It is beginning to get into the Winter season here in WV, and i just got my 2003 X-type this past March. Can anyone tell me how the AWD works on our cars? Like does the AWD "kick out" and if so is it at a certain speed or gear? Any information would be appreciated.

 

When snow falls, an empty parking lot or such is likely the best way to find out. Before you get familiar with it, you should probably consider it like driving an RWD car. Mine kicks out the rear end fairly effortlessly on snow with studded winter tires, and I've actually managed to accidentally extend a 90 degree turn into a 180 degree turn twice last winter at really slow speeds on 2nd gear.

Though, I'm no sporty/racy driver in reflexes nor intent, and had never driven anything but traction control -equipped FWD cars before.

 

NTense, on our cars, the AWD is full time. So, it doesn't kick in and out or shift power around (read below). In your car, as it came from the factory, it had a viscous coupling in the transfer case that keeps power to 1 front wheel and 1 rear wheel at all times. So, you will always have atleast 2 wheels that will have power applied to them. Later years, that is not necessarily the case. Your year car splits the power 40/60 (40% to the front, 60% to the rear).

The other variable is whether you have DSC (Dynamic Stability Control - if you have it, there will be a second button on the center console marked "DSC" next to the "S" button) or not. With DSC, the car will automatically apply the brakes to limit wheel slip to keep all 4 wheels spinning at roughly the same rate. This concept is true of all years for the X-Type.

I mentioned the other type of transfer case as this has an open differential in the transfer case and it can lead to a single wheel taking all the power if you don't have DSC installed in the vehicle. Some older X-Types were "upgraded" to the newer style transfer case when there were issues with it.

LIke was mentioned, the best advice is to find an empty parking lot, get the car there and see how the car handles. I Think you will be impressed with what it will do. If you need some pointers, let us know.

 

Great information Thermo. It is greatly appreciated. Aonsaithya, that is great guidance, as soon as it is "white" around here I will head to the local Wal-Mart.

 

This is kind of off topic, but not really...anyhow I'd really like to find some concrete info on all the differences between the VC transfer cases and its guts and the non VC 04 and up diffs. In my mind, the ultimate set up would be a VC transfer case as strong (or stronger than) an 04 and up one and LSD in the rear and maybe in the front too. I've thought about looking into a ford 8.8 rear diff from a Cobra (the ones with independent rear suspension). Obviously it wouldn't bolt in though. For the front there might be something for a focus or mazda trans that may work, depending on what the Jag trans shares with other ford made cars. I'm talking 5 speed of course. Sorry for rambling haha.

 

Here's a pdf with the most detailed info on the transfer case that I've found, yet unfortunately there is very little info on changes aside from "no viscous coupling later on".

The MTX75 gearbox is Ford, albeit possible altered by Jaguar. The rear suspension at least should be straight out of the Ford Mondeo mk3 estate (saloon and hatchback had different rear suspension) according to this article:
The cars : Jaguar X-TYPE - AROnline

Oh, seen this I suppose?

 

That PDF is helpful, thanks. I've read that site about the X, one of the first things I found when I got on the forums, a great read. As for that silver X, I'd love to know how his transfer case is holding up. I believe the MTX75 is the same trans they used in the SVT contour I had, so if the diff is still the same between the contour and X then Quaife makes a LSD that will work, its a popular upgrade for the SVTs when the stock diff fails. I'll have to look into if the mondeo estates (or Volvo S40s, I forgot about those) have an LSD rear diff option. The ford 8.8 came to mind since I'm a ford guy and I looked into the cobra IRS a lot when I wanted to build a V8 ranger. Its a strong diff, with LSD and its relatively cheap and has options for different gear sets so matching ratios wouldn't be a problem. This year I've focused mostly on the suspension and body of my X (I still have a TON of parts to install), next year is engine and drivetrain so I'm going to get started on my research. thanks for the info!