Advice please on s-Type
Discussion
Can anyone give me some pointers on buying an S-Type? I have a mate who is looking for one, he has seen this one (2nd from bottom) and is going to have a look tonight. Any tips would be much appreciated.
1999 JAGUAR S Type 3.0 SE
Manual, 70000 miles, metallic ice blue, beige leather trim, alloys, clim/control, el/sunroof, rear park/sensors, cd stereo, el/heat/adj/mem/seats, polished wood el/adj/mem/steering wheel, excellent throughout, full Jaguar serv/history, part ex welcome. £5,790
1999 JAGUAR S Type 3.0 SE
Manual, 70000 miles, metallic ice blue, beige leather trim, alloys, clim/control, el/sunroof, rear park/sensors, cd stereo, el/heat/adj/mem/seats, polished wood el/adj/mem/steering wheel, excellent throughout, full Jaguar serv/history, part ex welcome. £5,790
Edited by Lensey on Wednesday 14th June 12:33
Hi, do all the normal legal & technical things you would do when buying any used car but also check who the first owner was. Lots of early S-Types bought as fleet cars for BT executives and this is usually a good sign as the BT Fleet is red hot on maintenance and the car will have spent most of its life on stress-free motorway cruises. I'd also look for kerbed alloys - make sure the correct Pirelli tyres are fitted (they have a "J" for Jaguar mark on the sidewall) and look out for a diff whine or rumbling front wheel bearings. If everything electrical works this is one hell of a car for the money! Small dents can be fixed at low cost of the paint is not damaged but as a lot of people have never heard of excel dents you can use this as another lever on price. Good luck.
Lensey said:
Can anyone give me some pointers on buying an S-Type? I have a mate who is looking for one, he has seen this one (2nd from bottom) and is going to have a look tonight. Any tips would be much appreciated.
1999 JAGUAR S Type 3.0 SE
Manual, 70000 miles, metallic ice blue, beige leather trim, alloys, clim/control, el/sunroof, rear park/sensors, cd stereo, el/heat/adj/mem/seats, polished wood el/adj/mem/steering wheel, excellent throughout, full Jaguar serv/history, part ex welcome. £5,790
1999 JAGUAR S Type 3.0 SE
Manual, 70000 miles, metallic ice blue, beige leather trim, alloys, clim/control, el/sunroof, rear park/sensors, cd stereo, el/heat/adj/mem/seats, polished wood el/adj/mem/steering wheel, excellent throughout, full Jaguar serv/history, part ex welcome. £5,790
Edited by Lensey on Wednesday 14th June 12:33
Bloody hell that's a lot of flash for your cash!
I've been running a Jag almost identical to that one for the last 2 years, little lower on the mileage but shouldn't make difference. Here's a quick list of what I would look out for based on my ownership.
1. Heater valve can fail - check the heater gets good and hot, the parts about £150 and is a bugger to change.
2. Intermitant misfire - plugs or coil packs. The plugs are apparently good for 50K, which is a good thing as to replace the o/s bank the whole plenum and inlet has to come off and can make a plug change expensive. Coil packs same pain in the arse to replace and £180 a pop. Either of these can create an annoying misfire on light throttle - so check for this.
3. Front lower ball joints, heavy old car and these things take a hammering, gaitors can split making the steering squeak. The joint is only about £25 quid but you'd need a press to change so not easily D.I.Yable.
4. Front disks - can wear quickly, heavy auto so check for a big ridge on the edge.
5. Intermitant stereo display - it still works but many people report a dry joint leading to a flickering or dead display so have the radio on with the volume turned down during a test drive to see how it behaves.
6. Leaking collant header tank - check the level, these tank have been known to split underneath.
7. Auto box - pay attention to how smoothly it changes, especially kick down, how long it take to select a gear from park and how easy the lever is to pull out of park - the older gearbox's have been known to let go although mine's been okay it is difficult to get it out of park on occassions.
8. Check the operation of the front windows - the regulator has some particularly flimsy parts, if you are hearing a click at full down it's likely that the mechanism is out of alignment creating stress and will soon jam. The front edge of the window can jump out of it's channel and occassional jam as it binds. Check the position of the front seal (behing the mirror) it should be on the outside when the window is up.
9. Tyres - as has been said make sure J marked for stiffer side wall.
10. Don't worry too much about wheels - £40 a go on ebay and plenty about.
11. Check the operation of the steering lock, sometime's it doesn't engage and the car won't start until the wheel is wiggled.
Other than that mine's been fine if not a little heavy on juice so that one looks like good value to me.
Hope it works out.
Cheers
Dave
1. Heater valve can fail - check the heater gets good and hot, the parts about £150 and is a bugger to change.
2. Intermitant misfire - plugs or coil packs. The plugs are apparently good for 50K, which is a good thing as to replace the o/s bank the whole plenum and inlet has to come off and can make a plug change expensive. Coil packs same pain in the arse to replace and £180 a pop. Either of these can create an annoying misfire on light throttle - so check for this.
3. Front lower ball joints, heavy old car and these things take a hammering, gaitors can split making the steering squeak. The joint is only about £25 quid but you'd need a press to change so not easily D.I.Yable.
4. Front disks - can wear quickly, heavy auto so check for a big ridge on the edge.
5. Intermitant stereo display - it still works but many people report a dry joint leading to a flickering or dead display so have the radio on with the volume turned down during a test drive to see how it behaves.
6. Leaking collant header tank - check the level, these tank have been known to split underneath.
7. Auto box - pay attention to how smoothly it changes, especially kick down, how long it take to select a gear from park and how easy the lever is to pull out of park - the older gearbox's have been known to let go although mine's been okay it is difficult to get it out of park on occassions.
8. Check the operation of the front windows - the regulator has some particularly flimsy parts, if you are hearing a click at full down it's likely that the mechanism is out of alignment creating stress and will soon jam. The front edge of the window can jump out of it's channel and occassional jam as it binds. Check the position of the front seal (behing the mirror) it should be on the outside when the window is up.
9. Tyres - as has been said make sure J marked for stiffer side wall.
10. Don't worry too much about wheels - £40 a go on ebay and plenty about.
11. Check the operation of the steering lock, sometime's it doesn't engage and the car won't start until the wheel is wiggled.
Other than that mine's been fine if not a little heavy on juice so that one looks like good value to me.
Hope it works out.
Cheers
Dave
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