[PeteMC]

Well, touch wood at the moment the car is fine and absolutely everything works how it should, but the more I read about the problems people are having here and on the US forum the more concerned I'm getting about what might break. Old worrier I know, but money isn't plentiful so I need to know what I should be planning for.

I have a 52 plate MY2003 3.0 SE 6 speed auto with SatNav and 48,500ish on the clock which I bought a couple of weeks ago.

The service book has a stamp every year regular as clockwork, so she's effectively been serviced up to 100k miles. I bought her from the local independent specialist (The Jag Centre, Spixworth - just outside Norwich) who have been brilliant, very helpful and friendly, with a fresh service and MOT so hopefully all will be well for a while but the only thing she didn't come with was any bills/receipts etc and the "Repair and replacement record" in the service book is blank so I've no idea whether she's still on the original exhausts / CATs etc or not.

Any advice on what I should be looking out for at this age / mileage would be gratefully received.

 

[merlin]

Stop worrying Pete and start enjoying the S experience.
As with any make of car it helps to stick to the maintenance schedule and heed any warning signs that come along. On this forum you can read a mix of problems most of which can be fixed quite reasonably, but don't forget you are driving a good build car with a good engine so reliability isn't a big problem, and as for expensive fixes--don't buy a prestige German car unless you have a good bank balance.
merlin

 

[PeteMC]

don't buy a prestige German car unless you have a good bank balance.

Yeah that's probably why I'm worrying, my previous was an '88 BMW 535i (E34) which I had from about nine years old, I loved that car but by the time she hit her twenties she was in the garage more than out just about!

And I am loving the S experience so far!

 

[jasper2424]

Pete, If you can afford it, keep a fighting fund of around £500. A lot of things can be fixed for this kind of money, but as with anything you cannot be prepared for every problem. Unless you have a "fund" to the value of your car! Just enjoy the car and worry about things going wrong when they happen!

 

[scm]

Sound advice from Jasper! Worrying won't stop something from failing, and once something has failed there's no point in worrying - just get on and fix it! And Jags pick up vibes, so be happy and the car'll be happy!

 

[PeteMC]

Nice one, I'll stop fretting and just drive it

 

[scm]

I had a 2001 XK8 for two years and apart from routine servicing about the only issue I had with that was a failed expansion tank that had to be replaced - that was, in the words of my tame mechanic, "the most expensive expansion tank in the world" at £90 (I'm sure there are others that cost more, of course). My 2004.5 XKR has only needed bushes, rear bumper mounts and, last week, a new oil cooler pipe (that was dodgy as it dumped all the engine oil in my drive as I got home - my mechanic was painting pictures of woe about ruining the bottom bearings but so far, all seems to be okay).

I'd guess the S-type is pretty similar in terms of its mechanicals and thus reliability.

 

[Victor]

Well, touch wood at the moment the car is fine and absolutely everything works how it should, but the more I read about the problems people are having here and on the US forum the more concerned I'm getting about what might break. Old worrier I know, but money isn't plentiful so I need to know what I should be planning for.

I have a 52 plate MY2003 3.0 SE 6 speed auto with SatNav and 48,500ish on the clock which I bought a couple of weeks ago.

The service book has a stamp every year regular as clockwork, so she's effectively been serviced up to 100k miles. I bought her from the local independent specialist (The Jag Centre, Spixworth - just outside Norwich) who have been brilliant, very helpful and friendly, with a fresh service and MOT so hopefully all will be well for a while but the only thing she didn't come with was any bills/receipts etc and the "Repair and replacement record" in the service book is blank so I've no idea whether she's still on the original exhausts / CATs etc or not.

Any advice on what I should be looking out for at this age / mileage would be gratefully received.

Advice?? Yes, stop worrying, you can't plan ahead, it's impossible. What you MUST do is see that the car is serviced CORRECTLY, then check Oil, Water, And Tyre pressures at least weekly, get in the damn thing and enjoy it. End of.

 

[PeteMC]

Sound advice mate. Having had a bad-tempered BMW previously I'm used to doing the regular checks etc, and have a very good indy Jaguar specialist nearby for servicing. Worrying over.

 

[latebreaker]

I'll echo the points made above. I put some money aside every month incase of any issues, anything I dont spend after a year I use to fuel her