I've seen several posts that mention 2005 and up are 'better'. I know there was a cosmetic upgrade in that year, but what mechanical changes took place that make them superior in a mechanical/reliability sense?

 

Yes, the major mechanical update was the one for the 2003 model year in North America (2002.5 in Europe). The cosmetic refresh occurred for the 2005 model. Now there may have been some minor changes..I have a press pack for the 2005 refresh that lists all the changes..I'll check that this evening when I get home. There is/was a feeling that the 05's were more "sorted" but I doubt that. They seem to have the same frequency of common failures as the "earlier" cars. IE: Throttle Body, IMT Leak, Coolant Bottle, and the list goes on. Not that they are bad, in my opinion they are really good cars considering the level of complexity. That said, I would rate an 03 the same as an 05 and up. If there are more reported issues with 03's that is probably more a result of age and mileage than anything else.

 

In my "unbiased" opinion 2005 was the year the S-Type finally matured. As mentioned earlier the cosmetics were updated as well as some other mechanical upgrades. The handling is excellent in my opinion, probably on par with the 5 series BMW or E Class Mercedes. As a used car they represent a pretty good value for the money, especially if you have the extended warranty.

Mike

 

The copious amounts of research I did prior to purchasing our S-Type in December 2008 led me to the conclusion that the 2005-and-up models are indeed the best way to go if you're chasing an S-Type. Others here on the forum have expressed the same opinion or drawn the same conclusion. Part of that reasoning comes from the general consensus that by 2005, some of the earlier common failures attributed to substandard parts (one example is coils, another example is window regulators) had been through multiple re-designs (and in some cases, different vendors and suppliers) and were finally good enough to be considered "fixed". I'm sure that some of the reasoning is also subjective - after all, a newer car with fewer miles is usually a better bet as previously-troublesome issues in the model run get engineering attention once again and usually get fixed if the model run lives long enough....

Do your own research and draw your own conclusions. I'm happy with our 2005 and would not retreat to a 2004-or-older S-Type....

 

But Jon...The things you mentioned...Coils and Window Regualtors were fixed for the 03 and up cars...

 

Yes, the window regulators were re-designed prior to 2005. But I was told by two different Jaguar master techs that they were still experimenting with coils up through most of the 2004 production run and did not sort that issue until just prior to the 2005 production run began....

Truth? Hype? Somewhere in between? I don't know, but all that information went directly into the mix I worked through before I came to the conclusion that 2005-and-newer was the best path for me to follow....

 

Exactly, which is one of the reasons I chose '03 and up in my search. The cosmetic AND mechanical upgrades of that year and newer made it worthwhile.

 

What is different in 2005 and up suspension?

 

OK, now a bit of reverse...What were the cosmetic changes to the 03 other than a new dash? I personally don't count the dashboard change as cosmetic since the "real" reason they did it was to fit updated electronics.

 

Mikey,

As far as I know the suspension was unchanged. However, an aluminum hood shaved some weight off the front end and the tighter tolerances between the various body panels improved the torsional rigidity.

Mike

 

The only cosmetic change between the 00 and 03 externally were the door mirrors...

The body changed for 05 - new hood, front bumper, tail lights, trunk lid, rear quarters etc...

The interior changed in 03, as well as all the electronics went from Ford to Jaguar.

 

Dash and centre console, deletion of the parking bake handle. That's cosmetic in my book. The 2002 and earlier dash was not my cup of tea.

 

The STR arrived in 02/3 and has a mesh grille plus trunk lid spoiler. New, bigger wheels, too, I think. I don't think the tail lights are the same as the pre-facelift cars. Oh and HID lights, don't they look a bit different? Plus they de-chromed. I believe the ride height changed (due to the improved suspension).

 

So, here is the press release I talked about earlier. They do talk about some revisions to the suspension and steering but from reading it over it is a little vague as to when that was changed.