Jaguar S-Type R | High Mile Club

Those of us intrigued by affordable, high-mileage, interesting cars must eventually accept that the vehicles we love – whether owned or just dreamed about – will never quite be perfect. However much time and effort is invested, realistically, there will always be some niggle or gripe that keeps it from being absolutely ideal. You live with it, of course, because the cost of repair is completely nonsensical, but it never stops being a small bugbear. The paint on my 160k Compact is good enough, albeit with imperfections that really bother me. Only if I sort those out it’ll make the others look worse, and before I know it we’ll be into respray territory. For a £2k car, so no. 

Attachment is the problem. These cars have made it this far, by hook or by crook, and it feels like our duty to keep them going that bit longer. Maybe even improve them along the way. They haven’t been abandoned or given up just yet, so they deserve a fresh injection of love and TLC. After all, somebody must have spent the money at some point to get the car here – the only proper thing to do is try your best with it. Otherwise known as spending some more money.

Sometimes it’s a daft strategy, though it’s hard not to be presented with a Jaguar S-Type R, freshly MOT’d this week and said to boast a full service history, and not be tempted to continue its story a little longer. After all, the colour combo is fantastic, it seems in fine fettle, there’s at least one Michelin fitted to the 18-inch wheels and S-Types look better now than they ever have. Or we’re getting old. Oh yeah – and it’s £2,995. 

That’s right, three thousand pounds for one of the great super-saloons of the early ’00s. One of the great supercharged Jags of the 21st century, in fact. Maybe it isn’t quite an M5, the Jag, but then the BMWs were never £2,995. And the mileage? 229,000, or just a bit more than 10k a year, every year, for its 22-year life.

The MOT history shows fairly consistent use over that time; it’s always about 10,000 or so between tests, rather than a mega year then next to nothing after that. Given the general condition inside and the R’s remit, we’ll assume they were mostly motorway miles. There’s a bit of crinkling in the seat bolster, and the passenger’s door looks a slightly different blue, but come on – supercharged Jaguar V8, 12 months MOT, £2,995. 

There are some bits and bobs to sort out, fiddly bits highlighted by the test like bushes, bearings and brake lines, but none of the worrying stuff you usually see like tyres down to canvas or brake pads set to expire. The S-Type has all the makings of a great modern classic project for someone with the know-how (or the budget) to bring it back to its best. It’ll never be perfect, of course, though it surely could still be a damn fine old Jag. There really is nothing else like it; no S-Type R close in mileage, no V8 XF close in cost, no contemporary anywhere near on either. For a whole host of reasons, this deserves some love. Who’s feeling courageous?