I have to admit owning a Jag is something special, but the maintenance issues are very similar to the old electronics that I restore in that you enjoy them for a while and then something else goes wrong. I've heard that the newer ones are much more reliable (don't own one so I don't know). But This S type R is a lot more troublesome than the VDP that I had.

 

Tell me about it.

I'm, still in the middle of a bunch of repairs that have all been difficult but I persevered with most and was going to leave the tranny fluid change for another time.

Boy do I wish I had now.

I find this site very helpful and everyone is very nice but the outline of changing tranny fluid presented here is terribly optimistic for being done on jack stands.

I am now quite stuck trying to replace that transmission sleeve.

Just don't do this at home on jack stands.

This car will leave my ownership before that infamous under the SC hose goes. This is the worst car from a repair standpoint that I've ever owned. I've owned 3 Maseratis and a vintage Lamborghini. Those are trouble but at least you can work on them. Like most modern cars this one is quite miserable to repair so it needs to not have so many early failures to be worth owning.

It does not accomplish that.

That ZF automatic gear box is dumb beyond belief and I know a lot of manufacturers use it too. The German have their own problems. This is surely one of them.

I like the way the car works but after this I'm not sure I want another modern automobile. They're probably decent in 3 yr lease just don't try to keep one.

 

My S-type has been the most reliable car I've ever owned and is no easier/more difficult to work on than any other comparable vehicle of the the same era.

As technology and complexity trickles down to more mainstream vehicles, the same wish for the good old days will be heard from those owners. It used to be that vehicles were scrapped for corrosion or being just plain worn out. We are entering the age where they will be scrapped for relatively minor technical faults that are just too expensive to justify fixing.

 

You are fortunate then.

I've owned plenty of cars and this one has not been a fortunate choice for me.

Some of the stuff that fails is really absurd IMHO. I can't blame Jaguar for the ZF tranny woes except that they did chose it. Perhaps making the car a bit more accommodating for servicing of the tranny would be nice.

I'm not a fan of the sealed for death design.

I agree about the scrapping due to being too difficult fix as a result of electrical complexity. But corrosion didn't make all of my lubrication hoses (4) fail. That's
just poor design. The one's on my Suburban went out but were easy to change at 15 years and 140K miles not 9 years and 50K miles. Very different packaging though.

 

You will be very disappointed when going new car shopping as we're presently doing.

 

I agree that you have been very fortunate. I've replaced the DCCV valve, repaired circuit board on climate control, replaced thermostat, water pump, both belts, still have p0172 code to deal with along with probably replacing the SC hose. I also had a piece of plastic break off of the air filter housing and get stuck in the throttle body assembly, now my interior roof panel is start to sag and the display fades out intermittently other than that everything is great.

 

I agree, both the guy I work with (who owns an Audi Q4 and me and the money pit) have agreed the next car we get will be a Toyota or Honda. I would never buy a car newer than two years old.

 

You'll find that those cars are as complex as your 10+ year old Jag and no more reliable.

 

I disagree. Both of our Jaguars require far more maintenance and repairs than my trusty 1999 Dodge Ram pickup does. And the same can be said for my wife's previous 2004 Lexus RX330 SUV. It was nearly as trouble-free a vehicle as my Ram has been....

The day will come when I will become frustrated enough with the time and money I have to spend on Jaguar upkeep that I'll get rid of them. My cost/benefit algorithm will tell me when. But I'm not quite there yet....

 

I have had great luck and my 2005 STR has been my daily driver for over 6 years now and is currently at 114K miles. But I got it at 32K miles while it was still under warrantee. It was key to be on this forum so I could get things fixed that were known problems.

I did miss the DCCV and had to fix it myself later on but other repairs were not too expensive. I changed the A/C compressor and dryer for around $300, Transmission service and sleeve change about $450 (I chickened out on this one and paid Brutal to do it at the dealership!)

