The best part of my commute is trips over and back across the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s New York’s first large-span bridge, and still it’s most elegant. But it’s not prime CC territory. So imagine my surprise the other day when I found myself behind this mint-green Jaguar S Type of indeterminate age, sporting the tell-tale bumper calligraphy of an NYC street parker.
Introduced in the fall of 1999 as a 2000 model, the Jaguar S type was a major initiative of Ford’s then Premier Automotive Group. it was designed to give Jaguar a stake in the lucrative mid-sized sport sedan market, and shared its new, rwd DEW platform with the Lincoln LS and J.May’s short-lived Thunderbird revival.
The S type had all the sport sedan trimmings: rear wheel drive, 4 wheel independent suspension with good handling, power everything and areal wood and leather trimmed interior. Available engines ranged from a series of Ford Duratech V6s through Peugeot diesels up to the supercharged Jaguar 4.0/4.2 V8 in the sporty R model.
The S Type was a good looking car, with one weird aspect. I can’t think of another one whose styling seemed more affected by paint color. The S Type wore light/metallic colors best, in my opinion. They highlighted the longitudinal crease, making the car feel longer and lithe; darker/solid colors muted the crease and could make the S Type look frumpy. This was more apparent in real life than these photos suggest.
For Jaguar dealers worldwide there was the added benefit of a second sedan line to sell to a broader market. The S-type was the most successful of the DEW trio, selling 290,550 copies over a nine year run from 2000 through 2008, versus 205,747 for the LS and 68,098 for the T-bird. The S-type didn’t cannibalize sales of the aging, XJ40 based XJ8. and averaged 32,000 sales per year. But over that same period, BMW, Mercedes and Audi were selling a combined 500,000+ 5 series, E-classes, and Audi A6es per year. So while the S type was a an impressive success from Jaguar’s perspective, it remained a niche player in its given market.
Perhaps the S Type’s most important role was keeping a viable national option for the UK’s lucrative executive-class company car market. In the UK, company cars are far more common than they are here. They were introduced in the 60s as way to give workers a non-taxed benefit in lieu of higher wages that would be punatively taxed. And although the UK subsequently modified tax laws to treat company cars as income, they remain popular in the UK, with job postings often listing the specific class of car (B/C/D) provided with the job. Usually, but not always the new hire has a selection of vehicles to choose from within the given size range.
UK company cars vary from entry level Focuses and Fiestas up to Jaguar XK6s for Company Directors. An important segment is the “Executive” car for top managers – luxuriously fitted sedans with good handling, dominated by the German trio. Ironically, it was the Brits who pioneered this segment with the Triumph 200o/2500 and Rover p6/3500 only to fritter it away through a series of un-competitive Rovers through the 90s. The S-Type showed Britain could still put up a fight, if not win the battle.
An underrated car IMO. Much higher quality interior and body work than the Lincoln LS. Combine the velvet hammer of an AJ V8, ZF trans and capable/balanced chassis, this was arguably a more interesting car than its contemporaries such as the E class and 5 series. Although perhaps a bit too trad in its styling, there is no doubt what it is. I would have no problem driving one today vs a prosaic E39 5 series.
I agree. I always felt they were the best of the retro style cars, not cartoonish like the Beetle. And it has a classic Jaguaresque interior. I don’t find it frumpy, after all if you look at the proportions of the Mk II now, some would call that frumpy. It would be great to find a good used one, but I wonder if maintenance costs fall on the Jaguar or Ford side of the ledger!
The design got old quick for me, being in the UK I couldn’t help but think the Rover 75 seemed nicer.
Wow these are now Curbside Classic material, time surely flies. I see S-Types getting picked on in more recent years but when they were new they were very popular in Southern California. It was a nice alternative in that price range. Thanks for giving it a fair shake.
Bearing in mind the oft repeated theme that there is no hard and fast “curbside classic” definition, I had the same reaction. Maybe it’s a regional thing, because here in temperate California seeing a car from 1999 in any setting is hardly noteworthy. Isn’t the average car age 11 years old now? Interesting nonetheless.
Either I am so removed from the world of corporate UK that I don’t know what the hell is going on (very plausible) or contributors to this site frequently overstate the importance of company cars in the UK, and of companies being seen to buy British. I’d be interested to know the views of others from the UK.
I recall seeing one of these in Karl Rove’s driveway on the news years ago, which mildly surprised me.
I did some research on this while writing this post, and fleet sales account for about 1/2 of UK new car sales. The tax rationale has vanished, but the practice seems to be ingrained, Roger, any thoughts here?
