Jaguar does not build many cars like the Jaguar S-Type: a 4-door notchback saloon with petrol, built from 1999 to 2007 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Its designer of record is Geoff Lawson (1995) / Ian Callum (2004 facelift).
The story
The Jaguar S-Type is an executive car which was made by Jaguar Cars from 1999 until 2007 with a facelift in 2004. It is a four-door saloon car with a three-box design and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout.
The S-Type debuted at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show and revived a nameplate which Jaguar had previously used from 1963 until 1968. Produced at a time when Jaguar was owned by the Ford Motor Company (forming part of its Premier Automotive Group division), the S-Type shares its DEW98 platform with the Lincoln LS and the eleventh-generation Ford Thunderbird. Following its discontinuation it was replaced by the Jaguar XF, which uses a modified version of the same platform.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits petrol; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 1800 kg. The gearbox is a 5-speed Getrag 221 manual (2.5 & 3.0 V6) / 6-speed ZF S6-53 manual (2.7 D) / 5-speed Ford 5R55E automatic (Phase 1) / 6-speed ZF 6HP 26 J-Gate automatic (Phase 2 & 3). The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 114.5 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in Jaguar's history is not in doubt: the Jaguar XF (X250) followed it; it was built at Birmingham (Castle Bromwich Assembly), United Kingdom. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Toyota Yaris, the Škoda Auto Škoda Fabia, the Honda S2000. Nearby in the Jaguar catalogue sit the F-Type and the Vanden Plas.