Hi everyone. I'm a first time Jaguar owner, who's finally taken the plunge on a 99 S-Type 3.0 V6, with 166K klms on it. It's been used as a commuter by an elderly solicitor for the last 12 years, & apart from a clunk in the front left strut, looks & drives brand new. The clunk gave me a bit of leverage, & I talked the price down to $7000, from $9000, which I'm very pleased with. I pick the car up on Monday, & will get the clunk seen to asap.
After reading through this, & other forums, I gather that the early S-Types aren't the best of the breed, with problems from the V6 cooling system & the auto trans, being most noticeable. My car seems to have a strong motor, with no cooling problems (I live in the tropics, so it would be noticeable) & the transmission changes smoothly, in both normal & sport mode. But with over 100K miles on the clock, I imagine it's only a matter of time before it starts playing up. I've read in reviews that the V6 sport had a 5 speed manual option, though I've never seen one for sale. & that the car was a lively drive, with that option. Does anyone know if that 5 speed is widely available, & how difficult/expensive would it be to convert an auto car to a manual?
Not saying I'm going to do it, I'm just wondering if it's feasible.
Thanks

 

I know some of the UK versions of the car had the manual, but I wouldn't imagine it would be easy on these cars with all the electronics.

 

Wow! It's amazing the huge price differences on these cars! In the US I would not have paid more that $3000 for that car. With the high miles maybe only $2000!! The AU dollar and the US dollar are almost 1:1 right now too. So it's easy to compare prices.

If I sell my 2005 STR I might have to consider shipping it out of country for that kind of money!!!

See this one that recently sold for $3300 and it only had 80K miles (128KM).

Jaguar : S-Type Jaguar : S-Type | eBay

Sorry I forgot to add that the clunk in the front end is very much likely to be sway bar bushings. Change them before the strut. It's a very well known problem. Pretty cheap to fix but one side can be a bitch to change and some people have had to have a shop replace them because of that.
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To convert: sell & buy a manual
Unless you're REALLY expert mechanic and don't mind some major grief replacing computer stuff. (Er, you probably woudn't be asking if you were - no offence intended!)

 

Even though the exchange rate is the nearly the same things like autos and motorcycles get sold for alot more in Australia. Its a big thing on my motorcycle forums. Guys in Australia pay more for them then here simply just because they are worth more there. It all comes down to its only worth what someone will pay. I bought my motorcycle for about 3000 and in Australia it would of gone for at least 7-8000. I'm sure it has to do with it being a large island and I'm sure cars and bikes are largely abundant there and if you have to ship one in its gonna cost you more then just paying the price. So going off of how bikes I know of seem to be priced that seems like it would be at your 3000 price you say it would be worth here.

Now compare the ebay one you posted to this one in Australia on Australias ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1999-Jagu...item415e098217

If shipping wasnt so much you can get a hefty premium for your STR if you took that over there.

 

Good luck finding one for that price in this country. They don't even wholesale for that. The price is cheap for this country, especially seeing as the car is a long way from the dog one would expect for that money. I never compare prices to other countries, as I don't live there. I'm just glad to live in a country that's wealthy enough to afford the costs of living at the end of the World. $7K is small beer for a car that sold for $100K 12 years ago, & still looks like a new car.
I thought that a gearbox swap would be difficult, given the amount of electronics involved. But I thought it would be worth asking, to see if any resident experts thought it possible. & I'd love to buy a manual car. But as I said, I've never seen one in this country.
Thanks for the heads-up on the swaybar bushes. I've been hoping it was something that easy & cheap to fix since I first heard the clunk. I just don't want to be too optimistic until I get it up on a hoist, which will be this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

 

Ditto...

 

scatcat, don't do it mate.

 

Stay with the auto - its been good with the car for 12 yrs - why mess with it, they grew up together Do a fluid service on the auto box and it will probably go on for another 100k mls
I have had both 5 and 6 spd cars and in all honesty I think the 5 speed was smoother and did not seem to have as many kinks as the 6 which has software and valve body problems - not loads - but enough to get mentions across all the forums.

As a personal view
I think the Jag really should always be Auto.

 

Fitment and cost issues aside, don't do it. I drove an S-type with the manual and found it to be overbearing and clunky. A manual does not fit the character of the S-type very well. It is too heavy of a car and the engine turns too many rpms as the gearing is completely different.

Stay with what you have. I believe that the auto is a better match. That's my $.02.

 

floridajag couldn't have put "it" any better.

