Jaguar S-Type Buyer's Guide
Four tracked S-Type sales, £970 to £5,300, median £2,082, with two live as we write. The 1999–2007 S-Type was Jaguar's Ford-era bid for the compact executive class, wrapped in deliberately retro styling the market never quite forgave, and it now trades at money that buys a lot of wood, leather and V-engine for very little outlay. The survivors reaching auction are increasingly the kept cars rather than the abandoned ones.
What to pay
£970 to £2,000 buys high-mileage cars where the service file is the whole purchase; at this money a missing history costs more than the car. Around our £2,082 median sits the sensible buy: lower owners, fuller files, the better petrol V6s. From there to the £5,300 ceiling the market pays for condition and the interesting engines, and the supercharged V8 of the S-Type R is the one with a genuine future; the best examples already price apart from the herd.
What goes wrong
Mechanically these are tougher than the badge's reputation suggests: the known items are worn front suspension bushes and ball joints, automatic gearboxes that want fluid changes despite the sealed-for-life label, and the era's interior electronics. Underneath, check subframes and sills for corrosion on cars that lived outside. Parts are cheap by Jaguar standards thanks to the Ford relations, and independent specialists know the cars well.
Our view
A history-heavy V6 at our median is dignified transport for supermini money, and the maths will not stay this generous. The car to hold is the supercharged R: a performance saloon still priced as an old Jaguar rather than the collectable it is becoming. Buy on file and floor condition, and let time do the rest.
