Hi,

I'm looking into buying a 2003 Jaguar S-TYPE R with 115K miles on it. It would be a daily driver and I'd need to count on getting 20k miles out of it without too much work.

How big a gamble is this? Is it reasonable to expect a year of solid driving without any major issues? Assuming the PPI checks out.

Thanks

 

For any given car of any specified car maker, this is unanswerable.

Same for the STR.

But... your best chance of Yes is a very young car of a known-to-be-reliable model, say a 1-year old (and look up known reliable cars).

It will be low performance, non-luxury, mass-produced.

I like my STR but I DIY most things and also to some extent took a chance. It does not meet your stated needs.

 

I'd say it is a 50/50 chance you will luck out. It is a 17 year old car...
You can improve the chances by finding out the cars history. Was the car regularly serviced? (Regular oil changes, fluids, belts, hoses...)
Take a look under the car at the suspension and see if the suspension bushings are cracked and/or have been replaced. Are the shocks leaking and or have they been replaced? Is the CATS working properly? Are the headlights cloudy, do they still auto level?
-How many owners have there been? Can the seller confirm how the car was driven? Hard? easy?
-Can you determine if the imfamous valley hose has been replaced. If yes, how long ago?
-Is the supercharger relatively quiet and do the bearings in the snout rattle?
-Is the engine burning oil? or perhaps a small puff of oil smoke when it starts?

From my experience, reading on the forum, and other research, 120K is about the mileage when the STRs start to have problems. A well maintained 03 STR that hasn't been abused should last to about 180K before major engine or trans work is required. If you read postings on the forum, STRs start to have random ghosts and weird issues that appear out of nowwhere as they age. Most often doesn't cost too much money to repair, but it is a PITA if you can't do the work yourself, and the problem takes the car out of service until it is repaired.

FYI, I wouldn't pay more than $4 to $6K for an 03 STR with 115K miles.

Good luck

 

Great points above from JagV8 and Tijoe!
The short answer is 'yes' the STR is a reliable daily driver but any prestige car around 17 years of age will need to be thoroughly examined by an appropriate expert to ascertain any maintenance issues. These were well designed and engineered cars, have dated very well also and are likely to be future classics but spend some money on an expert inspection first.
My STR has around 70 thou miles and would be an excellent reliable daily driver but like many of the members cars here it gets lots of love.
There's your problem, finding a car that's had lots of love and had everything done; any BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche etc around the same vintage will be in exactly the same position.

 

Probably not unless it's had all the ugly repairs done already and has a good maintenance history.

All old cars with mileage like that are going to need stuff more regularly than new ones. But if you can do your own work it can still be cheaper than a new car especially considering the caliber of the car.
Daily service disruptions? Quite likely.

 

My two cents: I currently daily drive with a 2003 S-type R with 95K miles. Daily drive is about 40 miles total. I rarely drive further to prevent pushing the car. I've had for about 1.5 years now and got it as a hand me down from my mother who had since 2005. She was no gear head whatsoever, so she was pretty diligent about getting maintenance at the Jag dealer. She was not concerned with cost either so she didn't penny pinch. Saying this because it means this S-type R was treated like a baby. The only issue I have is I keep an eye on coolant levels and cross fingers about the coolant system plumbing, the most complicated I've ever seen on a car and I used to be a tech! The suspension is a little creaky as well. Otherwise it's a great leave them in the dust car when rocking out to hair metal! Flooring it, with sport mode on, I can break the tires loose at 60 mph on the highway, and the supercharger scream will tell you that rubber is being dealt to the slow asses behind you!

 

Send me the entire VIN on the vehicle and I can run Carfax to look at the service history.