I'm thinking of replacing my 2002 Lincoln Continental with an S-Type of 2003-05 vintage. The Lincoln has been completely reliable for 125k miles. Is the S-Type a suitable replacement or would I be better off sticking with an American car?

 

Your country, your market, your choice.

ALL my Jags since 1968 have been "daily drivers" as you call them. They were, and still are, the only car/s in the driveway.

Australia is a HUGE place, mostly vacant, and us and the mighty/trusty Jags have traversed near all of it without any issues.

HEAPS of looks and comments, especially on the "Outback", and the Kimberlies, but we simply kept on keeping on, as they say.

ANY car is only as good as the nut that is maintaining it. Do that right, NO shortcuts, and you are good to go at any time.

 

I think you're helping to tip the scales.

 

Listen carefully.

Just got home from looking at a NICE X200 for a mate to add to his fleet.

Presented extremely well.
Dealer serviced all its life, TICK.
Highish KMs.
Trans fluid has been changed twice, TICK.
Heater tap replaced, TICK.
A/c sorted, TICK.

Major service just completed, TICK, NO WAIT, wrong spark plugs fitted, REALLY. Owner got huffy. I did not back down, so pulled one out, coz I am like that, and sure enough WRONG.

Oil stated on the docket sounded wrong, as in viscosity. He had the left over oil in the container in the boot, and proudly produced said container, OH MY, wrong by a long country mile. 20W60, mineral.

I will stop there.

Soooooooo, as I have said for many years, way before computers graced our lives, if the "nutter" looking after any car does not give a damn, how on earth can people blame the car??????.

In fairness the older Jaguars can be resurected with heaps of "catch up" maintenence, and care and stuff. The newer are far less forgiving, and simply do not always respond to such "catch up" in MY opinion.

Make what you will of what I typed, PLEASE. I do ALL my maintenence, and always have, and I am bordering on **** with it, and make no excuses for that, so maybe that is why my cars are what they are, dunno.

 

I'm editing/refining this comment to focus more on personal experience as some of the long-time and ardent S-Type owners are disagreeing with the generalizations I initially made based on first-hand ownership, and common conversations with other Jaguar owners and posts by others on this forum and reviews on Edmunds, Car & Driver, and even Top Gear.

As Grant Francis, the previous poster said, the dependability of a 03 to 05 S-Type, like any car, is going to greatly depend on its previous owner. A used S-Type with poor maintenance by a previous owner is going to be a nightmare. A good buying strategy is to find someone selling it who wouldn't mind if you brought it over to an independent shop who know their Jaguars and pay $100 to $200 for a pre-sale inspection. Whatever price you pay for the kitty, be sure to set aside up to $2,000 for wear and tear maintenance and any preventative maintenance.

In my neck of the woods, there are two classes of Jaguar S- and X- Types for sale used: beaten-down high-maintenance kitties averaging around $5-$7k at used car lots, and kitties running around $10k-$12k at used car lots or private sellers with better maintenance (in my experience). I say this based on personal experience shopping around last year for an S-Type an ending up with a fairly unreliable vehicle, and more recently looking for its replacement while staying in the Jaguar family.

The 2003 model year does, in some people's opinion, have a better ZF transmission than the previous models years with a Ford gearbox (although the Ford box is cheaper to replace, as I humbly understand it). Post face-lift models have some "minor" (depending on your opinion) improvements in horsepower and interior features. The models, pre- and post- face-lift can have exteriors and interiors that seem "dated" to some people. And, if you're comparing price for parts, the S-Type's replacement parts will run, on average, in some areas, depending on the store, or shipping costs, or taxes, or a variety of factors I may not be aware of, more expensive on average than Motorcraft parts for your standard Lincoln.

 

It's a myth that Jaguar claim that. They don't - see their TOPIX/GTR if you want proof.

I can believe some dealers are useless, don't know or work on auto transmissions, and do say that, but Jaguar do not.

I suppose a dealer who says it is an ignorant dealer.

