Greetings to all. hopefully you guys can help me out. I am looking for a used vehicle and stumbled upon several 2004-2005 X-Types with under 100K miles for under $5K, which absolutely blew my mind. I was always under the impression these vehicles were much more expensive. So now I am very intrigued by the prospect of owning one of these beautiful machines yet very skeptical as to why the price would be so low. A comparably built 04-05 Accord or Camry with similar mileage would cost me significantly more...

Anyway, I am going to look at a couple of these bad boys this weekend and was wondering what specifically i should look our for. The cars I am looking for are all X-Types, AWD with 3.0. Are there any well known issues that may or should have popped up by now?

On a side note, how are these cars to own? How involved is the maintenance? assuming I pick one up, aside from engine and tranny oil and coolant, what else needs to be done at say 65-70K miles (diffs, transfer case, plugs, etc...)? is there a timing belt that needs to be done?

Thanks in advance for the help

 

Feel free to go back and look at my posts and you should find the answers to your questions. I was in your shoes once and now own one. As with any used vehicle, condition and history are extremely important. Hope this helps



QUOTE=bigpav7;1297160]Greetings to all. hopefully you guys can help me out. I am looking for a used vehicle and stumbled upon several 2004-2005 X-Types with under 100K miles for under $5K, which absolutely blew my mind. I was always under the impression these vehicles were much more expensive. So now I am very intrigued by the prospect of owning one of these beautiful machines yet very skeptical as to why the price would be so low. A comparably built 04-05 Accord or Camry with similar mileage would cost me significantly more...

Anyway, I am going to look at a couple of these bad boys this weekend and was wondering what specifically i should look our for. The cars I am looking for are all X-Types, AWD with 3.0. Are there any well known issues that may or should have popped up by now?

On a side note, how are these cars to own? How involved is the maintenance? assuming I pick one up, aside from engine and tranny oil and coolant, what else needs to be done at say 65-70K miles (diffs, transfer case, plugs, etc...)? is there a timing belt that needs to be done?

Thanks in advance for the help[/QUOTE]

 

"How involved is the maintanence?"

The maintenance is EASY. I have a much easier time working on the X Type than my Lexus LS430, which is a well designed beast. I do all my own work, and often actually look forward to jobs on the X. Can't say the same for the LS.

 

To be honest, my 2002 jaguar x type has been problematic. I would go with a mercedes personally. Don't get me wrong tho, for whatever reason, I do like my x type.

 

Hope not to late!
Open both front doors and look under below the hinges for rust. You are going to get coolant leaks, vacuum leak codes, head light adjusters broke, fast tire wear. Motors are very quiet so any funny noises are abnormal. Transmissions are not problematic if driven carefully, transfer cases can be noisy and need to be flushed for longevity. Drive shafts make noise from carrier bearings, BUT are very good in bad weather(snow) and handle great sound great, stop on a dime and are fun to drive and grow on you after time. Beware LOL Mine has 185000 and has thrilled and tested me for 10 years.

 

Hey, new user here, first post, but I wanted to comment since I recently bought a 2004 3.0 X-Type (My 2nd of the same year and spec).

First one was silver exterior, black interior and was totaled in April with around 135k miles because some Toyota idiot didn't feel the need to stop at a 2-way stop, instead stopped in the middle of the intersection when I saw I was 15 feet away from the intersection. Thanks for that. Maybe I'll make a post about that when the medical claim is closed but for now...(I'm bitter)

Second one is green exterior, tan interior, around 86k miles right now purchased for a little more than the amount you mentioned, but it's in pretty pristine condition, definitely garage kept always, engine bay was steam cleaned and beautiful, looks like it has 5,000 miles on it instead of 86,000.

As for the pros and cons, I'll do cons first because from my experience it's very short. the first one I would say had about 3 issues: the exterior temperature reading on the heating/cooling panel always read 137 F, not sure if the thermostat was dead or maybe it could have been fixed by pulling a fuse, never bothered me enough to check into it. Second, as billbjork said, the headlight adjusters broke, although that car spent a few winters in Western Pennsylvania and then 9 winters in Massachusetts, never in a garage, so that's mostly just poor maintenance but what can you do. Finally, the only other thing I can think of is that maybe a month or so before it was totaled, one of the four streams of windshield wiper fluid stopped spraying. It may have just been clogged at the end, but I'll never know now. As for the replacement car, I've been thinking for a few minutes now and can't think of anything wrong with it, truly.

Pros: I love the steering and the way it handles. I've never driven a car with more satisfying steering, it's so precise, once you've driven it for 10 minutes, you'll know exactly how much steering wheel movement will translate to how much wheel movement, unlike some cars (Particularly, in my experience, the Chrysler 300...that steering feels like a sailboat, it's a guessing game how much you need to turn the wheel to make a turn). It feels very connected to the road and you don't have to figure out how to make the car do what you want. I think it's a beautiful, timeless design. Most people that ask me about it think it's a much newer car than it is and (when they ask and I divulge) a much more expensive car than it is. It's a monster in snow. I've never gotten stuck in the slightest and that's counting several huge storms over the past couple years. This most recent winter, anytime there was a snow storm in the night, I'd go out real early before the plows and just have some (calculated) fun, with the comfort of knowing there was little chance I was going to get stuck anywhere). Really a great car to drive and own, I would recommend one to anyone.