Back in the mid-1980s 200 horsepower was enough to attract luxury car customers’ attention. Now it’s not even enough to get the Ford Taurus any respect. (The hyperlinks lead to some of my other reviews.) Average horsepower has been increasing in every class of vehicle for about two decades now, but lately the previously gradual increases have been giving way to huge jumps. These days even $25,000 family cars such as the Nissan Altima and Honda Accord are available with 240 horsepower sixes. (Okay, the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal have been available with a 240 horse supercharged six for half a decade, but for some reason the auto world at large hasn’t paid them much attention.)

When so much power is available in a family sedan, premium performance sedans must themselves go higher and higher. Cadillac thought it had something special when it introduced its 295 horsepower Northstar V8 in 1993, but a year or two later 300 or so horsepower became the class norm. When 300 horsepower is no longer something special, high performance luxury sedans must go still higher, to 400 horsepower currently, and 500 in the near future. The ten and twenty horsepower increases of years past hardly warrant a press release these days. If you want attention, you better raise the ante a hundred.

Jaguar recognizes that to be taken seriously by luxury car shoppers it had better ante up. For 2003 the mid-sized S-Type’s 4.0 V8 becomes a 4.2, boosting horsepower to an even 300. But remember what I just said about 300—that’s just enough for the vanilla model in this class these days. So there’s also a new R supercharged 4.2, good for an even 400 horsepower. BMW M5 territory—at least until the next generation M5 shows up with a 500 horsepower V10.

Oops, stop the presses. It seems that Jag has been quoting horsepower calculated according to the German DIN standard for some years now. As nearly everyone else marketing cars in the U.S. uses the American SAE standard, which are a couple percent lower, these numbers can be a touch misleading. So Jaguar has restated the power figures for these engines to 293 and 390 respectively. Now, no one can feel the difference between 293 and 300 horsepower, much less that between 390 and 400, but the new numbers don’t quite have the same ring, do they? I suspect that in a year or two Jaguar will find a few extra ponies in these engines to get the nice round numbers back. Until then, we’ll have to settle for a max of 390.

It so happens that despite the number of cars I’ve driven I’ve never driven one with this much power. My dear old dad’s Lexus GS 400 lease is about up, and while he’ll likely buy the car and keep it for a while, it can’t hurt to look at the latest crop. A proper excuse for finding out just how much fun a Jaguar sedan can be.

Jaguar S-Type Reliability

Want better reliability information? Want to really know what difference it will make if you buy a Jaguar S-Type rather than something else? It's coming in the form of "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats. From these you might learn that your first choice, compared to your second choice, is likely to make 2.7 extra trips to the shop in its first five years. You might decide its advantages compensate for this, or you might not. Either way, you'll be able to make a much better informed decision.

To gain access to this information you have a choice: sign up to help provide the data now or pay $24.95 later. For the details, visit my website, www.truedelta.com.

Styling

There was some question whether this car would be a real Jag. It was the first Jag to be developed from scratch following Ford's acquisition of the company. The basic platform is actually shared with the Lincoln LS, which further heightened the fears of Jag aficionados. They need not have worried. As I learned when I first reviewed the S-Type 4.0 a few years ago, it might have its faults but it is the real thing.

Other cars in this class go for a more masculine aesthetic of sharp creases, broad shoulders, and firm interiors. In contrast, Jaguars have a certain feminine softness and curviness to them. The S-Type shares this character with the larger XJ, but takes it even further. Where the XJ sedan is low and sleek, the S-Type is taller and rounder. This is in line with styling trends of the late '90s. While the general styling trend through the '70s was "longer, lower, wider," in the late '90s cars in general became more compact (longer wheelbase combined with a shorter length) and taller. Especially taller. And this will only continue. In this context, the more expensive XJ now looks very dated. (But no fear, a taller replacement with X-Type proportions will be with us soon. Update: Reviewed here.)

Ironically, the very proportions that make the S-Type look up-to-date follow from the designers' attempts to make it resemble a car designed over 40 years ago. The basic proportions of the car and especially the front end intentionally resemble the classic Jaguar Mk II sedan (sold 1959-67). The Mk II was replaced by the Series III, which the last of its kind 2003 XJ still strongly resembles. The S-Type is a great example of how the past is becoming the future in automotive design.

The front end is easily the most distinctive aspect of the S-Type. No other car looks remotely like it, with an upright oval grille flanked by two pairs of round lights (as on the Mk II). You should avoid silvery colors (which compose about half the palette) to accentuate the lights and grille.

