Checked the first S-Type today

[Suppedraken]

Friends, Romans, etc.

I had a look at this one today:

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=102043818

Divide by ten and you get the approximate price in GBP. Worth bearing in mind is that although there's no warranty, dealers have a 5 year responsibility for faults.

The engine seemed and sounded to be in good order, although there is what looks like an Oil patch on the left side.

The gear box seemed to be ok; smoth shifting through all the gears, both manual, auto and kickdown. But it was hard to shift from P to R and from N to R.

All the electrics seemed to be ok; hot/cold on both sides and everything worked, except the height adjustment on the right headlight (which also was cloudy, the left side looked brand new or newly polished). I forgot to check the battery voltage when off, but it was 13.75V when idling.

No overheating, although it seems to have been at some point, and both latches had green corrosion on them. I forgot the check the coolant before starting.

The front wheel arches had superficial rust. The rear arches and the sills had some more serious rust issues. I didn't have time to take off the covers, but it needs to be taken care of this year.

The steering and brakes were ok. The handling on bumpy, curvy roads was reasonably smooth, but it had a wobbly feel to it, which I suspect was because of either winter tyres or worn bushings in the rear.

I offered them 20000 as a restoration project without any kind of responsibility on their part and gave them my phone number. I don't expect to hear from them, though.

 

[Guest]

Hi Knut,

Unless it absolutely must be a Left Hooker - I would be tempted to buy from the UK and ship it over - for the same money you could get an S Type with less 50K on the clock.

I know that prices in Finland are high but thats just extortionate.

Cheers and Welcome.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

We should agree with Ron and Stephen.     Blimey, a pretty immaculate '03 3.0 V6 S-type went for £800 at a recent Modern Classics auction at Leominster.     We feel that once the VISIBLE rust has got that far, who knows what lurks elsewhere.      Everybody must have their own opinion, but we should walk away tres rapide (don't know what the Finnish for "very quic)." is.

Very important, here, Knut Are, (buck gets ten that isn't your real name?!) to not get a dose of buyer's fever.

Good luck anyway  and happy future growling  

[Suppedraken]

Well, cars are expensive here in Norway and that's the cheapest one for sale right now. A 2005 that's lived in Spain up till now and with low milage costs £22k. I don't know what the F-Type costs new in the UK, for instance, but the absolutely cheapest one in its most basic configuration costs £130k here.

I've always wanted a reason to buy welding equipment...
And a long-term project could be nice.

But seriously, for that price and with that much rust, I'm not interested. And I didn't need the wife to help me with that decision  although I always bring her along to keep me in check if I get carried away. She did suggest, however, that instead of being a cheapskate (I offered less than a third of the asking price) I should call them and offer to pay what they ask if they fix everything.

Rust is a major problem, due to long winters and salted roads, so an alternative could be to get one from Spain, southern parts of the US or someplace like that.

I'm not in a hurry and I'll keep you posted.

And yes, it's my real name. Kudos to Carole  for using both first names, even when they're not hyphenated. You're one of the very few English speakers to get it right.

[Suppedraken]

14 hours ago, Suppedraken said:

Rust is a major problem, due to long winters and salted roads, so an alternative could be to get one from Spain, southern parts of the US or someplace like that.

Haha, I just checked the tax and customs websites, and CO2 tax will be in the region of £7-12000.

So, no import, then.

[Suppedraken]

My favourite wife and I are going to have a look at this one next week:
https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=100818081&fks=100818081

I've already asked them to take of the skirts and send pictures, which they kindly did.

 

[Old Peter]

Looks quite good, Knut.

Let us know your thoughts when you have visited it.

Peter.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Good luck Knut Are, in the sales pics the car looks good, and certainly a nice colour/trim combination.......always personal preference, but we don't go for black trim.  Seems to have all the bells and whistles, the literal translation of the advert says that the car "is an English Lord" and has dual-speed navigation system.   Presumably this means you can set it for fast and slow, according to how you feel at the time, or how much snow is about?!

We are completely alarmed at the price......crikey, that equates to about £12K Sterling.  Aagh, there is a VERY low mileage 2007 S-type R 4.2 Supercharged V8 for sale here at just under £13K.   Still, you did say that cars were expensive in Norway; no doubt the ice-cream and muesli are very much cheaper than here in the UK though.

If you like the car, we hope your best wife approves.    If not, take one of the others.

Happy potential growling  

[Old Peter]

Last year I was in Norway and never drank alcohol unless I was on the ship, where the prices were very good  --  less than £3 for a pint of Spitfire and £12 for a bottle of Prosecco. 

I did see two Jaguars!

Peter.

[Russ68]

I imagine you've explored this option already, but I've just had a quick look and it appears that 'classic cars' are subject to different import regulations and:

Classic cars are exempt from the one-off registration tax; scrap deposit tax must however be paid.

Based on buying one here for £3000, and you'll have your pick at that price! There only appears to be about 10% duty on it, you just need to get them to accept it's a classic. Not sure what the rules are here, but many of us insure our S-Types on classic car insurance and it is a Jaguar after all! 

A 'neo-classic' at the very least 

 

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

We should agree with your findings, Russ, and Knut Are, you may find this useful.      

From our neck of the woods, (not Norwegian wood, of course....pun intended), there is an auction house fairly local to us at Leominster which holds regular Modern Classics auctions, and there are often early (up to 2004/5) S-types in the catalogue.    Also, Footman James and others were quite happy to quote for both our XK and S as "classics".       Add to that, the likes of Classic Car website advertise S-types regularly.

Hopefully the "men in suits", or whatever Scandinavian Customs folk wear, would see it the same way.    As Russ says, for, say, £4000 you would have a great list from which to choose.

Good luck and happy growling at the Customs man

[Suppedraken]

7 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

Good luck Knut Are, in the sales pics the car looks good, and certainly a nice colour/trim combination.......always personal preference, but we don't go for black trim.  Seems to have all the bells and whistles, the literal translation of the advert says that the car "is an English Lord" and has dual-speed navigation system.   Presumably this means you can set it for fast and slow, according to how you feel at the time, or how much snow is about?!

We are completely alarmed at the price......crikey, that equates to about £12K Sterling.  Aagh, there is a VERY low mileage 2007 S-type R 4.2 Supercharged V8 for sale here at just under £13K.   Still, you did say that cars were expensive in Norway; no doubt the ice-cream and muesli are very much cheaper than here in the UK though.

If you like the car, we hope your best wife approves.    If not, take one of the others.

You can't trust google translate, especially not when translating typos.

Norway is a high-cost country, as the Big Mac Index and average wage implies.
http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage
And cars are extra expensive because of all the taxes. But then again, "free" healthcare and education is nice.

It will certainly be a lot of müsli for the foreseeable future if the dealer is more than usual persuasive.

[Suppedraken]

3 hours ago, Russ68 said:

I imagine you've explored this option already, but I've just had a quick look and it appears that 'classic cars' are subject to different import regulations and:

Classic cars are exempt from the one-off registration tax; scrap deposit tax must however be paid.

Based on buying one here for £3000, and you'll have your pick at that price! There only appears to be about 10% duty on it, you just need to get them to accept it's a classic. Not sure what the rules are here, but many of us insure our S-Types on classic car insurance and it is a Jaguar after all! 

A 'neo-classic' at the very least 

Actually, I didn't think of that. But I'm pretty sure one of the requirements is that it's classfied as a "veteran", which means 25 years old.