....but most owners stay with them.

edit: Everything annoys me about it at the moment.

 

Doesn't seem anyone else has had that...

 

Never heard of that before. It was -17*C overnight here last night, and my knob is just fine.

 

 

I know. I hear that often. I've also noticed that the metal shift lever to which the shift knob is attached gets very cold (as cold as the exterior of the car) and stays that cold for more than 50 miles or so of driving. Much colder than anything else near it. So it seems to be injecting cold into the core of the shift knob. I've bought both new and used shift knobs and even tried having one refinished. Didn't make any difference. But there are frequent online auction listings for used ones that have cracks in the clear coating so at least some others must be having this experience.

 

Try sanding down and refinishing one of your previously-failed shift knobs with an industrial-strength polyurethane made for hardwood floors. During the past two weeks, we had our existing hardwood floors refinished and all other carpeted rooms as well as the entryway staircase replaced with new matching hardwood floors. Once all of the original and new wood was stained dark enough to meet my wife's expectations, we did three coats of Masterline polyurethane in a semi-gloss finish on top of the stain. Extremely durable stuff - it may very well end your shift knob finish cracking issue....

 

I forgot to mention: lack of a 12v power socket (cigarette lighter) for the rear seat passengers. Unforgivable in a 2001 car when (for example) the Rover 800/Sterling 827 had them in 1986

 

It's in the middle console.

 

No it isn't! Maybe the Middle East market cars are different but my car has a cigarette lighter up front by the ashtray and that is it - nothing for the backseat

 

Maybe only those cars didn't have it.

 

The '03 has it in the middle console; the '01 does not.

 

Too many owners seem to kvetch about their cars a lot.

I'm driving a 2013 Ford Taurus rental this week. It's fully loaded and it's pretty good car. The handling is exemplary. It has way more tech goodies than my 2005 STR. But it's not nearly the car the STR is. That modern, overly complex dash alone is reason enough to not buy one. But it's the rigidity, quiet nature and overall smooth feel of the STR that is striking by comparison. Then there's the engine ...

Every car has stuff that's annoying and we list the things here and sometimes we get solutions or learn something new. I know I have. But if your list is becoming long and significant you should stop posting and start selling.

 

And that's my intention. The S-type isn't half the car that the XJ40 is and it just isn't growing on me. The + part of the equation doesn't exceed the - part

 

Fair enough. You also have an older generation car, pre 2003.

 

Two different cars really, but I must say that I really enjoyed driving the Taurus. Quiet ride, great gearbox, roomy and a brilliant audio sytem. Wish we had them here.

 

the older speedos are ugly as hell can i have the new ones orthe xtyps please

 

Too bad you did not get a chance to drive the SHO version! It's as fast or faster than the STR and has AWD. Plus since it's twin turbo the upgrading is much easier and it was only a matter of months before the SHO's were running 12 second quarter miles.

Right now it looks like they are down to 12.07 @114 that's pretty stout for that big of a car with a V-6!!
1/4 mile times? - SHOForum

Plus they have the ECO boost putting out over 600HP at the wheels!!

First Ecoboost to hit 600HP! - SHOForum
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I'm not really into speed and I'm not too sure it would have gone down well with your local Police.

I even managed to get pulled over driving a Dodge. You're thinking Charger RT maybe? Challenger SRT?

It was a Town and Country. I wasn't speeding, but in Arizona there is the 'move over one lane' law, when you see emergency vehicles on the hard shoulder. Guess who didn't know about that particular law......

 

The only thing that's annoyed me so far is how difficult or expensive it's going to be to play my ipod in my 2005 s type ,took me half an hour to hook one up to my last car ,just soldered 3 wires to the cd output on the cd deck ,play silent cd it's done .

 

On an non alpine stereo car - which uses analog, not digital audio output, It's probably that easy as well. No one has ever really take one of these radios apart to figure it out like the GM / Ford guys have.

I have the stock radio from my car, but I went aftermarket a long time ago, and don't have the proper wiring harness to connect to it (I'd need a pigtail from a wrecked car or something) in order to figure it out.

Take care,

George