Could some of the fleet sales be due to the increase in people leasing etc? There is also the practice of selling pre-registered cars, when the first owner is listed as the manufacturer but actually it will be delivered with 7 miles on the clock.
I recall when family friends who worked for banks or insurance companies had company cars when they patently didn’t use them for business (or hardly ever) but that doesn’t seem to happen so much now. (I haven’t bothered to do any actual research of course)
There is also the issue of buying British – I really find it difficult to believe it’s an issue at this level. As I say, this is just my perception.
Getting a company car isn’t as common as it was 20-30 years ago, as the tax advantages are much reduced (but not fully eliminated). The practice started in the 1960s and 1970s, partly as a way of giving an effective pay increase at a time when Govt was trying and at times succeeding in imposing limits on salary increases. It was responsible for the alphabet soup of UK car badging (how many variants of Ford Cortinabid we really need?). Remember also that fleet numbers will include car hire fleets and possibly car-based vans for the Post Office and the like.
Buying British was a thing for the co car market in the 60s and 70s as well, but less so if at all now. There was a period of ‘buy european’, but that faded as the Japanese set up factories here.
Originally the tax bands for co cars were set at 1300-1800 cc, 1800-2200 and 2200 and up, allegedly to help BL sell their 1800 and 2200cc engined cars against 1600 and 2000 Cortinas. Fat lot of good it them, however.
Astonishing, I remember that too. Thought it was a 3.0 litre x type? Anyway, S type looked like a Jag, went like a Jag.
What with the damage bumpers take by parking in NYC, they should call the low-line, base vehicles that have non-painted, grey bumpers ‘NYCP (New York City Parking) Specials’.
The Bumper Bully is popular in the tri-state area for a reason.
Very nice line of protective equipment (and at a reasonable price, too). How prevalent are those? Seems like they should be included as standard equipment for any vehicle intended to be parked on the street in a heavily populated urban area.
I realize its been ridiculed to no end, but I always liked the X Type. Too bad it didn’t catch on.
If I understand correctly, Jaguar is attempting again to bring in a younger crowd with the XE. Worried that too many gray hairs are behind the wheel.
It’s mostly gray hairs that have the money for them. Plus, I know not a few younger doctors and lawyers who are driving the same beater Civic or Altima they had when they were still in school. I suppose once those cars finally die they’ll splurge…on another Civic or Altima. These are the guys who have money too, they aren’t crushed under debt or married with a brood of kids.
My doctor sister (drives a Forrester) has a colleague who’s still tooling around Baltimore in her ’97 Camry…
I totally agree about the light colors working best, sadly the light colors were kind of awful(silver 2000s car = blah) and a lot of buyers just cannot resist buying a British car in British Racing Green, and there were A LOT of BRG S-types, also that dark blue color pictured.
Good platform though, the XF was still DEW98 based on it up until recently
There was a black one of these round the corner from me until a couple of months ago (now replaced by a black 1st gen XF) and like the dark green example above it had an old-style leaping cat mascot on the front. Using the ‘Mk.II’ style oval grille was quite brave stylistically.
As an aside, the spare on the boot excepted, that Rover P6 looks darned crisp and sharp!
Here is a REAL Jaguar S-Type (though this one made famous on TV was said to be a Bondo Buggy).
But to me it’s not “REAL” only because of the TV show…my uncle had one, a white 3.8 saloon. From that car, he was so impressed by Jaguar that he traded it when the XJ6 was introduced…but that turned out to be a Car of Infamy.
That’s my favorite Jag “saloon.” My sister-in-law, having expensive taste, drove the Millennial S-type, & when we “convoyed” during visits, she was hard to keep up with. But a couple yrs. ago she traded it in for a ― used Toyota Prius!
Shocking. Why? Tired of costly repairs & high Calif. gas prices. She got the top trim level to soften the blow. I wonder how many other Jag ladies have made similar transitions?
That’s a Mk II not an S-Type
“Real” S-type.
I always liked the lines of these cars and thought they were beautiful. Having seen one or two locally in the last year or two, I was actually surprised just how compact they really were. Nevertheless I appreciated the way the fat tires were pushed out to the edges of the fenders, giving them the athletic look of a cat about to pounce – appropriate for a Jag.
I remember when these first came out. I got the opportunity to drive one, and was very impressed. It handled great, rode great, and even though I was a big guy at the time (about 6’4″ and 270ibs), it was comfortable.
Recently, a nice one appeared on a local car lot where I’ve done business before. Nice car, good condition, and low miles. But there was only one problem, I could barely squeeze in behind the wheel!
Who knew a car could shrink like that . . .
