Howdy from north Texas!

I'm a newbie to the forum and a Jaguar owner wannabe. Thanks for the forum and for letting me join.

I'm a native Michigander who recently relocated to north Texas for personal reasons. God Bless Texas, I love it here!

In my short time living in the DFW area, I've noticed that there are a lot more luxury cars on the road than where I came from (corn and dairy country of rural Mich). The car that jumps out at me most (not literally, of course, nyuk nyuk) are the Jags. Yawza! Gee-or-gous! I gotta get me one of them.

In the limited research I've done, I seem to lean toward the looks of the (now-defunct?) S-Type. Great lines, fabulous grill. If it could talk I'm sure she'd say, "Rally daah-ling, hop in and take me for a spin." I really know very little about Jaguar except that it is a British-made vehicle that was recently purchased by the Indian company, Tata Motors. I'm here to learn.

Since this is my introduction, I suppose I should share a wee bit more about myself. In a nutshell, I'm a middled-aged, happily divorced gal. I took an early retirement from a large telecommunications company so I could relocate to be nearer to family. I'm currently attending college preparing for a second career in Computer Science. My plan is that this field will earn enough $$ to support me in the style to which I've become accustom.

 

Welcome Patty! I changed your title to show you're of the female pursuasion, and trust me...the girls that we do have on this forum are few in number, but will want to drop by and give you their own personal greeting in seeing it.

You've come to the right place to begin your research if a jaguar is what you seek. The s-type has, indeed, been discontinued, but it still has a modern look to it, and prices for those 2006-2008's are pretty affordable. Mechanically, those years are going to be the best too, solid engines and tried-n-true transmissions.

If you're looking for a mid-size 4-door, have you considered the XF? 2009 was the first year, definitely more expensive than the s-types, but are jaguar's latest 'look' with that big grille in front. I myself are toying with that addition myself as a little larger 2nd car. I am also considering a 2007 XJ8 - can you believe those cars get 27 mpg on the highway?!?

Great intro thread BTW, and as a migrant yankee from Illinois to TX, I can relate to your transitional feelings. We hope you enjoy your membership here.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome, Matt. I normally do a lot of research before spending money on a vehicle so I was really pleased to find the forum.

I tend to become emtionally attached to my vehicles (my ex used to say it like it's a bad thing!) so I make sure I don't jump into anything. Heck, it took me 3 months to research and find my 2001 Jetta TDI. But, at the time it was the right choice for me. We have 237k happy miles together and still going strong.

Thanks for the tip on the S-Type model years. I've been told to steer away from anything after Tata took over (2005 and later) but I don't have anything support that, just one person's opinion. I certainly don't mean to be disparaging; just repeating what someone said. I like to make my own decisions based on fact gathering.

I stopped in at the local dealer yesterday, just for fun. I did eyeball the XJ after the salesman told me it is the model meant to fill the gap of the S-Type. I wasn't crazy about the appearance. It acutally reminded of my old Buick Park Avenue. Crazy, huh?

 

Welcome Patty!

 

Hi Patty and welcome. Im a AZ resident now (4 years ago) moving from Chicago so I know what ya mean about loving TX (southwest) ... warm but not humid, least for the most part and no snow.

I guess if you are looking for recommendations you would have to give everyone an idea of the year range your looking for. While ive been a Jaguar guy since the 70's and have had many I still prefer the large XJ 4 doors though the retro look of the S type is beautiful.

I welcome being corrected but it was Ford who bought Jaguar (1988 ?) first and decided to go after a different demographic by creating the S and X type to make it less expensive for people to own a new Jaguar. Ford did however sell Jaguar and Land/Range Rover to Tata a couple years ago (2008?). While I think they have done a great with them technically I was next to a new Jaguar XF the other day and my first thought it was, is that a new Infiniti..... while the leaping cat on the hood of mine does pretty much tell ya its a Jaguar.

I do have a good friend here who has a 2000 S type and outside of a couple things its been a great car for them and they have put some 80K on in the last 3 years pretty much trouble free.

Again, welcome and start your search so you can post some pictures.

 

Darn IE! I had a response nearly finished when it went flaky and shut down. Argh!

Hi, John, I'm just beginning my search and research but I need to keep the price down to a reasonably 15-20k to be comfortable. Auto Trader has several S-Types in the area that fit the bill.

The local dealer has a lovely blue 2003 one.


Or there's this killer white onyx one.


But, if money were no object, this would be a sweet little ride for those hot, sultry summer nights here in north Texas.



A girl can dream, can't she?



Brenda: Girl power!

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome Patty. Definitely a good move to discover the forum before you buy! Glad to have another "neighbor" on board. Spend a little time on the S-Type section, lots of great folks over there, and you'll know what to look for on the various prospects. You've posted pics of my top two favorite S-Type colors! The white one looks just like my daughter's, our first Jag.
However, the lovely blue one is a 2005 or subsequent, not 2003. Ford purchased Jaguar in 1989 and sold it to Tata in 2008. The S-Type had a major redesign for the 2003 MY (US, 2002.5 elsewhere) and many problem items were improved, whilst some were just "changed." It underwent a "freshening" in 2005 (where they uglied it up a bit, if I'm honest) Someone else will have to pick it up from here, I lost track of any changes after the 2005 MY. In your pics above, the biggest clue is the front fascia, killer white is 2003/04 - witness the air scoops for brake cooling, not found on the lovely blue. Also, the angle of the grill and the hood were allegedly changed for 2005 as well as the rear end of the car. Not sure what accessories and options were changed though I believe 2005 was the advent of the bluetooth module.

Pre-apologies to all who like them, but I spotted a fairly striking midnight blue Honda in traffic a few weeks ago and closed up for a better look, only to discover it was an XF. While it made a pretty snazzy Honda...t'weren't much to look at as a Ja'aaag. No fan of the newly launched XJ either, I'm afraid to say.....

 

Howdy from Florida!

 

Welcome Patty, i'm also in Dallas. Originally from London. Aside from the heat this time of year, I think that I made the right decision by moving here.

Good luck in your search.

 

Welcome Patty! I love my S! She really does say "Rally daah-ling, hop in and take me for a spin."

 

Welcome to the forum Patty,

Good advice above, head on over to the S section and get some good advice on buying, you should be able to find a good one with your budget.

 

aholbro1, you're right - my bad. The blue S is 2005. I've looked at so many pictures on-line that I must have gotten confused.

I'm very impressed that you knew it wasn't a 2003 just by the pic of the grill. See how much I have to learn?


What is MY?

 

MY = Model Year

I like the blue one!

 

Oooooh, thank you.

Of all the pics I've looked at, I'm really leaning towards the blue one, too. I may have to go visit the dealer soon.

By the way, GoKittyGo, I love your screen name; very cute. I'm not creative in that manner so I just stick with the real me. Heck, I've even had to resort to using old family names to name my pets because I'm so unoriginal. My Border collie is named after my great, great, great grandfather, Lewis.

I made up new lyrics to the old song made popular by the The Kingsmen way back in 1963. They go: Lewie, Lewie, oh, Lewie, you're a cu-ute puppy, yeah, yeah.....oh, wait, wrong forum

 

Hey Patty, welcome to our site, great to have you here with us.

good intro thanks a for sharing
The Stype section is awesome, full of great members....all good

Loads going on, plenty of very friendly and helpful members as well as some excellent tech advice......all good!

In the meantime I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the site

 

Welcome to the forum!