Some may know but, I had a pretty nicely built x type (was no where near done) that I ended up giving to my ex when we broke up a couple months ago so she could have a decent car to drive. She didn't work, it was our family car and I have work trucks and vans to drive so it made since...

My plan was to build the most powerful x type but a couple things always had me questioning. 1 being an automatic and 2 being the 2.5. I was going to just find a donor 3.0 and build it on the side and do the swap once built but I'd still have to worry about ecu tune/swap to match the 3.0. Blah blah blah we all know the issues...

Anyways, I'm searching for a clean, lower milage x type right now with the 3.0 and manual but my question is what year? Didn't the transfer case have an overhaul at a some point? I had an 02 and thought it drove like a tank in the snow, I loved it! It didn't have any traction control buttons and I never saw a dcs on the dash or anything. Is this what I should be looking for as a build or does that not matter? Is this the model with the viscous coupler? I'm already in talks with a buggy and off road shop about rebuilding a transfer case for me and bracing it to the vehicle. So I guess, does it matter what model I get just as long as the transfer case I have built is a VC case?

If you were to buy another x, what would you be searching for?

I'm looking to build this car over the next year or maybe 18 months. I've put a budget of 20k including the price of the car so stay tuned!

Please, help a dude out!

Ps. I never left, I kept trolling the forums. I'm addicted. Hence buying another x type!

 

If you like the X-Type so much, take time to find one exactly of what you like, the best money you can buy with all the options it had, as I will do for my next X-Type.

 

Mentality, the viscous couple was only with the first gen cars. So, that means you have to look at the cars built from 2002 to early (March or before) 2004. After that point, they went to the open style transfer case. Some of the first gen X-Types did have DSC, but it was somewhat repetitive since the viscous coupling did the same thing and a very rare option.

You can get a newer X-Type and then put the viscous coupled transfer case into it so you can have a newer car with the more capable transfer case.

I would first start with making a list of must have options. Is the Nav a must have? Folding mirrors? Sport suspension? etc. Odds are, since you are after power, the 3.0L engine will be a must. Having a manual tranny would be nice, but those will be very few and far between to find.

If I was to build up a car, I would probably be looking for either an S-TypeR or an XJR personally. The initial cost is going to be slightly more for the same year car. But, the performance that you can get out of one of those is going to be far more than you can dream of getting out of the X-Type. The only place that the X-Type may out perform is under hard acceleration in a curve, and only because of the AWD. The daily comfort and the ability to get way more power out of the engine goes to the other 2.

 

I've got dec '01 ('02 MY) 3.0 manual with DSC.

I don't know if it still has viscous coupling transfer box, and the funny thing is that we haven't had snowy winter for 3 years in Poland now (even though few years ago I had lots of snow every year ...)
So, my Jag hasn't seen much snow yet. I've seen DSC working... ONCE (I intentionally floored it on first and only ice I've found).
But if I were to buy X-Type again, I'd buy 3.0 manual with DSC again without any doubt.
Just in case this winter will be normal again.

But I agree with Thermo that X-Type doesn't seem a good candidate for performance car. Transfer box is fragile and the space under bonnet is very cramped, making some repairs quite tricky.

btw. early X-Types with DSC have rare DSC module BOSCH 0265950029 - pump 1X43-2C405-BD. They can fail due to heat from engine and are more expensive to replace that in other X-Types.
I'd love to know if they can be replaced with other part number.

 

What ever you get make sure it is from the south. My car came from Vegas. Not a spec of rust on it. Being a Northern guy you know what happens to our car in only a few years.

I paid a bit more, but I got my BRG car in manual, rust free.

 

This is an old thread. X-Type Mentality has been building up his car quite a bit over the last two years. Read some of his threads.