22nd Dec 2007, 08:27

I have a 2000 S-Type. Yesterday, it was baptized at 160,000 miles. You read that right: 160,000 miles.

Oh what a long road. New transmission. New windows -- all four. And to the guy who said to stop slamming our doors when the windows were down, no one ever even gets into my backseat, Sometimes I just like to roll them down. New coil, new this, new that. Couldn't get it out of park when it was on a hill -- although the dealer did finally relent and fix that problem early on when I took a printout of message boards just like this, with people who all have the same problem.

This week, my heater stopped working. And my engine light is on again. And when I accelerate, there's a ticking sound -- sometimes.

So here's my fix, now that I'm done putting another dime into this car: I bought a really great pair of cashmere lined gloves. And I bought an electric blanket that plugs into my lighter. So that cured the heater problem.

As for the engine light, I bought a little rubber dog, tiny little thing, and he sits on my dash board in front of the engine light.

As for the ticking sound, I keep it filled with oil, water, good fuel, and I bought some REALLY great CDs. When the ticking sound starts, I crank the stereo.

I'm getting every last dime I've put into it, out of it. And I won't put in another. And when it finally calls it a day, most likely on the highway when I need to be somewhere ten minutes ago, I'll get out, close the doors gingerly with the windows up (if they'll still roll up at that point) and call Auto Club to come take it away.

Yep...I'll climb into that tow truck and, though I'm a nonsmoker, I'll bum a cig from the driver, and he'll drive us both home. He'll tell me how many Jags he tows, and I'll just smile and tell him she was always a gorgeous ride -- even more stunning when she was just fresh out of the shop -- those kind folks always washed her up so pretty for me... probably to ease the pain.

But until that day? I'm warm. The stereo works. She's beautiful on the outside. And we're headed for 170k.

26th Dec 2007, 11:19

I purchased my 2001 S-Type v8 Jag brand new, and from then until now (82000 miles) I have shelled out over $8000 to keep it on the road after my warranty ran out. It won't start right now (again!) and I'm waiting for Jag roadside assistance as I write this! This has been an unbelievable experience owning this beautiful, unreliable, dangerous, seemingly worthless hunk of scrap! It took me a little while to realize that Jaguar the manufacturer, and its dealerships have nothing to do with each other, and once you buy you are on your own! My dealer's service dept. never seemed to be knowledgeable about the S-Type, as if it were a prototype! Before they sold me their product, they rolled out the red carpet; after, especially when the "gear-box fault" transmission fun started happening, they became increasingly hostile. As if I was bothering them with my concern for their lack of performance. One of their guys actually pulled me aside and told me to "dump" it on somebody else!! Yeah, shine it up and sell it to another sap before he finds out what's wrong. Just like Jaguar did to me! JAGUAR DEALERSHIPS DO NOT STAND BY THE CRAP THEY'RE SELLING. If anyone knows of or wants to start a class action suit, please reach me at dfagostini@myway.com

7th Jan 2008, 00:59

Wife wanted a Jag... she fell in love with the "looks" of a 2000 S type. I checked the reliability rating on a common use car reliability web-site; it was rated pretty well.. which surprised me. I was told that Ford bought Jaguar in 2000 and reliability had greatly improved; I should have known better. So (long story short) she bought it... now we've incurred the wrath of God... Before we'd gone 500 miles, the trans failed, the power steering started to leak and the left rear window stopped working. Now we just found out there's excessive play in the front end. I'm in for anything we can do as consumers. Maybe we could ship this thing to the Taliban.

22nd Jan 2008, 23:20

Hi.

I have the 2000 S Type V6.

Does anyone know why sometimes the car shifts erratically, usually while shifting gears up from 80-120km-hr?

I had this twice since I bought it few months back. It has 87k on.

When this usually happens, it shows the check engine sign flashing, and then stays on for a day and then it goes away. Also its gives off a rotten sulphuric smell in the cabin.

The problem is every time I take the car in, the check engine sign turns off. I have got the air filter checked already.

31st Jan 2008, 00:58

At the beginning of 2003 we bought a 2000 S-Ypye with the 3.0 liter engine. Overall it has been good. There are, however a few exceptions. Twice a window came off track. Jaguar actually replaced it the first time even though it was not under warranty. The second time we replaced. Three times a small piece of plastic broke in the gear shifting mechanism that required us to replace it at a cost of over $500 each time.

I kept the last broken mechanism and easily took it apart to see the problem. It was just a small piece of plastic. Also interesting is the fact that this piece of plastic can be replaced after removing 8 screws. Of course they do not sell this small piece of plastic, they sell the whole mechanism. My service mechanic, and a local dealership mechanic, tell me these break all the time. The same is also true with the power window assembly.

If Jaguar wanted to make their customers happy they would have re-engineered what was causing problems long ago. They could have also just sold the stupid piece of plastic instead of the whole mechanism. If I do have to buy a new shifter, I would think they would have already fixed the problem in my new gear shifter and I would not be bothered again by faulty design and engineering issues.

This whole bunch of comments is just a reflection of the attitude Jaguar has for its customers. After reading other comments, I have to say I feel lucky. We bought the car with 42 thousand miles and now have over 108 thousand. When other more expensive things go bad, I will walk away from the car. Especially after reading these comments.