I'm serious about purchasing the F type with 42k miles on it. Wondering what upcoming maintenance costs I need to be prepared for? It's a 2 owner, clean title. I drive around 15k miles per year and will be using this as a daily driver. Any help/tips from the experienced p300 owners is greatly appreciated.

 

Unless you're getting an absolute bargain, I'd rather get the V6 or the V8 as the prices on those in the used market have plummeted.

On that note, the 4 cylinder variant feel sprightly around turns as theres less weight. The engine itself sounds a bit wheezy and the powerband is awful as the power delivery is not linear at all.

 

Thank you for the response. That's a great point about the v6 probably sounding/feeling more like a sports car and increasing the fun part.

Is the v-6 or v-8 more expensive to maintain or close?

 

Under $25k!

 

You should get the best performing and equipped model you can find. Not all features available on P300! They have all depreciated fast!

 

No P300 ownership experience here unfortunately but I've driven a couple and think I know a thing or two about the F-Type lineup.

Moneywise there's no big difference between running a P300 vs a V6 and V8.

I wouldn't say that anything about it is awful and it drives fine but but as discussed a lot, the P300 is kind of a weird combo in the line-up, kind of like taking an Aston Vantage and sticking a Miata engine with turbos in it. Make sure you're happy with that before choosing a P300 over a V6 or V8 with their much stronger characters.

I'm personally a bit skeptical to the P300s long term reliability and think we'll see more catastrophic failures as they age and rack up mileage. The bigger engines have their weak points with the cooling system and injectors but none of that is serious if you know about it and the engines as such are rock solid. The 2 litre ingenium engines are a different story. The diesel version is now known to be a ticking catastrophic engine failure time bomb which people avoid buying. The gas version shares some of those flaws (mainly the chain and tensioner setup) so things don't look good for it either, even if it's not as bad as the diesels.

 

Oddly enough we have the p300 in our XE and in that (contrary to White Tardis' experience with the F Type) the power delivery is very linear from launch up to maybe 120kph, it actually "feels" as quick as the base v6 and I was surprised to see it isnt. To me it feels like a small NA v8, like the little yamaha unit that volvo used to have, if I had a complaint it is so constant it lacks a little of the drama that you get winding up the v6 through the gears. I love the engine in the XE, maybe the transmission settings are different. We have had the XE for 6 years and no issues at all, although it only has about 25000km on it if that. We previously had the p250 in an XE and I did find that one very wheezy and inconsistent at launch, like a slingshot.

Would I get one in an F Type? well for 98% of my driving I probably wouldnt notice the difference between it and any other engine in the lineup, but it would need an aftermarket exhaust to keep me happy, and I would be worried that the 2% of the time where I did notice the difference would play on my mind as that is kind of why I have the car.

 

Owned a P300 since new in 2018.

Faster than the muscle cars of the 60's.

Handles well. Likely the best.

No repairs for the first 5 years. Needed a parking brake computer last year. Otherwise cheap to keep. Most newer cars are over complicated.

The dual fan turbo is for the most part a smooth running car. Turbo boost is unnoticeable. No review guy mentioned it. Mileage is over 30 mpg. Don't care.

Lacks the exhaust noise of the 6 and 8.

Except for the exhaust the cars look the same.

Car changes when you engage the Dynamic mode and Sport on the transmission. I have had a manual transmission English car since 1972. Do not miss the stick. The S mode of the transmission acts as stupidly as I would. Automatically.

Mine has launch control. Seldom used.

Cheap insurance. same as the wife's pickup.

I would prefer a 911, however the extra $40-50k is not in the budget.

 

You sir have talked me out of the p300. I really appreciate your input. You make complete sense and that info about the diesel being a disaster definitely throws up a huge red flag for me on the gas version.

 

The sound character of V6 or V8 is well worth it. You will smile every start, grin like a 6 year old when driving hard and will have goose bumps in tunnels. It is in the DNA of this car, you won't regret it.

