James James James, What have you been taking today. I cannot even recognise my car by your description of it. There were two series of S-Types, the first being a development of the late 50s and 1960s MKII with production running just into the early 70s. The second series of the S-Type was introduced in 1998 and continued in production until 2007.
I have had my 2005 S-Type for over 8 years now and am as pleased with it today as I was the day I bought it. It is a beautiful smooth running car and it has given a very good account of itself over the years, with the running costs similar to that of the 3 previous Rover 75s I had. I changed to to the Jaguar as I did not like the facelift version of the 75 and thought Jaguar had made a much better job of their late 2004 facelift than MG Rover managed to do with the 75.
The first 1998 S-Types had a different front suspension setup which was revised and much improved in 2002/3, and I would say if considering an S-Type that 2003 m y (model year) and beyond would be the better models to go for. Also in 2003 they introduce the ZF 6 speed auto box, replacing the previous 5 speed Ford unit. The interior was also updated at this point to a similar dash arrangement to the Rover 75.
The V6 Petrol (2.5 or 3Ltr)was also available with a 5 speed manual gearbox which mine has, along with its silky smooth 2.5 ltr V6. A manual 6 speed ZF gearbox was also available for the 2.7 V6 Diesel version. All V8 versions were fitted with automatic transmissions, at first with the 5 speed Ford unit, then 2003 onwards, the ZF 6 speed autobox.
A couple of photos of my S.
Regards
Telfer.