 

Fair enough! But that myth seems pretty wide-spread -- I personally had a Jaguar dealership's service tech (or manager, or whoever it was that answered the phone) back in North Carolina (USA) tell me, when I asked about getting my X-Type's transmission fluid changed, that unless the transmission was acting up/shifting hard, "Jaguar doesn't recommend changing that fluid."

I'd still kill for a transmission dipstick...

 

I think they're great daily drivers. Just need to find one with all the maintenance done and not neglected.

 

Excellent daily driver.

 

This is anther long standing myth not backed up by any facts. Aside from a minor face lift, not much difference mechanically.

 

Rather it is a myth or not I totally agree with only buying the 2004.5 and newer S-type. Every pre 2005 S-type of friends, myself and associates have been less than stellar on reliability. It seems that every 2005 and newer S-types reliability is astronomically better.

 

Yet there were no related mechanical changes to the vehicles during that period. Maybe just because they're newer and have less mileage? If so, only buy 2007-08 model years.

 

>Aside from a minor face lift, not much difference mechanically

Ummm, 4.2 V8 curing the cam cam-chain problem, as well as the ZF transmission replacing the FOMOCO one.

Actually, I think the 4.2 was a clear improvement but not so sure about the transmission...
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Jaguar - it's not an automobile, it's a Motorcar

 

Keep in mind that Jaguar went through several versions and suppliers of coils in the S-Type from day one, admittedly because they kept having many premature coil failures which they attributed to poor design / inferior materials. I've been told by several trusted Jaguar sources that by the 2005 model year, Jaguar finally got the coils right. I have a car built in May 2005, it's my daily driver, and I've never had a failed coil. Coincidence? I don't know, but when I did my due diligence in mid-December 2008 just prior to purchasing our 2005 S-Type, multiple references recommended sticking with the 2005-to-2008 model years. I can honestly say that I remain quite glad I did....

 

But those upgrades 4.2, ZF box etc were 2002.5/2003 model year the later upgrade was cosmetic.

 

You got good advice above. You are smart to look only at the Gen II S Type (2003 and up).

Many improvements but the cars still looked pretty much the same.

Do you want the hotrod (STR)? or the more normal 4.2L V-8 or even a 6 cylinder model?

Remember the American version is called the Lincoln LS and was made from 2000-2006. I have both a STR and a LS. The Jaguar is a superior car but it was a good bit more expensive so I would expect that.

So if you want American you can look at the LS.

Any reason you are looking at the S Type?
.
.
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>But those upgrades 4.2, ZF box etc were 2002.5/2003 model year the later upgrade was cosmetic.

Ok, I understand, so from my perspective of owning a '08 there are early-early S-Types (the ones with the 4.0) and late-early S-Type (i.e., the pre-face lift cars with 4.2s and ZFs)

Thanks
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Jaguar - it's not an automobile, it's a Motorcar

 

YEP.

X200, 1999 -2002
X202, 2002 - 2004
X204, 2004 to end.

Our Black S is 8/2000 build, and has slightly different features to her Silver car which is 8/2001.

Silver has "dual button" on the a/c control panel, the Black does not. BOTH have dual temp controls, just the Silver can turn the dual OFF with a button.

Under bonnet sees slight little things, shocker tower covers on the Black, not on the Silver.

Black has body side mouldings, the Silver does not.

So there are things right through the model/s year/s and they are what they are.

 

The mechanical changeover and first facelift was 2002.5 model year. Second facelift was 2005.

The coil problem was exclusive to the V6, nothing to do with either pre- or post V8s.

 

What's your budget? An 05+ is really the best purchase...

My experience has been these cars are VERY reliable for what is a foreign luxury car...

I would say cost of ownership of the S-type will definitely higher than your 02 continental though...
With that said, it is in an entirely different class than the continental in how it looks and feels, and you will certainly treating yourself with an 05+ s-type... the slightly more expensive running costs will be well worth the cost for what i think is the best used car value today for large, comfortable daily driver...