When I bought my S-Type I knew 2 things.

It's not the best winter car by a long shot.
I don't want a garage Queen, I bought it to drive it.

So far I'm quite happy with her winter performance. I spent some time, and gas, in a large empty lot covered in ice and packed snow to get the feel of the handling on slick surfaces and put in a few miles on slick roads since then.
Just my view of the 2000 S-type.

She handles a lot better than the overpowered rear wheel drive muscle cars of my youth. I took my first driving test 45 years ago in a '68 Chevelle SS396 with 4.11 posi and auto trans on snow packed and icy roads, a couple of cars I've owned since were even worse.
I do have a _bit_ of experience with winter driving

The ABS and TCS both work very smoothly and predictably, surprisingly refined on a car her age but she is a Jaguar after all

The heated windshield is pure joy. Now I wonder how I got along without one.

The heat is slow to warm up and never gets the car really "warm" even on HI. A new dual climate control valve, thermostat and a cooling system flush is on the slate for next spring.

Overall my main concern with driving the Jag in winter is the same as it is in my wife's 2011 LaCrosse that handles snow/ice better than some 4WDs I've driven.
The f-ing Idiots who either don't know how to drive in snow or aren't paying attention.

 

So true!

Having rather more power, I've shifted to N on occasion, don't know if you'd find it helpful too.

 

I've made a habit of it since my father taught me to drive.

Accelerating like caressing her cheek rather than slapping her *** helps too

Here the road can be dry/clear, crest a hill and suddenly it's solid wet ice through the next valley. At 80MPH that's a real Depends® moment. By shifting to neutral, staying off the brakes and letting air resistance slow me down I've sailed right past many a car in the ditch. Had to steer myself into the ditch to avoid a jackknifed truck once. No brakes until after I left the pavement and then only gently. If I hadn't been wearing seat belts I might have lost control with the bouncing around. As it was we had AAA so the only real damage was to my wife's and my knickers.

The best way to survive an accident is to avoid it but they're still going to happen. At that speed had I lost control the car would have been likely to roll. Keeping my butt in my seat and my (ex) wife out of my lap made maintaining control possible.

The seat belts saved us both injury or worse.

I was a volunteer EMT/Firefighter years ago and we took the same tactical driving class as Police, Ambulance drivers, etc.

The first rule is: Always maintain control of your vehicle.

 

On the V8, make sure the auxiliary coolant pump is working. If it is kaput, you'd normally never know except for the heater output may seem low.

 

I've read a good pair of snow tires works wonders! I wouldn't know....... Thank God I live in the South!

 

I'll look into it next time I get her in the shop at work. Sounds like a simple fix which probably means a 6 pack and much swearing will be involved
The car came from Chico, California so if it was out the previous owner may have never noticed.

In my experience "snow" or "mud and snow" are good in deep snow or mud. Good "all season" tires run a few PSI low work as good or better on packed snow and ice. Just have to remember to fill them back up before any highway trips. The main thing is to be sure and change to winter air around Halloween and back to summer air at Easter.
Deep loose snow isn't much of a problem since my driveway is about 50 Yards from a snow route that gets priority when the plows come out.

I live in the South too. South Dakota

 

I did this once before with another nice car and greatly regretted it. Yes the super snow and ice winter tires help a RWD car but ... if your region uses salt that will destroy cars like this in so may ways in short order. Mine sits out the winters.

My 99 Suburban gets that duty and it's so much better in the snow anyway.

 

Winter doesn't start until December 21st. It is already a cold fall with snow here. My STR is put to bed for the winter. My X-types are my main winter steeds.

 

I would love to be able to put the S type in the garage for winter but with recent medical expenses for both of us we can't afford a reliable 3rd car. Life sometimes hands out swift kicks to the nads and I'm doing what I can with what I have to work with.

Rust is a problem here but not as bad as some places. It's the Idiots not paying attention or not knowing how to drive that are the main hazard but that's true everywhere.

Almost got creamed in the company car yesterday by an F250 sliding through a stop sign. I would have had to take the hit or run over a pedestrian. As it was my driver's mirror clipped his front bumper guard. Just a chip on the housing since it folded back. Amazingly I still had clean underwear after that incident.

One of the local C-store chains has a US$30/month unlimited car wash deal with the "rocker blasters" so she gets a bath every day she's driven on the way home. I keep a 4oz bottle of denatured in my coat pocket in case the doors freeze shut. We've had my wife's '11 Lacrosse through 4 winters here with regular car washes and still no sign of rust.

 

Winter is officially here! Its the shortest day of the year!!! Climate change doesn't exist! Its 51 degrees here and almost all the snow in town has melted. Beautiful day to take the car out of winter storage!

 

The days are getting longer and we're expecting a winter storm to hit later today

Turns out my lack of heat was just a fuse. I think it also powers the AC compressor but with below freezing temps I wouldn't have noticed.