The one problem area in the exterior styling is the area over the rear wheel. There's more metal here than would be ideal, because the car is quite tall. As a result, the car looks a touch portly, especially with the standard wheels. They should open up that wheel well a bit, or stuff a larger wheel in it. The 17" wheel option helps quite a bit. The R comes with the most attractive wheels of the lot, with five thin spokes a classic design, and their 18” diameter cures the bloat from most angles. (The side still looks pudgy over the rear wheel when viewed straight on.) I’ve only seen the R in red and silver. I’ve seen photos of the car in black, and it does appear more svelte in that shade. It seems black works as well for cars as it does for people.

The interior is clearly Jaguar. The enveloping, cozy feeling cabin is full of leather and wood, and these surfaces look and feel rich. Definitely appreciated is the leather on the door armrests and center console—too often these are firm vinyl even in luxury sedans. Originally the S-Type’s wood was of a light shade that I liked but my father did not. Most people must have been on my father’s side, for this wood is gone. On the 2003, standard S-Types have the usual medium brown wood, while the R and those with the Sport Package have the more mod gray-stained timber. Some people don’t care for the gray, and for them I’ve read the brown stuff is a no-cost option in the R.

For 2003 the S-Types interior has been revised and upgraded. Most notably, the instrument panel has been redesigned, replacing the hard plastic half circle that once dominated its center with Jaguar’s traditional leather rimmed vertically-arranged stack of controls. (The car I drove had the optional nav system, which uses a sizable touch screen in the midst of these.) I like stylistic risks, but only when they work. The old style didn’t work. As much as I’m no fan of the conventional, the more conventional style of the new instrument panel better fits the car. Overall, the revised interior seems of higher quality and richer ambiance than last year’s.

Sadly, a few cheap bits remain. The most notable of these are the power window buttons, the lid of the ashtray abaft them on all passenger door armrests, and the plastic that frames them. All of these are a matte black plastic that is a number of grades below the rest of the interior. Certainly these could not be all that costly to upgrade. Maybe next year?

Accommodations

The R has special front seats. They are firmer than the last S-Type seats I fit in, yet still not as hard as the typical German seat. Support of all sorts is good—though I wish the bolsters were a bit closer to together for those of us with fairly slender builds. (Larger people will appreciate them where they are.) Overall, I found these seats very good but not great in terms of both comfort and support in aggressive driving. Both could be improved with a cushier, more enveloping seat. They’ve gone a bit too German here.

With a slew of seat adjustments, a steering wheel that tilts and telescopes, and adjustable pedals everyone should be able to find the perfect relationship with the primary controls. The dash and doortops are both quite high, but the view forward and immediately to the side is still fairly open. I tend to prefer an airier interior, but I must say that Jaguar’s signature package of gentleman’s club style, cozy ambiance, and relatively low driving position actually worked for me. One negative consequence: to the rear a high package shelf restricts visibility. I guess that’s what the rear obstacle detection system is for.

The rear seat is a bit tight. The roof dips down more than in the sister Lincoln LS, compromising headroom. At 5'9", I barely fit back there. With front seats most of the way back, my knees do not quite reach their backs, but my toes barely squeeze beneath them. Thankfully the cushion is fairly high, so my knees must only flop a bit to the sides for my thighs to find support.

Interior revisions for 2003 thankfully included a much larger storage compartment beneath the center armrest. Through last year there was little storage space to be found inside an S-Type. The new armrest/lid is also quite clever. It can slide back a few inches to reveal a pair of cupholders using the same latch that opens it entirely. The price for this new center console? The parking brake is no longer operated using a lever. Instead, it is electric, and engaged with a switch on the center console. (It disengages automatically when the car is put in gear.)

Rear seat passengers finally received Audi A6-style cupholders that extend from front edge of the seat cushion a year or two ago; better than nothing, but I vaguely remember complaints about these in the Audi.

The trunk is compact, especially in the vertical dimension. The styling is again the culprit. In regular S-Types the rear seatbacks fold down in two sections. In the R the rear seatback is fixed to improve body rigidity. There is a ski pass-through, but it certainly lacks the versatility of seats that fold down.

On the Road

Now we get to the key portion of this review. So, how does 400—er, 390—horsepower feel? The S-Type R is no lightweight—it weighs about two tons—but with nearly a horsepower for each of its ten pounds the car is quick. No surprise there.

The first impression is that this engine is extremely strong. However, I should note that this first impressions comes the first time you step on the gas. Both my father and I initially dipped too deeply into the pedal, causing the car to lunge forward when we only wanted it to creep. Consequently, both of us quickly stomped on the brake, then made various excuses for nearly losing control of the car in a parking lot. Actually, I had less of an excuse, as I’d been warned by both his experience and his words. Even with the warning, I was taken by surprise. Neither of us made this mistake twice—you quickly become used to how the throttle is calibrated.

