The Voices

It looks like a Sport model due to the dove/granite two tone interior paired with the aluminium trim ? If so, have a look at similar Sport models on Autotrader to get a feel for a realistic selling price.

Yesterday, I decided to use the headlight restoration kit that I bought weeks ago. I already have the Autoglym one and used that a couple of years ago. The results were very impressive but the lenses have gone cloudy again. The new kit was a 'Holts' branded one from Eurocarparts, comes with an attachment for the drill, 4x grades of sandpaper, abrasive polish, aerosol sealant and 2x microfibre cloths. Worked very well and the plan for today was to apply the clear headlight protection film that I also happened to purchase months ago. This is where everything started to go wrong ! The adhesive film instructions recommend a heat gun to help stretch the plastic over the headlights, I have one but never used it before, what could possibly go wrong ? The S-Type has four individual front lights, I started on the outer passenger side lamp to get a feel for the process....... Two hours later, with 3rd degree burns to one hand from the heat gun, craft knife cuts from trimming the protective film and one very sorry looking headlamp, I decided to call it quits and leave it to a professional (once life returns to normal) To add insult to injury, removing the film was really easy ! Undeterred by this (minor ?) setback, I decided to take a look at fitting the replacement supercharger inlet pipe. On one of the US forums, someone had fitted the larger diameter pipe from the supercharged Range Rover and reported a noticeable difference. Guess what ? I purchased the Range Rover inlet months ago and not had chance to fit it ! The replacement inlet has some casting marks that need to be removed before it will fit into place on the S-TYPE, armed with a 5" angle grinder, what could go wrong ? Well, firstly the current Mrs Greenwood was not too impressed when I appeared in the back garden with my folding workbench, angle grinder and the aforementioned inlet pipe. I think she was saying something about the noise but I couldn't hear her above the sound of the grinder ? Anyway, all was going quite well, I was using a thin metal cutting disc and had to remove the spark guard from the grinder to get better access..................... It's really surprising how well a metal cutting disc does when presented with gloves and fingers. At least I now have an interesting scar to show the grand kids (if only I had some kids in the first place ?) Managed to staunch the bleeding and carry on, only to burn out the motor on the grinder ! To be fair, it must be over 25 years old and has seen more action than Warren Beatty's mattress ! My wife displayed a remarkable lack of solidarity and found the cloud of smoke a electrical burning smell highly amusing ? I had the last laugh however, my policy of 'multiple redundancy' kicked in (referred to by the wife as 'buying useless crap because it is cheap') and I emerged from the garage with, you guessed it, another brand new grinder that I just happened to have around ! Managed to complete the cutting without further impairment to my ability to count to 10 using my fingers, grinding it smooth is tomorrows job. So, what could end such a perfect day you ask ? Striding over a cat and falling down stairs is the answer ! Luckily only half a flight and my 'Mr Blobby' type of physique prevented any serious injury. When can I go back to work please ?

The original factory option Recaro seats were about £2,500 as an option if my memory serves me ? You will do well to find a set available second hand, we didn't get very many people 'ticking the box' when the cars were new !

Hi Martyn, that sounds like a plan !

A late plate, S-Type, manual petrol is quite a rare thing. I could only see two for sale on Autotrader nationally, which says it all really ! The silver 2007 on there is advertised as an 'XS' but doesn't have the body kit ?

There would be a saving running on LPG due to the cost per gallon but the actual 'miles per gallon' figure is slightly lower compared to petrol. You could calculate the 'actual' saving for your mileage and then work out how many miles to cover the cost of the conversion ? I am lucky in that almost all of my 40k miles per year is in a company car, fuel cost on my own cars isn't really an issue due to low mileage. My advice would still be to consider a cheap diesel runabout to keep the miles off the STR, as the potential downsides of the LPG conversion would outweigh the benefits.

I am only going off everything I have read over the years regarding a noticeable drop in performance when running 'performance' cars on LPG ? Never heard of anyone fitting it to get improved performance, only lower running costs. I did find this bit of info (but I am not a chemist !) Generally there will be some loss of performance as LPG has a lower specific energy content than petrol, so more fuel is required to produce a given power figure, meaning lower economy. and more fuel in the cylinder, means less oxygen, resulting in lower maximum engine power

Hi Martyn, I agree regarding the fuel consumption, mine averages 17MPG ! Not the most obvious fuel saving option I admit, but for the price of a good LPG conversion, you could purchase a second, more economical runabout to keep the miles off the V8 ?