 

Whoa! Looks like I'm on the Jaguar rollercoaster ride now. I talked to the mechanic who's been servicing the car, who told me that the knock was from worn ball joints in the lower control arm, & it would cost over $800 per side, just for parts! So I ran the car over to Pedders to get their opinion. They said the ball joints were worn, but within acceptable tolerances, & the knock was coming from a worn sway bar link, which was only around $300. They also mentioned that the power steering rack was leaking slightly & the shocks were legal, but soft. With conflicting advice like that I decided to get a third opinion, & I gave the car to my usual mechanic. He agreed that the knock was coming from the sway bar link, but also said the ball joints were unroadworthy too (though not the cause of the noise). However he thought they could be pressed in & out of the control arm, which should make it a bit cheaper. He's pricing up a quote for me now. So after hearing so many varied opinions, I thought I'd come back here & get some more.
On the up side; I've found some Bilstein struts for the car for only $540 for a set of 4, including shipping, which is way cheaper than the jag units. I got them from a mob called Parts Train, who have a lot of other cheap parts listed for the S-Type too. So if this order goes well, I'll probably be back there. Has anyone any experience of this seller? Any other cheap sources of quality parts for an S-Type would be greatly appreciated.

 

scatcat, you're beginning to get the knack of how to navigate for proper advice and affordable parts. Stay away from the $800 ball joint junky. Others will be here to advize you wether parts are interchangeable and troubleshooting tips.

 

This was such good advice, I took you up on it, & I've been searching the internet for a manual S-Type. It's taken a few months, but I've finally found a black 99 V6 Sport. Unfortunately it's in Perth WA, which as about as far away from me as you can get & still be on mainland Australia. But airfares are cheap, & I've got friends in Perth I haven't seen for years. So I fly out on Thursday to check it out. If it's a good one I'll buy it & put it on a transporter to Nth Qld. The car's quite reasonably priced ($12K), with 140K klms on it. & I'm hopeful to be able to sell my car for around $13K, after all the work I've just had done. So the whole exercise should be fiscally neutral (eventually).
What I'd like to know is; is there's any thing special I should be checking on the manuals? So if any manual owners out there would like to clue me in to their car's strengths & weaknesses, I'd much appreciate it.
Thanks

 

Wow, you really want a manual! I hope it works out.

They're quite rare. Consider asking on Jaguar Forum.co.uk • Index page as there are any number of anti-autobox people over here (TG's Clarkson being one).

I've seen posts that they're heavy (the clutch, I think) - but that was on the 2002.5MY-on 3.0 model. Essentially the same engine and so on.

There are even people here with a manual diesel, who must be forever in the wrong gear (*) or changing....

(*) by observation most people in petrol (gas) cars are far worse at choosing/changing gears than they think

 

Yeah I love changing gears. It just adds to the sporty nature of the drive. I'm also wary of ageing electronic autos. Most of them have expensive problems, once they get beyond 250K klms. Manuals just burn out clutches, which are cheap & easy to replace, in comparison.

 

For sure one of the UK guys fitted a servo-assist because the clutch was so heavy. Quite a task. Look for posts by voodooman on the uk forum.

 

Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but I just wanted to add to the earlier discussions about the pricing differences. I'm an Aussie living in Switzerland, and I had a look at the prices of the XFR, rather than link to another site, I'll re-post it here quickly.

Jaguar XFR 5.0L S/C, without any options, Oct 2011 prices, exchange rates according xe.com on Wed Oct 26, 2011
Prices included sales taxes / VAT in the specific country (except USA).

United States $82,000.00 which is £51,540.00+Tax (doesn't include sales tax, which is state dependant)
United Kingdom £65,350.00 on-the-road, includes 20% VAT
Germany €92,700.00 which is £80,576.00, includes 19% VAT
France €95,700.00 which is £83,244.00, includes 19.6% VAT
Switzerland CHF 129,800.00 which is £92,117.00, includes 8% VAT

Last but not least, Australia $207,904.00 which is £135,233.00, includes 10% VAT, 5% Customs Duty and....
The LCT (Luxury Car Tax) of $45,234.00 (£29,500) un-be-fooken-lievable...

So yeah, I'm not going home...

 

LCT - o u c h ! ! !

 

Yeah the LCT hurts. But it's yet to put a brake on sales. Aussies are used to paying for the privilege of living here. & outback Aussies, like me, are even more used to it. One local service station has this sign, for the city slickers. You're in the sticks now. So don't complain about the prices. We have to pay them all year.
Back to the OP; I also think the manual car may be the one & only collectable V6 S-Type, due to their low numbers, & also because they have a better chance of long term survival than the autos, which soon become uneconomic to keep on the road. Anyone agree?