Once beyond initial tip-in, the engine actually didn’t feel as strong as I expected. (My father disagreed on this point.) The speedo needle certainly climbed quickly enough, yet I didn’t have the sensation of massive torque that I expected. The quietness of the car no doubt was partly responsible—quiet cars do not feel as quick as they are. The nature of power delivery also contributed. Power comes on very smoothly, with none of the mad rush of turbocharged or high-RPM engines. Certainly the R’s supercharged eight makes more power as revolutions build, with real thrust beginning around 3000 RPM, but there is no clear transition from soft to furious.

The engine note lends character to the car. It falls somewhere between the traditional American burble and the baritone whirr of Japanese eights. It’s neither as coarse sounding as the former or as refined in note as the latter. More exhaust than mechanical. Equally sporty and luxurious. Then there’s the supercharger. Whenever there’s any load on the engine it makes a clearly audible whine, like that of a large electric motor. My father liked it, but I personally wonder whether this whine could become tiresome.

The new six-speed automatic, the same fitted to the BMW 745i, shifts very smoothly and permits a wide range of ratios, such that there should be plenty of thrust at low speeds yet the engine is only turning 1800 RPM at 70. Still, I wonder whether a lower rear end might enable the sensation of massive thrust I was expecting from this car. Manual shifting continues to be done using Jaguar’s unique “J-gate.” No simple tap up, tap down here. The shifter from D moves to the left to Ó” and then forward again through D.” First cannot be manually selected. Effort to move the shifter is very light, and it’s easy to push through the gear you want to the next one down. Still the detents are there to be felt, it’s just that some attention is required. Perhaps the largest problem with this system is that there is no read out of what gear you are in among the instruments, unlike most cars with manumatics. Consequently, it is necessary to look down at the shifter until you develop a very fine sense of the location of each gear detent. The transmission reacts more quickly to shifts than an entirely conventional automatic, but not nearly as quickly as the better manumatics.

All in all, I wonder how much the supercharger is worth the extra cash. The standard eight makes nearly a hundred fewer horsepower, but nevertheless can still get the car to sixty in under seven seconds (under six according to Jaguar, but that seems doubtful). The supercharger shaves about three-quarters of a second off this time, judging from Jaguar’s official numbers and those in Car and Driver. So the difference to sixty is not huge. Over sixty, the R starts to really pull ahead, but how valuable is this for most American drivers?

The R’s huge brakes, with Brembro four-piston calipers up front, pull the car down quickly from any speed. The pedal is firm and the use of it quite intuitive. Other S-Types make due with lesser brakes that are still likely quite good, especially the upsized units that come with the Sport Package…

Then there is handling. The steering is the best part. It is quick and requires a moderate amount of effort—the car mags are pushing low effort as best lately, but I’m old fashioned. Feedback of what is going on where the front rubber meets the road is very good for this class of car. Lately even German luxury cars have been sacrificing feedback for a more luxurious feel. Some kickback is present over bumps, but that tends to be the price for such feedback. In general, I found this steering both accurate and enjoyable.

The chassis is more of a mixed bag. The S-Type lacks the all-of-a-piece feel that characterizes Germany’s best. When the car is driven aggressively over a road with poor expansion joints and various minor bumps and divots, it becomes a touch unsettled, skipping an inch or even fractions of an inch this way and that. Nothing that shakes the driver’s confidence, just lacking the ultimate refinement of some competitors. I don’t want to infer that this follows from a very firm suspension. It doesn’t. If anything, it follows from too loose of a suspension. It felt as if there was a small but noticeable amount of play amongst the componentry. I must admit that this actually lends the car a tossable, slightly rough but ever ready character not present in the more refined competition. It adds to the fun of driving the car, at least at moderate speeds. It’s simply undesirable on a technical level, measured against the theoretical image of the perfect car. If I must choose between fun and perfect, I’ll go with fun.

When the engine is not involved, the chassis is quite balanced. The R feels smaller and lighter than it is. Wide tires—probably not coincidentally the same sizes as those on BMW’s M5 (245/40ZR18 and 275/35ZR18)—produce substantial grip. The standard stability control effectively limits understeer and oversteer. Understeer is never much of a problem at any rate. Oversteer is another matter. Turn the stability control off, and it’s fairly easy to get the car sideways powering out of turns. I never kicked the tail out enough to feel I was not in control of the car—it’s not too hard to use the throttle to hold the car in a slightly tail-out posture through turns—but I could sense that serious trouble lurked not far away. I seem to recall some adage along the lines of “with power comes responsibility.” As cars become more and more powerful, drivers must be more and more skilled to fully use them. Those less skilled should simply not turn the electronic Band-Aid off. It will save their rear, literally and figuratively.

