Thinking of going for an S Type R, should I?
Discussion
Cerbman,
4 years ago I had an early 3 year old S Type 4.0 V8 coming up to be changed. I looked at the S Type R and the regular V8 4.2 SE. I opted for the latter, and have not regretted it. Three things persuaded me.
1. Price (I got my car from a JMD with 14 miles on it for £28,000, that's £11,000 off the then full price)
2. Insurance cost
3. Maintenance cost
4. The fact that so many journalists summarised the two cars by saying the S Type R disappointed a bit whereas the regular V8 always exceeded expectations. The journos always seemed to prefer the BMW M5, overlooking the price differential (typical!)
I still have my V8, it's done 65,000 miles and I do not plan to part with it. It's just a joy to drive and for me 300bhp is OK. Maybe not enough for a Cerbman though!
R.
4 years ago I had an early 3 year old S Type 4.0 V8 coming up to be changed. I looked at the S Type R and the regular V8 4.2 SE. I opted for the latter, and have not regretted it. Three things persuaded me.
1. Price (I got my car from a JMD with 14 miles on it for £28,000, that's £11,000 off the then full price)
2. Insurance cost
3. Maintenance cost
4. The fact that so many journalists summarised the two cars by saying the S Type R disappointed a bit whereas the regular V8 always exceeded expectations. The journos always seemed to prefer the BMW M5, overlooking the price differential (typical!)
I still have my V8, it's done 65,000 miles and I do not plan to part with it. It's just a joy to drive and for me 300bhp is OK. Maybe not enough for a Cerbman though!
R.
Perhaps a bad day, but two weeks back I had to use the M25 from Gatwick to Luton. I saw three AA & RAC wagons attending broken down cars on the way. All three were S types at least four years old. Is that typical? I have no idea as to their long term reliability but this put me off the thought of ever buying one.
Intereseting comment, lowdrag. I drive on the M25 in Surrey very regularly (every day until quite recently) and I've never seen an S-Type broken down anywhere. I've had two in succession, one for nearly 4 years and my current one for over 4 years, and neither has broken down, failed to start etc. That's not to say I've not had some problems with them, though...
R.
R.
Certainly enjoy my 4.0L S. Goes like stink & without any concerns (unfounded or not) over supercharger reliability.
Got mine with about 73K on clock , now 90K, and apart from replacing front ball joints & leaking P/Steering pump (all a bit expensive as Jag only bits+MoT , service etc)it has driven like a dream.
Ideally I'd go for the uprated suspension & brakes from c. 2002 on but as a motor the V8 is superb. Kickdown just makes passengers excited !
p.s. I'd agree with Leaper-from what I've read the Type R is barely worth the extra.
Got mine with about 73K on clock , now 90K, and apart from replacing front ball joints & leaking P/Steering pump (all a bit expensive as Jag only bits+MoT , service etc)it has driven like a dream.
Ideally I'd go for the uprated suspension & brakes from c. 2002 on but as a motor the V8 is superb. Kickdown just makes passengers excited !
p.s. I'd agree with Leaper-from what I've read the Type R is barely worth the extra.
Edited by sprinter885 on Friday 7th March 23:21
Some good points here guys. The main one would be reliability of the earlier cars - I remember there was an issue on the 4.0 litre engines with the timing chains, but am told the 4.2 is pretty bullet proof. I looked at loads of websites / forums / magazine articles before plumping to buy mine and after 4 months I'd throughly recommend 'em. The prices now are plain silly - mine's an ex dem with 5k bought for £29k from a main dealer! Running costs are similar to the NA V8 (economy is a steady 22.5 as the book says) although the insurance may scare some away. Personally, I've always been a good boy so it only costs me £400. The noise of a V8 under acceleration with the supercharger on top is incredible, as is the torque. Added to which the STR comes with the CATS suspension which is truly magnificent.
Must admit that I worried about the tyre costs as mine's on the 19" wheels shod with Pirelli, but there are plenty of premium options for less than £200 a corner. All in all it depends what you want from the car and how much you want to spend. Smiles per gallon :-)
Must admit that I worried about the tyre costs as mine's on the 19" wheels shod with Pirelli, but there are plenty of premium options for less than £200 a corner. All in all it depends what you want from the car and how much you want to spend. Smiles per gallon :-)
: My insurance costs me £260 p.a.-but then I'm an old Lugs, That's a great deal you did there! You may care to know that when I bought my normally aspitated 4.2SE four years ago, it was a JMD's demo car, 2 weeks old, had 14 miles on the clock and had never been driven by a prospectice buyer: I was the first person to try it. Full price with its extras was £39,800. The day after I drove the car the JMD called me and said would I like to but the car for £30,000? I was amazed. However, I kept my cool and ended up getting the car for £28,500....nearly 30% off full price. The JMD kept the car for me for a month and when I picked it up the total mileage was then 30 (it was my 16 miles of test driving that brought the mileage up to this). R.
I've just spent the last few months seriously contemplating going for an 12 month old-ish S-Type R, but the combination of the recent VED rip-off as well as a potential new contract that would involve doing a 110 miles a day commute from West London up to St.Albans.....has made me think again.
The mention of going for the n/a 4.2, especially in Sport version is an interesting option, but just how much of a difference in running costs are there between the two? On paper there doesn't seem to be much, but I know, paper figures rarely tell the full story.
Trouble is forced induction is just so addictive....
Decisions, decisions......
The mention of going for the n/a 4.2, especially in Sport version is an interesting option, but just how much of a difference in running costs are there between the two? On paper there doesn't seem to be much, but I know, paper figures rarely tell the full story.
Trouble is forced induction is just so addictive....
Decisions, decisions......
Edited by aeropilot on Tuesday 18th March 13:23
Well I've just picked my 02 plate S Type R a week ago, and with only 21,000 miles for £11,900 it seemed like an absolute bargain.
Having had an M5, Chrysler SRT8 and a Maserati 3200gt previously I would say the Jag handling is by far the best. The brakes aren't fabulous, but that may just be a bit of wear. Engine is really, really strong, and sounds very nice if you like the supercharger noise.
In all I'm absolutely over the moon, I wasn't looking for a Jag at all, I just happened across this one and it has completely exceeded my expectations.
Watch out for fuel economy, I seem to be getting 18.5 mpg overall, better on motorways, worse on entertaining roads.
Having had an M5, Chrysler SRT8 and a Maserati 3200gt previously I would say the Jag handling is by far the best. The brakes aren't fabulous, but that may just be a bit of wear. Engine is really, really strong, and sounds very nice if you like the supercharger noise.
In all I'm absolutely over the moon, I wasn't looking for a Jag at all, I just happened across this one and it has completely exceeded my expectations.
Watch out for fuel economy, I seem to be getting 18.5 mpg overall, better on motorways, worse on entertaining roads.
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