Dear Collective

I am thinking of down valuing my daily driver and am looking at S types.

What are the opinions on them - probably 55 - 56 plate 2.7 diesel

Cheers

Simon

I have an 06 plate S Type Diesel Sport, lovely car but they can be a bit temperamental.

Depends where you are coming from, what you are used to and what you want.

It's comfortable, fast, handles well. For such a big car it can be economical, it will do nearly 50 mpg wafting along the motorway at 70.

The standard 204bhp is easily remapped to nearer 250.

Town driving absolutely stuffs the mpg probably due to the cars weight and it will drop to the low 20s.

Around 2005 the diesels got a diesel particulate filter, the way to check is to look at the exhaust end pipes. Non DPF cars have turned down pipes, cars with DPF have straight pipes. These DPFs are a problem if the car doesn't get a regular 30 mins + high speed run to clean it out. To do a DPF regen it dumps extra fuel into the engine which is supposed to burn in the DPF to clear the soot. If the regen does not have time to complete it keeps instigating the process which can lead to dilution of the engine oil as some of the excess fuel gets into the sump, it is not unknown for this to cause engine failure.

Auto gearboxes need a service around 80 - 100k miles but for some reason this doesn't seem to be on the service schedule.

The sills have plastic covers and some people are finding serious rust in the sills which is hidden by the covers.

Heater valves seem to be another weak point but they are cheap and relatively easy to replace.

Wears tyres out a bit faster than I'm used to about 18 - 20k from a set.

Boot is a bit small and carrying capacity is limited especially if you've got used to hatchbacks

Parts and servicing can be expensive at a main dealer and even at some independents but it is a DIY proposition if you are reasonably proficient.

For what you get prices are good although they do seem to be hardening a bit at the moment. I paid £4k for mine 3 years ago and it would probably sell for similar money now.

As with most cars these days, they're great when their working, a bit of a mare when they go wrong and there's quite a lot of complex stuff to go wrong. Having said that I've had no serious trouble with mine.

[Edited on 4/7/15 by Brook_lands]

I had a 54 plate 2.7 Sport for three years - bought at 3 years old with 13k on the clock, and added about 80k miles.
It was a great drive, a real pleasure! Very reliable, only problem in three years was a failed handbrake motor.

I found that the low profile tyres punctured easily, and it wasn't always immediately obvious - this cost me a fortune in tyres.
The sports seats weren't as comfortable as I had expected - poor lumbar support, and narrow across the small of the back.

If I were to get another, I'd avoid the low profiles and the sports seats - I only got these because I could get all the remainder of the sports spec - I like my bells and whistles.

The boot is small (very shallow), even if the spare is only a space-saver.

Mine was manual (not many around, but it gets you extra mpg), but the auto gearbox felt very good in the cars I tried before I bought.

Main dealer servicing is not cheap! I had about one service a year (20k interval) and cost was usually about £1000; cheapest was about 700, dearest nearly 1500. I'd check out the independents if I had another!

Living on a pension, I don't think I'd get another, but I'm glad I had one while I could afford it.

Dad has a 56 plate 2.7d sport and the only thing I would add to Brooklands' comprehensive list (we've had all of those probs!) is the catalytic convertor flexi joints which fail leading to exhaust smells in the cabin. We replaced them with genuine jag repair sections and the problem seems to be sorted.

They are a v quiet and good handling machine for their size - i find the 8 way seats excellent although there are 16way seats as an option. Would recommend getting a diagnostic lead from british diagnostics or similar - can save a lot of bother when then inevitable "restricted performance" message comes up!

Geoff

Thanks very much for the comprehensive replies

Has a ZT saloon before the two buses so appreciate there will be a lot less space.

I suppose getting a proper warranty from a dealer might make it slightly less risky.

Quite keen still as i can see the engine going into something else once car run into ground

Cheers again

Simon