I've been considering several cars as a "weekend cruise to the beach" car for fun. I've been looking at everything from Mustang GT's to Maserati's to Jag XK's. Of course, I want to go used as I do not want the new price for a car that will be driven once a week. Plus, you can get all the fun for a fraction the price. All that being said, I came across a 2001 S Type,and had never considered a sedan , until I saw this one! Its a 2001 4.0 in immaculate condition with 63K on it. He has all the service records. Apparently its been garaged and pampered. The thing I want to know, is how are these cars to own long term in regards to reliability? On one hand I read that they were terrible, then I read that owners love these cars! So, whats the real scoop on these? This guy wants $5000 for it, and from what I see even in top condition like this, thats a fair price. Just a bit confused as to whether I should be thinking about this car. Any opinions on it? I dont mind some maintenance, but dont want to spend my nice weekend on a tow truck either.

 

Use the search function on this forum as this topic has been discussed many times.

The X200 is as reliable as any other high-end luxury car, just make certain the primary and secondary timing chains, guides and tensioners have been replaced as this was an issue with the AJ28 4.0 litre unit.

 

Do your research. While the car may indeed be in immaculate condition, it is overpriced at $5,000....

 

Like advised above. Check and document if ALL the timing chains and guides have been updated to the 3rd gen. metal ones. This is the big one!
I would walk away from any 4.0L car unless you are willing to bear the expense.

If you like the car consider a 2003 and up. A lot of good changes were made but the car looks the same and as you already found out a used S Type is a bargain!
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I'd get my hands on a good, Jaguar specific OBD-2 code reader too. I'd agree with all of the above experts here (look at the threads in this forum here, and you'll see the pattern of quirks for these first generation S-Types, and what the fixes were). Then, run them against the maintenance records that the seller has. If all of the common failure points have been addressed with new parts, then you have a good start...to negotiate a better price.

 

I second the jaguar specific code reader scanner. I got a real nice icar soft one on eBay for150 delivered. Does pretty much what my solus pro does. It can access all the modules also