I'm looking to get into an 03 S-type R and the one I test drove was making a humming sound from the rear of the car, and the steering wheel was vibrating a bit. Also, the shift from first to second gear seemed squirmish, or "herky-jerky" - Anyone have any insight?

Thanks

 

...run like the wind and don't look back

 

I had a 4.0V8 which needed a new gearbox at 26000 miles. It's symptoms were a judder in reverse and a thumping up-change. Total cost £3500 - thank goodness for the warranty!

 

There's a known rear-end whine that shows up at certain speeds. There's a TSB on it that replaces the differential, I believe. Forum member "carelm" had this done last year under warranty to his 2005 S-Type 3.0. Out of warranty I'm sure it would have cost thousands. Try searching the forum using the phrase "rear end whine" and I'm sure you'll find his thread about this issue rather quickly....

Sounds like the car you're interested in also has a transmission issue and a steering or suspension issue. As "searanch" indicated above, I'd look for another car that doesn't exhibit these very costly problems....

 

unless you are gonna get a smoking deal and warrenty with it......leave it be....

 

For a 2003 S-type R at $8500 and 82000 miles would you still run like the wind?

 

You can bet your *** I would. An STR is damn expensive enough to just maintain let alone the obvious problems you have noted in your test drive. Ya got rear end problems, transmission issues and steering. That car has been driven hard and put away wet. The steering issues may be due to a bent frame, a rebuilt transmission will cost upwards of 5K and the rear end prolly 2K.

With 82K that STR is no free ride. My advice is worth exactly what ya paid for it...

 

Over here in UK that price equates to about £5,500 which is cheap for an R of that age i.e. below the trade in value of a car with lesser mileage. You could be looking to potentially spend the same again or more should things be as bad as searanch says which brings it up to more than what you could buy one for from a franchised dealer complete with warranty back up.

It does look a good deal on the surface but it smells of quick sale to me.

 

and where is the OP posting from??? maybe some boards members might be close to his/her area and might be able to show them what the car should "feel" like?

 

Thanks.... I'll have to walk away slowly then. There are a few in the Bay Area that I can take a look at. I'm just eager to get ahold of that supercharger.

 

Drive a few more so you have an idea of what the car should feel like and you need to find a mechanic who knows about these cars to look at it. The steering wheel vibration could be as simple as needing the tires balanced. I don't find these cars to shift very smoothly from 1st to 2nd especially under light acceleration. To me they seem to shift better in sport mode. In regular mode they shift too early causing some head bobbing. I wouldn't describe it as jerky but not as smooth as many other cars I've driven. The hum sounds like it could be the diff but I've never heard the problem personally. I also wonder what happens if you don't fix it? I wouldn't tolerate any noise in a $70k car, but for $8k I could live with a little hum (assuming nothing serious will happen).