 

Good to hear. No scaremongering intended but if you're going to daily a relatively high mileage F-Type you're probably better off long term with a V6 or V8.

It's fascinating what a s**t show the 2 litre ingenium diesels have played out to be. I guess JLR were just to small and stressed to properly develop such an engine. I've driven a handful of Jags and Land Rovers with that diesel and it actually drives well but if you do just a little online research you'd never dare to own one now. DPF and oil dilution issues seem to accelerate the problems in the diesels but the P300 gas version seems to have the same fundamental flaws which is why its longevity feels questionable.

 

Thank you!!!!

 

The 4 cyl is very reliable than the 6 or 8 cyl, 6 and 8 have cooling system issues that can run you $4-5k at the dealer to fix. My friend has an F-Pace with over 70k miles and never seen a shop, except for an A/C issue last August. My 6cyl has been 3 times since I have owned it (2 yrs), one time was for a bad window regulator, but the other 2 were for injectors going bad at 70k (water from vents drain right on top of the injectors, but I fixed myself) and the other was a bad oil cooler pipe, $15 part and $600 in labor, had I known what it was would have fixed myself.
Forgot the injector issue for 6's and 8's with water causing injectors to fail early and seize in the head, fixed mine myself and still paid over $1,000 in parts and tools.

 

Seems to be strong opinions either way with the 4. Those who like it seem to like it a lot, and those who don’t really don’t. I personally think a 4 cylinder does not belong in this car. Put that in a Vantage and people would freak out. I’m freaking out because of it going in the F-type ;-o. To me it brings down the car.

Good Luck with your purchase.

 

The diesel issues are irrelevant as the P300 F-Type is not a diesel.

In a detailed engineering analysis of all F-Type models I've reviewed, the P300 was evaluated as likely the least problematic, with a preemptive timing chain replacement at 90k-100k miles as its only major service concern.

The 4-cylinder is arguably the most reliable F-Type: It does not have the notoriously leak-prone Y-pipe cooling design; its turbocharger is generally considered more durable than a supercharger; its overall engine tech is the most modern in the range; catalytic converter not fouled as easily; and no problems gauging oil level as it has an actual dipstick, unlike all the others.

Also, the P300 F-Type is objectively the most nimble, best cornering in the range because of its substantially lighter nose and related suspension tuning. And it's faster 0-60 than the 340hp manual, per JLR, in part because the P300's 295 lb-ft torque is fully available from only 1500 rpm. It can be driven closer to its full power potential far more often in ordinary driving than the V8 or V6, with little risk of overpowering the rear wheels.

With the highest horsepower-per-cylinder motor of any Jaguar ever made, the P300's 4-pot is "the most advanced and efficient engine ever found in an F-Type," per JLR.

Unless you can't live with its more subdued exhaust noise (which still pops and burbles on higher-rev shifts), I'd advise you not to rule it out. Not a single issue with mine in its nearly six years on the road.

 

I can vouch for this - soon after I got my AWD R coupe it went back to the dealer for some diagnostic work and I got a P300 as a loaner. No-one noticed the difference, and the loaner was a soft top!

 

Ditto on the reliability.

ditto on the handling.

Cheaper insurance.

cheaper to own.

I like mine a lot.

 

 

No real issues with the P4 over the V6/8 in the service world, the main issue we see as they age is lack of maintenance, which is self inflicted. We never should have told people to go 2 years/21k miles between oil changes, that's just stupid. Change the oil yearly or every 8-10k, and you won't have any odd issues. There are plastic cooling components and questionable timing gears/tensioners on all of our engines, and the labor is not great on either one so that's pretty much a non-issue. I have had some customers with very high mileage 2.0 gas engines that really help up nicely.

 

Say what you will about the P300 but I can vouch for that it actually sounds good for a four banger. Not the engine itself, but as usual Jaguar have done wonders with the exhaust system. Just like with the bigger engines the exhaust sounds about as good as it gets stock and it seems pretty pointless to put on some pimped exhaust because it's so well sound engineered from the get go.