68 Mustang. It has serious blow-by on 5W-30, it wants 20W-50 high zinc content racing oil.

​​​​​​Our engine is based on a supercharged 5.0 Coyote, so I think we're all Mustang guys of sorts.

I think the core question for F-Types is why a supercharged Mustang runs heavier weight oils and Jag does not. The answer IMO is fleet fuel economy standards and dodging heavy manufacturer EPA fines. 0W-20 is a good oil weight for Jag window stickers, but not the weight for owners who value longevity IMO.

 

My F Type R is a 2016 model year (RWD) manufactured in March 2015, just done 50K miles



Only fault was sat nav due to defective rear fin antenna which was replaced under warranty.

Otherwise it's been serviced once per year (up to 16000 miles) oil changes, filter changes.

Had new brake pads front and rear at 42000 miles.

Will likely change diff oil soon before recommended interval and change auto transmission fluid within next year at about 60K miles.

I don't believe the V8 has hydraulic valve lifters as other members have stated.

my experience has been no work or expense beyond routine services and excellent reliability.

 

Why do people keep saying this?
The AJ133 has NOTHING to do with the Coyote 5.0 and vice versa!
Which means that whatever works for the Coyote (oil viscosity etc) does not necessarily also work for the AJ133 (or AJ126).

 

There are chicken-egg arguments within the decades long Ford-Jag family tree but thats not the point. The point is the AJ133 is a Ford-built 5.0L V8 with no reason to believe it can't use similar oils in high performance applications, other than for fuel economy at the expense of film strength.

If we switch (I should say if Jag switches since that'll be the end of the me in we) to BMW sourced V8s it would follow to then use oils proven to protect best in similar high performance BMW engines, even if Jag continues to recommend an economy oil.

It seems we should expect early wear when using a light weight oil that Castrol says was formulated specifically for best mpg (0W-20).

 

Nup, it is a completely different engine.
Yes, it's a 5.0 litre V8 quad cam with in many cases a supercharger, but that's about it for commonality.
The AJ133 is built in a dedicated part of the Ford engine plant in Bridgend in the UK, it uses a few ancillaries stamped with FoMoCo, and some Ford engineers may have helped with the design but that is the sum total of it's connection to Ford.
Which gives me reason to believe it may not benefit from using the same oil as is used in the Coyote engine and it is possible that oil would be bad for it.

 

​​​​​​In fairness both Ford and Jag recommend 0W-20 for the "fleet," but IMO thats driven by EPA fine avoidance. Its the high performance boosted Ford engine variants that specify 50 weight oils.

Whats the rationale for 0W-20 in the lower spec versions and 5W-50 in boosted versions of virtually identical base motors? I know thats a leading question, but they must increase the weight for some reason?

 

You would have to ask the Ford engineers that question!

 

Or Whipple engineers, since they also recommend 50 weight after their Ford SC kits on previous 0W-20 cars.

So my thought is shouldn't we expect high stress parts to suffer when using a stated high mpg oil? Its everyones choice, of course, I am only saying we shouldn't blame the parts for a human decision.

And I still want to understand why Castrol's webpage says

- Helps improve fuel economy (0W grades)

but also acknowledges

- "It's a common misconception that the 'W' in viscosity descriptions stands for Weight. In fact, it stands for Winter. In the case of synthetic 0W-20 oil, this means that it flows as easily as a 0 Weight oil in Winter temperatures, but is as thick and viscous as a 20 Weight oil once normal engine temperature has been reached."

I think they are confused.