Martyn My point is that the car was designed to run on fuel with a particular octane rating, adapting it to run on 'something else' seems to defeat the object. The last thing that a performance car needs is sub standard fuel. The cost of a reputable LPG conversion is going to be £1500-£2000, how many miles will you need to cover to repay the outlay ? On top of this, you will not see any return on this expenditure when you come to sell the car, the majority of people who would consider the purchase of a used STR are not going to want one that has been LPG converted (partly based on personal opinion but also based on 20 years in the motor trade !)

LPG is a lower octane rating that standard petrol, would never run any of my supercharged cars on anything but 99 octane fuel. Why on earth would anyone want to convert a performance car to LPG ? A professional installation is expensive and will take quite a while to pay for itself in fuel savings also, it is harder to sell an LPG converted car, many enthusiasts will avoid them like the plague.

Don't want to stick my nose in but the X150 XK was never offered with a leaper, either in the UK or abroad. It has the 'pedestrian deployable bonnet' so isn't meant to have anything fastened to it.

There are plenty on Ebay, I don't know if any of the sellers are local to you ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sop=2&_osacat=0&_odkw=jaguar+triton&LH_BIN=1&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xjaguar+triton+alloy.TRS0&_nkw=jaguar+triton+alloy&_sacat=0

I have never seen one for sale, you could perhaps make up a paper / card template and then get one made by a local car trimming specialist or car mat manufacturer ?

There is a joint venture with a Chinese company (Cherry I think ?) for manufacture of certain models in China that avoids import duties.

I would suggest spending a bit more and buying a facelift car from 2002 onwards, far better car for your money ?

Thought I would make my first post in this section, I have been a regular on the S-TYPE forum but now added a 2004 XJR to the collection. Another Jaguar model that I was selling when they were new and promised myself one at some point. I spent some time travelling around looking for something suitable, I still work at a Jaguar dealership but waiting for something to come in as a part exchange is a waste of time (rarely see X350's or X358's these days) Travelled a lot of miles to look at cars with various independent dealers and have to say that unfortunately, it reinforced many of the negative stereotypes that customers have about the motor trade ! Lots of badly described and poorly presented cars, which were up for sale at 'retail' money, if you own one of these and want to scare yourself silly, get a true 'trade value' based on Glasses Guide or CAP Black Book ! Ended up buying this one privately, it isn't perfect but a hell of a lot better than the ones that I went to look at with 'traders' My pet hate is 'over describing' used cars, especially if someone is travelling a long way to look at it. No one expects perfection on cars that are now at least 10 years old but I would rather someone tells it like it is. Made these guys aware that I was 'in the trade' and that the car was for myself, explained that I would not try to get them to drop the price based on 'book' prices but wanted an honest appraisal of the car to see if I was wasting their time and mine. Unfortunately this didn't happen ! Not naming names, it was an interesting learning curve as a buyer rather than a seller but made me realise that I take it for granted how we expect cars to be prepared and presented.

I had a customer who would not buy new XJ's from me unless I fitted his leaper on the bonnet and he changed his car every 8-10 months ! This meant that I had a part exchange with holes in the bonnet, I seem to remember that I used a bonnet badge from the 1999-2002 S-TYPE to cover the holes, which was a perfect fit ? Only thing is, I think the badges say either 3 litre or 4 litre, this was okay on the 3.0 V6 XJ but would look wrong on a 2.7 of course !

I occasionally throw a bucket of soapy water over the XE or the STR, cleaning is not my thing anymore !

I forgot to add, the link takes you to a 'go fund me' page from the USA but the details of the UK account to donate are also listed !

As some of you may know, Jaguar legend Norman Dewis is not in the best of health. Members of the wider Jaguar community have set up an appeal to help him, please follow the link below. https://www.gofundme.com/norman039s-needs

The Luxury was 'base' spec for the XF so didn't have power fold mirrors as standard. It does have dual climate control however, so you should be able to independently adjust driver and passenger temperatures ?

Sound like the car is in 'VALET' mode ? Does your car have the touchscreen navigation system, if so, I think that the valet mode is activated and deactivated by entering a 'PIN' number ?

The navigation system runs off a separate DVD drive in the boot. I think the last update disc available is 2012 ?

Michelin Pilot Sport 4's were my choice after reading every tyre test that I could find !

I don't know how big a job it would be to source the hard drive system from a breaker ?