Hi everyone,

Brand new owner of a used P300, here. The car is badged as an S, but what does that mean?!

I called both local Jaguar dealerships and could t get an answer, there. One dealer told me to ask the service dept for a build sheet, but I can’t get them on the phone. The other dealer’s service dept picked up and told me to talk to sales - who aren’t answering their phone.

Google has been no help, either.

So what the heck does the “S” mean? I have a flat bottom steering wheel, 20” wheels, and active exhaust. Is that it?

TIA

 

It means the previous owner bought an 'S' badge and put it on your car. The S was a package on early V8 convertibles and V6 coupes and convertibles. It was never offered on the 4 cylinder turbo.

 

Good question.

In 2018, which I own, they did not put the P300 badge on my car.

I have the fancy catalog from 2019 and it does not mention any S model across the line.

As I remember the S model had the Dynamic suspension. Mine does not. I do have a vague memory of some premium 300 model.

The 300 was not a big hit. I love mine.

 

Slow memory.

There was a 21 300 that was called first edition. About $10,000 option.

It had a nicer interior, tires, wheels, etc.

 

Is the badge only on the rear? My guess is that the previous owner only put the 'S' on the rear as it is more difficult to put one on the grill. If there's one on the grill, too, they were more ambitious than I would expect.

 

Maybe the previous owner wanted more than one, so he tried to make it plural!

 

See that big S car go!!

 

OP, that sounds like a great build. we have the p300 in our XE, I love the engine it just keeps piling it on and I like the exhaust note too. Dont worry too much about the badge, personally I have taken all of mine off as I think the car looks better without them (personal taste) but if you are ever wanting to do something to your car, consider forged rims and michelins or conti's which make a massive ride and handling improvement to an already good car. Especially good if you dont have adaptive suspension, as the ride can be a touch firm in the one setting on those super heavy OEM wheels and very hard p zeros.

 

On a related but slightly skewed note....who is it at JLR that thinks the constant changing of model designations is a good idea? because it is a terrible idea. It leaves even die-hard Jaguar enthusiasts such as this humble scribe confused and mystified (assuming that these are not the same thing). Example: Why did the V6S become the 380? did they think that would sell more cars? It only leads to confusion, and that isn't good.

 

I put it down to "change for the sake of change" pushed by the marketing department.
To their way of thinking a change of model name means "new and exciting" (to the average punter) and something to make up for the fact that otherwise there isn't a helluva lot of change to the F-Type from one year to the next.

 

No such thing as an S model 2.0L , I've a 2018 car, know it inside out by now and very happy with it, lots of modifications done, have rear fixed wing fitted since these pics , will post later.

 

There is an S badge on the flat bottom steering wheel, as well, the same 20” alloy wheels as the V6 S model, and Brembo brakes, but no badge on the grill.

As the car was a lease return, I have a hard time imaging the PO would go to more trouble than just slapping a badge on the rear.

I got a response from someone on Reddit saying he had a 2019 P300 S, and his description of upgrades seems to match what I just got. He also said the suspension was upgraded, but I don’t have a clue how to check that on mine - and once again, the local dealers are basically refusing to look up the build sheet for me.

 

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, the mismatched tires on the car, Zeros in back and Falkens up front, are basically brand new, so it’ll be a while before I can swap them out.

Naive question - how do I know if the suspension is adaptive? The “Dynamic” switch seems to change both the gear change points and the handling, but I don’t know the car well enough, yet, to describe what’s really happening.

 

Open the bonnet/hood and look at the tops of the front shock towers.
If there are wires running to plugs on the tops of the towers it has adaptive suspension, if there are no wires then it does not.

 

Or else take it out for a drive on a bumpy or rough road and put it in dynamic. If it gets a bit jiggly, then it is likely to be adaptive. But I didnt know that about the struts, I think I've only looked under the bonnet about 3 times in 5 years - it isnt very pretty in there...

 

I have no clue where is "local" for you, but in the UK, and possibly Europe, we can email our VIN to Jaguar Customer Services and they'll send the TOPIx Vehicle Summary.

 

As far as I know there is no such thing as an S P300. Totally sounds like a case of good old badge pimping.

Mine is an S but came with only with an R-Dynamic badge in the back... which was one of the first things I removed. A matter of taste but I never saw the point and never liked the looks of badges stuck on in the back. Also I have no badges in the interior (neither steering wheel or centre console trim) which I love. I think it's only the older S cars that came with S badges on the inside.

And the adaptive suspension was never available in the P300, was it?

Agree about the mess with the confusing changes of trim level and engine options. I think it's partially also connected to a tighter integration with Land Rover where they want to have the same kind of badging on Jags and LRs. Just like with the colour names where they changed from Italian Racing Red to Firenze and so on.

 

People on Reddit say all kings of things. By 2019, the S no longer was an option package. It was called the P380, basically (R-Dynamic gave options, too) . You can get many S like options on a P300. PO simply put two badges on your car.

There are rare cases where the wrong badge was placed on the car at the factory, but it's very unlikley they still had S badges laying around at the assembly area by the time the P300s rolled around.

 

There simply is no P300 S model, if there was I'd know about it
A post is no good without pictures , post a few of this so called S

 

There's no such thing as a V6S 6MT R/AWD but that's how the factory deigned to badge the rear of my car.