Now for the biggest surprise: The R rides much better than I expected it to given the sport suspension and ultra-low-profile rubber. Sure, it’s not a magic carpet ride. The standard S-Type certainly rides more smoothly. But I felt no sharp impacts, and tire thump was very moderate in volume. I guess this is the payoff for the handling deficiencies I noted. This might be the stiffest suspension Jag fits to an S-Type, but it’s still considerably softer than that of many German sedans.

I’ve already mentioned noise levels a few times. You can hear the engine quite clearly under throttle, but when cruising it becomes nearly as quiet as the muted wind and road noise. Overall noise levels are not the lowest in this class, but they’re still quite low.

Pricing

S-Type pricing starts at $42,495 for the V6 and $49,975 for the better-equipped V8 model. Add features standard on the R, and the price of the V8 rises to $54,950. The R’s base price is $62,400, so it would seem that the supercharger, Brembo brakes, larger wheels and tires, and additional seat adjustments cost $7,450. Pricey, but hardly the most expensive power upgrade you’ll find. BMW charges about this much to go from a 2.5 liter six to a 3.0 liter six on some of its models, after all. If you really want the extra punch of the R, then it’s probably worth the extra cash. Otherwise, if you like the basic car you’ll probably be quite satisfied with the regular eight. The car I drove had the only option currently available, a $2,200 navigation system. At some point a “communications package” with voice activation for many controls, a digital phone, and emergency messaging system will also be available. One thing was noticeably missing from the sticker: the gas guzzler tax that generally attends powerful engines. That the R manages to get high enough EPA ratings to avoid this tax (though certainly only by a hair) is nothing short of amazing. I guess that might be why the gearing is so tall. Premium fuel is of course required. Edmunds suggests that dealers get the entire $64,600 list, but the salesperson seemed willing to discount a bit.

The only currently available mid-sized sedan with a similar level of power is BMW’s M5. Since the Jaguar comes only with an automatic and the BMW only with a stick that alone is probably enough to make the decision for many people. A 2003 M5 with standard navigation system and optional park distance control (standard on the R) lists for $71,795. Edmunds suggests that the average car goes for about three grand over list, though this might include a $2,100 gas guzzler tax that is not included in the list price I just quoted. So let’s figure at least $74,000. Compared to the M5, the R is a bargain.

The 349 horsepower Mercedes E55 AMG is probably a more comparable car despite its power disadvantage as it comes only with an automatic and like the Jag isn’t as highly tuned as the BMW. However, the E-Class is new for 2003, and does not yet include an AMG version, so it is necessary to look at the 2002. With a $2,080 navigation system, the 2002 E55 stickered for $74,095. Edmunds suggests that dealers are taking nearly $4,000 off that price. When an AMG version of the new E-Class does become available, it will likely use the nearly 500 horsepower twin-turbo V8 now available in the SL55 AMG. I’d expect a higher price to attend the higher power rating. The 2002 car evaded the gas guzzler tax, but if the new E500 is any indication the next AMG version will not.

Beginning next spring Audi will offer fewer than a thousand RS6 versions of its A6. This car will have a twin-turbocharged 4.2 liter V8 rated at 450 horsepower. I vaguely remember seeing an expected price of over $80,000. Again, the Jaguar is much less expensive.

Around summer of next year Cadillac will offer a V version of its CTS with a 350-400 horsepower V8 from the Corvette. No word on pricing yet, but it’ll probably be significantly less than that of the Jaguar. I’d guess $50,000. Until then, the Jaguar, pricey as it is, remains the cheapest ultra-high-performance mid-sized sedan.

Other existing alternative with V8s of roughly 300 horsepower are more similar to the regular S-Type V8. I drove two of these the same day, an Infiniti M45 and Mercedes E500. The Infiniti was only around $45,000, but the Mercedes was nearly $60,000. (BMW and Audi also offer cars in this segment.) My father, much more the typical customer than me, strongly preferred the Jaguar to either, even once price was taken into account.

Last Words

Though the S-Type R is not the mind-blowing experience I expected, it is nevertheless a very fun car to drive. It lacks the refinement of some rivals, but beats them all in terms of character. This character follows not only from the Jaguar’s distinctive styling and interior ambiance, but from how it feels to drive the car. Despite its faults, a very good car for those who like the styling, enjoy driving, and have the money.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Amount Paid (US$): 64,600
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: R with Navigation system