XE 2.0 R-Sport

[Russ68]

Hi there,

I’m in the market (<£10K) for a new (to me) Jag with (occasional) use rear seats and an early R-Sport seems a compelling proposition.

After running a 3.0 Sport S-Type manual and considering XKR/XFR, the tax and running costs seem very reasonable and performance ok for a 180bhp 1500kg car.

I’d be tempted to go do a remap and immediately go for premium tyres and new brakes unless these are 100%.

Any thoughts/comments on remapping? I’ve seen 210 and close to 500NM from Celtic, and 234 and  509 from TDI which seems worthwhile. 

All of my performance cars have been petrol and I generally go for a stainless exhaust and look at induction to unlock gains. Is this still the case with the 2.0 R-Sport? 
 

I’ve driven plenty of diesels, but I’ve never needed or wanted to modify one. So this is a bit new to me 😉

Thanks in advance! 

 

[The Voices]

I would have a read up on Ingenium engine failures (especially diesels) before purchasing anything fitted with one.

 

 

[Russ68]

Yup, it appears that poorly serviced early diesels can have problems with the timing chains at the rear of the engine. But it's far from a universal issue, and forewarned is forearmed, I'll know to check for it.

I've refined my wishlist down to a £30 tax D180 model I can remap to ~230bhp, which should give similar performance to my manual S-Type but at a fraction of the running costs. Or ideally the P300 (or P250) petrol variant, with £180 tax (after premium tax is finished), cheaper running costs and better performance than the S-Type.

I've driven a remapped 180 with the 8 speed auto and it's a very competent car. But I didn't love it, 'goes like a sports car, sounds like a Transit!' springs to mind 😆

 

[The Voices]

Not just poorly serviced ones unfortunately................................

[Russ68]

Yup, I've just read up further and the chain and guide materials used in the pre 2019 diesel Ingenium diesels  are at fault.

TBH, I'm still not phased by this. I'm an experienced mechanic and would be surprised not to detect any issues in advance. The actual parts for the upgraded chain and guides are only ~£300, and a weekend's work for me to complete the work.

Were I to take a punt on the diesel model without a retro fitted timing chain upgrade, it's something I could factor in doing at some point.

Although I've also been looking at the XE S with the supercharged V6, that looks like a helluva car! 

 

 

[The Voices]

I actually own a 2015 XE 3.0 V6 'S'

Massively under rated when it was available new.

Goes and handles brilliantly, reminds me of the BMW E30 325i's that I used to drive.

 

As far as I know, the Ingenium timing chain job is 'engine out', the process doesn't look like much fun when I walk through our workshop and see them in bits.

 

[Russ68]

Yup, engine out as the chain is at the rear. A very involved job! 

But forewarned is forearmed, it would need to be a giveaway price to take one on with a known chain issue, and I'm not looking for another project so that's not happening! Also, chains have been upgraded since 2019, 4 years ago, which you'd imagine has weeded out many of those that are going to have issues.

As background I've owned 1996 MGF, (so early K-Series with the plastic guides), since 2003. I dropped in (or rather dropped the body over!) a later 2001 engine and have had no issues with it since then. So a known a doesn't necessarily kill a car completely 😉

Well done on the XE S ownership, you're a lucky man! A post April 2017 S would be ideal for the cheaper tax, but I'd have to significantly stretch my budget based on the prices I'm seeing. The V6 seems to have reviewed better than the 4 pot petrol, but I'd love either one, of any age TBH!  🙂