I had more repairs with my older cars but the S Type and my wife's Lincoln LS are both over 100K miles with no leaks of any kind and no oil consumption either. Although the SC jag will use about 1 quart in 6K miles when driven hard. If my wife drives it no oil usage at all.
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I know, I drive rental cars several times a year. Last year I went through three Ford products at SFO before I could find one that didn't have a locking or push button starting malfunction before I even left the rental facility. The one I left with was a Lincoln and when I got to downtown SF I could not reliably lock the car for 24 hours then it stopped malfunctioning.

This is because these cars are too GD complex.

Everything is oriented towards the lease customer and that does make ownership far less of a hassle but if the off lease cars become such a hassle to run eventually that's going to be reflected in higher leasing costs.

I'll agree with the complexity part but the stories of long term ownership say otherwise on reliability. I've had a few Japanese cars and they're not perfect either. But I can't defend the S-Type any longer. There's a good reason the resale was so poor and unfortunately I'm hitting that reason right now.

But that transmission hits multiple manufacturers. The tranny in my 99 lead sled Suburban gets the **** kicked out of it by comparison to that silly *** ZF and and 3 times the mileage too. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with ZF's design but it's everywhere! Imagine the stories that the latest 8 speed trannys are going to generate!

 

I got my STR 4 years ago from eBay, $15,000 for a near-perfect exterior hiding an almost-certain bunch of other problems after 7 years and 53k miles. Fixed everything obviously wrong, then pro-actively replaced or serviced everything THIS FORUM said was soon going to be a problem (alignment, battery, DCCV, thermostat, coolant auxiliary pumps/reservoir/hoses, fuel filters/injectors, tranny pan/sleeve/fluid, spark plugs, climate actuator doors), cleaned & lubed cable linkages and moonroof, cleared drainage channels, and did Brutal's headlight fix before it was needed.

Probably cost $10,000 in the first 18 months, maybe $2000 in the next 18 months, many parts from eBay, 98% of the work done by my Jag-enthusiast indie.

So, for a total of $27,000 I got a 400 hp Jaguar, a ton of excitement and constant admiration over 4 years, and absolutely no problems whatsoever over the last 12 months.

Would I do it again if I could go back 4 years? ABSOLUTELY!
Would I be as lucky next time round? Most of me thinks "Yes".

 

That's a very interesting definition of being lucky. But if you're happy then that's all that's counts.

Having an independent mechanic who's both good and very knowledgeable about these cars is a huge boon. I have one of those for my Suburban now. It took a long time to find him and he's a 5 minute cab ride from my house which is fantastic. But even though I do see an occasional Jag in his shop I wouldn't take a car that's in really nice condition there.

I've had and worked on my own cars all of my life. I currently have 3 vintage Italian cars and one sidelined race car. They get worked on at a remote garage or by specialists. Mostly by me. But I have begrudgingly come to the realization that this car requires too much attention to be worked on by myself at it's difficult current location. It was the wrong choice for me. I need more of a reliable wife for the function it's to serve not a PITA mistress.

 

Love my S-Type... Bought it cheap coz it had lots of error codes and airconditioning was blowing hot... So far I've fixed everything, including servicing the ZF and replacing the sleeve. it only takes patience, common sense and a logical approach. The guys here are the best source of info you could possible hope for. Prefer to work on the Jag that the wifes Volvo!!

 

It could be worse. Like year BMWs wind up with electronic gremlins that even dealers have difficulty with....and Cadillac Northstar engines are prone to head gasket failure before 100k miles, and have a series circuit that has you chasing ghosts into the gauge cluster, and proprietary suspension that costs more to replace than the car is worth.

We're not alone in throwing big bucks at repairs, but go price a just off lease XJ of XF. If you can find a good independent shop that really knows these cars, you wind up with a car that many envy.

 

Staatsof and oldtvman, I feel your pain!

I've owned close to 20 different cars in my time, and I have to say, my '03 S Type is the worst car I've ever owned.

Hate to say it, because I enjoy driving it, but unfortunately its true. Its very frustrating. I'm fortunate to have a reliable spare car. ( that has alot more miles on it than my S!)

 

After I got everything squared away, yesterday the battery finally gave up the ghost. Hopefully no more problems for a while.