A question for you Jaguar owners

[dillon-in-bayern]

My dear old Alfa is now 13 years old and although I love it to bits I feel it may need replacing soon-ish. It's a 166, 3 ltre V6 with 230 BHP and the engine is wonderful, just the bodywork and transmission may fail soon-ish.

I'm looking around and fancy a Jaguar although I wouldn't have that much money to spend.

I see that used ones are pretty well available, so here's my question:

If I were to consider an S-Type, 4 litre with about 300 BHP but about 8 years old, what would I need to look out for specifically?

Or do I just stay well clear?

[upthecreekyetagain]

I love my 05 S-Type so I certainly wouldn't advise against buying one.  The petrol engine ones are extremely good value.

Just make sure ALL the electrics are in good working order with all the buttons working. and that you have a service history.

Make sure that both key fobs are in full working order, lock, unlock, headlights and boot release buttons work - replacements aren't cheap-.

You will only be getting about 23mpg unless you are doing a lot of long journeys and are extremely light footed in which case you may possibly get around 30mpg.

If you go for the automatic then on a test drive very, very gently accelerate from a standstill to make sure there is a smooth gear change from first to second gear.

Not all models have the Bluetooth option fitted even though the buttons are installed on the dashboard.

[blackburn_stevie]

As above plus, Check for rust in the usual places such as under the wheel arches. Not only rust itself but evidence of a botched quick repair job. I was lucky with my '95 XJ6 in that it had previously belonged to a Wedding hire firm so the interior and exterior were in tip-top condition. And while I think of it, make sure the driver's seat is in good nick.

They are excellent cars and will give years of driving pleasure. Mine is only a 3.2 straight 6 but the power is there when I need it and on runs down south to Ringwood we average over 30 mpg but that goes down to 22 - 25 when driving round town.

[al**bear]

Wabbit Maybe check out  the 'costas' , loads of rust free, L/H drive models going cheap down there, with Spains economy in the tank

[dillon-in-bayern]

Thanks for the helpful feedback 😄

I really do hope my Alfa lasts some time yet and, even though it now has around 240,000km on the clock the engine is still very healthy (touch wood) and it's going well just now.

My thoughts are toward the future as I do need to save up a little before being able to replace it.

My considerations:

I'd love another Alfa but the 166 doesn't exist as a model any more and it hasn't been replaced by another.

There's no way I could afford a Maserati, Aston Martin or Bentley.

I like the idea of owning a Jaguar.

I like to have at least 200bhp.

I prefer saloons to estates or hatchbacks but need a large boot to accommodate my wife's wheelchair when we use it.

I don't really like diesel.

I prefer manual to automatic although manuals are a small minority here in Germany on the Jaguars I've seen so far.

I need a car I can use every day, summer or (harsh) winter to get to work, but comfortable and effortless on longer journeys.

Thanks all and more comments welcomed,

Wabbit

[squattingstudentsneakyrussian]

We bought a 3l 54 plate S-type 3 years ago. Not a single problem with it until someone reversed over the bonnet and we got botched repairs from bodyshop still waiting to be sorted.

Anyway, the air conditioning is stuck at 31 degrees, otherwise all is well mechanically, it's the bodywork that has to have further repairs as they bought an old bonnet and shoved it on.

That's another story.

However I drove it, after buying from Aldershot to Aberdeen and got 34mpg. Normal motoring brings 23mpg, long runs more.

A really good car to have. Don't know the pitfalls as we've not found any. But we got a good car at a reasonable price with a full history and both keys working.

I hope you get a good one like we did. Good luck. 🙂