They get lower too, I’ve noticed. Cars I had no problem getting into ten years ago now really strain my back; sagging springs, probably. Suspension failure right from the factory seems like a problem with even brand-new sporty models these days. The manufacturers should probably look into that; I need to go lie down for a while.
Strange .. in the Uk these cars are regarded as ugly with a cheap interiors and like its little sister the X type a pretend Jag marketed by a clinical parent company Ford.
Man, I don’t like this car. Retro styling has never been my bag, as I always think most examples don’t look good or don’t appeal to me (the exception being the Challenger, but that’s only because it’s pretty much a fat copy paste of the original). The S-Type, IMO, is the worst of the retro styled cars. For as much flak as the X-Type was given for being a fancy Mondeo, it at least looked okay, this may have been a much better car, but the styling of it is hideous. I have to agree with Top Gear and say that there’s only one angle this car looks good at, bang on dead center on the side, if you even adjust that angle even a little bit, it looks terrible.
Then again, it may just be because Jaguars have never massively appealed to me. The only ones I like are the XJ-S (Pre facelift anyway), The Mark II, The XJ40, the X300, The F-Type, The XJ220, and the first generation XK8. (Though I did recently see some F-Paces around Europe recently, and they’re not terrible looking, certainly not as ugly as the phrase ‘Jaguar SUV’ would conjure up)
As calibrick notes, these cars were very popular in CA and remain on the road here in pretty good numbers. My faculty dean at UCLA had one of the terrible Cadillacs of the 80’s and I talked her into a new Lexus ES in 1992. Flawless, wonderful car that she eventually gave to her daughter only so she could buy one of these Jaguars because she wanted something with more styling flair. First one, an early model, was racing green and had some problems, IIRC mostly electrical and audio equipment related. It was traded for a later model in dark red that has proven reliable and continues to look great – she still drives it.
Personally I always thought the trim little X wore this styling better. As Robert notes, dark colors don’t do the S any favors – make it look too pudgy. Too bad today’s bargain Jaguar XE is so blandly styled you can hardly pick one out in a parking lot.
my aunt bought one of these in 2005 on the fond memories she has of the original s type she and her husband had in Scotland. when she died in 2013 the car had barely cracked 60,000km(37,500m) and had been reasonably trouble free. my cousin inherited it and has doubled the mileage in the last three years.
I can’t think of a month that it hasn’t been in the shop or going in the shop. he said the biggest headache is that every repair starts at 4 figures and goes up.
he has had an interesting policy with his cars over the years to drive them until they rot no matter the mechanical repair costs. I have heard enough rumblings about repair bills with this car that after 45 years of driving this cat may actually be put down before its time.
A good friend of ours bought one to replace her beloved Lexus SC400. I had wheel time in both of them, and I liked the Lexus significantly better. But the Jag moved along when given the spurs. She never really warmed up to it, and replaced it with an Audi TT.
The styling never quite worked for me; too forced and obvious. A bit like the neo-T Bird.
I agree that these cars look good, and still look good. When many cars look the same now, such as M-Bs and BMWs that look like Hyundais, this car mostly from the front says it’s a Jaguar, more so than the current models which look OK. Take away the badge though and most would be hard-pressed to ID them.
It’s tough to have a nice car in the city. It’s better just to accept it and get a “battle car”, preferably in a dark color that won’t show battle scars unlike the S-Type above.
Maybe driverless cars will eliminate the problem, or they may have “battle mode”.
I always liked the look of these cars, and still do. A neighbor on the street we lived on from 2012 to 2015 owned one, in the same light green as the featured car. Despite some less than ideal aftermarket wheels, I still admired it as I walked past–opinions have always been quite mixed but I like the execution of the retro theme.
While fear of repair bills would likely keep me from pulling the trigger, I do still feel a non-trivial amount of desire for an S-type R with the supercharged engine. Should one ever present itself to me at a reasonable price, it’d certainly be tempting…
It looks a lot like my 2001 Sable, if you look at it from some angles.
They were both in premier automotive group at one point anyway.
Opinions may vary but I like this design. My verdict is Retro- done -right. For those of us that would like to have a classic series 2 today, it could be a satisfactory substitute. If you aren’t into classic Jags you might not see the point. I think the proportions are much better than the X Type . I would definitely consider buying a “nice” one. (That’s the only kind of used Jag to buy). The X looks kind of like a shrunken XJ8, not in a good way. The S is kind of small inside, maybe better described as “cozy” Being the resident Jaguar apologist, I will close by saying that I just put 10,000 miles in seven months on the old ’97 XL6 that bought in March.
Here is that Sting song with this same Jaguar model.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lWwBslWqg
These S-Types are pretty much extinct in the Portland Area which does not surprise me too much.