All generations and engines together · 15,017 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 34k
Better than most coupés and convertibles for its age, and one of the best per mile driven. Watch brakes and suspension. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating brakes advisories.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The AJ126 (3.0 supercharged V6) and AJ133 (5.0 supercharged V8) use a rear-mounted timing chain with plastic guides and a tensioner that can wear faster than it should. The tell is a metallic rattle on a cold start that quietens once the oil pressure builds; ignored, it can jump and wreck the engine. Earliest cars (2013-2015) seem to carry the most risk. A straight tensioner and guide job runs to roughly £1,800-£2,800, but a full rebuild after a jump can run £4,500-£11,000 depending on engine.
Plastic coolant crossover pipes and hoses on both the V6 and V8 are known to crack or weep, and on early cars the water pump itself has failed well before you'd expect, sometimes under 20,000 miles. The giveaway is a faint sweet smell after hard driving or a slow, hard-to-pin-down coolant loss with no obvious puddle. Fixing one pipe properly usually means doing the lot at the same time; budget roughly £800-£1,500 for pipes, more if the pump's gone too.
A faulty crank position sensor could make the engine cut out unexpectedly, sometimes while driving. Jaguar issued a UK recall (R/2016/099, June 2016) to inspect and replace the sensor on affected cars. If it hasn't been done, it's a free dealer fix; worth running a recall check against the VIN before you buy.
Owners report discs warping or wearing faster than expected, plus corrosion pitting on cars that sit for long stretches, both of which show up as pulsing or a rougher pedal under hard braking. The measured MOT data backs this up in general terms: brakes are this model's standout fault category against the rest of the coupe-GT segment. It doesn't prove the exact mechanism owners blame, but it does confirm brakes are where this car's MOT trouble concentrates.
On the ZF 8-speed auto (the vast majority of F-Types), owners report harsh 1-2 upshifts and a pause before the car takes up Drive or Reverse, usually worsening from 60-80k miles despite Jaguar badging the fluid as a lifetime fill. A fluid and filter service is a sensible preventative move at around £300-£500; if it's gone further and needs a valve body or mechatronic unit, costs climb well past £2,000. Doesn't apply to the early manual V6 cars.
InControl Touch/Touch Pro screens freezing, Bluetooth dropping out, and odd warning lights for ABS, stability control or tyre pressure are a recurring complaint, alongside occasional battery drain on cars left standing. Owners disagree on how much this actually bothers them day to day, and a software update or reset often clears it, though some cars keep coming back. The 2018-2020 facelift is generally reckoned to be better sorted here.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 7,604 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Coupés, convertibles & GT), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.