Eyes Wide Open
 

I was talking to the owner of a jag repair/sales shop today and he informed me that the trans in the S-Type R is the same as the one used in the AMG Mercedes of the the same vintage and that it is different than the standard 6 speed trans in the rest of the S-types. He also said a new one was $13K. Gulp ...

I also heard that Insurance is higher on these cars?

He said independant warranties are much harder to get on an R too.

Comments guys?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_6HP26_transmission
Theres a list of the cars the STR trans is in. Its the 2 wheel drive version so its the 6hp26 not the A. It was never in a Mercedes car. To my understanding I dont think ZF even supplies Mercedes with trans, but I could be wrong. I know they supply Audi cause there was one in my A8 I used to have. Not sure if thats the price of a new one but my Audi had a 5hp24a ZF transmission and just to get it rebuilt was about 5000 so for a R and R with rebuild was about 7000. That is a 5 speed auto but its also the AWD version so the diff is built in. If you bought a new one from a dealership I would say the 13000 is probably about right.

As far as the insurance I guess it depends on where you live and age and all that. I'm 30 and have a clean record and I had 3 cars insured in 2 states so getting rid of 2 cars and replacing them with the STR dropped my insurance. I pay about 450 every 6 months but thats with another car so I get multi car discount. When I got a quote on my policy I had one car on it was about the same as I was paying for an 03 Mercury Marauder. So it just really depends on alot of stuff for how much insurance is. The best thing you can do is just get some quotes.

Dont know much about warranties I work on my own cars so dont really use them.

I did a little googling and found out Mercedes actually makes there own transmissions but they did make a trans for Jaguar and its the one that was put into the 98 XJR's. But the ZF one in that link is the one thats in the STR.

Never buy a new tranny. Just fine to rebuild.

Totally agree if you are in a situation where you got to buy a new one something really horrible went wrong.

ZF's are common in Beamers not Benz's...

The exact same Trans is Used in late model maserati quattroporte as well..

I think I know what happened with this guy. He knows a lot about the previous generation "R" cars. They had quite a few of them there as well as several race caras they were building. If you're a Jag fan it an interesting shop. He probably thought it was the same for the S-Type R. Also, he's a car salesman at heart ... ;>)

Thanks guys,

Bob S.

$3000...on the high end, to rebuild STR trans.

I agree that the ZF 6HP26 is not in the MB.

As well as the wikipedia list, I understand it's in the Aston Martin DB9 and 2005 Ford Explorer.

Dunno if they both lurch ;)