Hi Guys,

Newbie here, looking for a bit of advise on getting my first Jag X-Type, I've been looking for a couple months now and think I have worked out the models available the spec of each. I'm looking to get a Sport or Sport Premium, and want to get the NAV screen/climate control, and half leather seats, full leather if I can find it. I have around £5000 to spend.

I've asked a few people about the X-Type and they are being rather negative towards it, its a expensive Ford Moneo, they have suffer with flywheels, injectors, spark plug changes are pain. But I'm not going to let all that put me off, what I want to know is, as owners of the X-Type, what are the good and bad points, and what do I need to look out for when buying one?

Oh another thing, I'm one who loves their music, and to me a cars standard stereo system is never good enough. I'm looking to fit all my audio into my new car, DLS R6A 6.5" components, DLS Classic 6x9's (do the Jags use 6x9? will be taken from my current Lexus IS200), Kenwood 12" Sub powered of a Genesis Series 3 5 channel amp. But I've heard something about fibre optic cables in the X-Type, is this is a problem for me?

I look forward to your replies.

Dean

 

Dean, first off, welcome to the Forums. Lots of good information here and lots of people willing to share it.

As for your questions. Maintenance on this car is not any worse than it is on a Ford Mondeo. So, if they are saying it is bad on this car, then they are saying it is bad on a very popular car. Just some food for thought. The X-TYpe uses a motor that is very similar to the Mondeo (there are a few slight differences). So, I would not let that worry you.

As for pros and cons, the biggest pro is you can pick up the car for very little and have people think that you are driving this very expensive car. The con is more based around how your drive. The X-Type is a cruiser, not a light to light racer. You want to push the motor to its limits quite often, then odds are, you are going to have lots of issues with the car. You get out on the highway, it will cruise all day long with no issues. I bought my X-Type and put 100,000 miles (160,000 KM) with no driveline issues other than standard stuff (brakes, shocks, tires). Now, did I race it light to light, day after day? No. Did I occasionally have a little fun and leap off the line to surprise someone. Oh hell yeah. I don't see the maintenance on this car any worse than any other vehicle on the road. The negativity was that it got lumped in as not being a "true Jaguar" and was simply a dressed up Ford. Still has the kitty on the hood.

Where I think you might have a hard spot with the car is the stereo. If you want the factory Nav/auto AC/etc, putting in amps and other stuff is going to be a bit challenging. Note, I didn't say it can't be done. The problem is the radio has a built in amp. So, you are going to need to get a line level converter to bring things down to something the amps can handle. Replacing the radio is not an option if you get the Nav as it is incorporated into a lot of other things and the big thing you will loose is the ability to control your heat/defroster/AC. Converting back to the manual setup isn't really an option due to the stuff that has been added to make the automatic portion of the system work. Now, if you get the basic radio and forgo the stock Nav system and install an aftermarket radio, then you will be golden. Some members have done that and had some pretty clean installs. You may also find that the aftermarket Nav system is going to be better overall not only in sound quality, but in Nav functionality too.

If you have other questions, let me know. I will tell you straight up what you can expect.

 

Welcome Dean.

I would echo Thermo's response. I have only had my x-type for 9 months now, but overall, am very pleased with it. I just laugh at the Ford Mondeo comparison. Outside the chassis and a few internal parts its a JAG. Drive it and you will see.

Since these cars are old you will want to update it. I have been updating since I got mine. The first I did was the lights, both interior and exterior. I am xenon and led throughout now. There is a lot of information on here for that--especially by Thermo.

As for radio/gps etc. Jaguar was part of a consortium with Diamler, BMW, GM, and Ford, to introduce the D2B network to cars. It is an early digital network that is now deprecated.

If you get a premium sound system, it will be connected to that D2B network, along with NAV, phone, voice etc, if you find a car with any of these in it. For audio, this means you have an amplifier with D2B digital inputs. I don't believe any are even made now. you have to find used systems.

Basically, you have to decide if you are going to stick with the D2B system, or go around it. A native NAV unit looks great. But there are no more NAV discs being made (2012 is the latest). If you stick with that built in NAV, you are pretty much searching online for native jaguar parts to build around it--like me.

There are lots of mods that allow you to add back-up cameras, even a way to get an OS (windows or Android) on the native NAV screen. But these are fairly involved and are not cheap. Many find it simpler and for the same $ (or even less), replace the whole system.

We make these mods because we like the cars, and don't mind taking care of them.

Oh, oil and filter changes are a snap, and I found it fairly easy to dislodge and clean my MAF sensor too. Nothing else has been needed yet.

Look everything over here, lots of info.

 

Hey guys thanks for the warm welcome. Thank you for clearing up about the stick the car gets about being a Ford. I'm not going to let that put me off because I love the look of the car, and as you have said you can get a lot of car for very little money. I didn't think that these cars are hard to carry out routine maintenance. To be honest with you I don't race my cars anyway, I'm looking for just a comfortable cruiser around town and maybe the odd long motorway journey.

I know what you guys are saying about the stereo system, with my current Lexus IS200, the standard stereo system was designed as separates, 4ohm from speakers, 4 ohm mid range speakers with 2 ohm sub built into them, standard separate amp which supplies the correct frequencies to all speakers and power to the stereo. It was a pain to bypass and ended up replacing all speakers because the sound was crap after the standard stereo had been bypassed. When I first installed the sub into the Lexus with the standard stereo I had to use a line converter taking the audio feed from the rear speakers, which a lot of people say is a no no.

If I was to run my 5 channel amp and all expensive audio setup from a line converter audio feed I'm not too sure I would trust it depending on what the ohm rating is, 2ohm feed on a 4ohm £1200 amp. This could be a project to take on in the future.

My plan was to keep the mods subtle, LED number plate lights, HID headlight bulbs, LED sidelights and LED interior lights, subtle but classy mods. I did want to change the speedo colour from green to white and maybe a few other internal lighting to white. I've also seen the 5 spoke wheels which look like XJR wheels which would set the car off nicely. But its all ideas in planning at the minute, I've got to wait till the first quarter of next year to get the car yet.