Currently, I own a 2000 Audi A6 2.8 and it is getting old. I want to get a newer car and would like to buy a Jaguar X-type. I like the fact that it is awd, it's a four dour sedan, and its a sporty car. Can you guys give me some buying suggestions and tips? I'm looking for a 2004-07 X-type. I know that the older 2002-03 x-type's had some mechanical problems with the throttlebody. Any other main problems with this car?

Thanks!
James

 

Ok, where are you located? Have you done a search at Jaguar: Luxury Cars & Sports Cars | Jaguar USA or used New Cars, Used Cars - Find Cars at AutoTrader.com I also understand that there are many X-Types in Florida where the snow-birds kept their "other" car so there may be good searching there.

General rule '04 or later, 3.0, fewest miles possible, Certified if possible, etc., etc., etc.

Good luck
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

Thanks so much for the advice! Any major problems with these cars I should know about? How about reliability?

Thanks,
James

 

The transfer case is under-engineered and is a known problem for one. There really is no way to tell if it is about to go bad since it is not serviceable. The one suggestion would be to drain/replace the lubricant soon after buying a car (there are instructions on how to do this elsewhere).

The rest is just care and feeding of a fairly complex (and expensive...) car. If the car was well treated and serviced they are very reliable. If that was not the case then they will bleed you dry...

The good thing is that most of the systems were designed/engineered by Ford and like it or hate it, Ford brought modern large-scale production/testing to Jaguar.

Try to find one still under factory warranty, then when that warranty ends check the extended plan offered by Ford. I got one last July and it turned out that Ford offered it since my car was originally a "Ford" and was, at the time, still covered by a "Ford" factory warranty. My Jaguar dealer has had no problem getting paid by Ford for the warranty service that I have needed since getting the extended warranty.
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

James, you talk about wanting a sporty car. This may be an expensive car to own. LIke was mentioned, the transfer case is a little weak and there has been no upgrades made available to correct that. So, if you are looking to play stop light to stop light, have a bucket of money standing by for a new transfer case. You drive sensibly, then the transfer case will outlast the car. The transfer case is not a fan of 4,000+ RPM tranny shifts. Will a single shift break the transfercase. By no means. It is when you start getting up to the 500th, or the 700th one that it starts letting you know it has been abuse too much. There doesn't seem to be a lot of reasoning behind it other than heavy footed-ness. If you want sporty, then spend a little more and go after either an S-Type or the XJ. While these are both RWD only, they will do more of the sporty that you are after and will handle it much better.

 

I am also interested as well. Was hoping for a sticky on this forum outlining the x-type pitfalls. I know every car has it's faults and some are dependent on maintance, but I'd like to know how many of them are major $$$ faults. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

 

deadernie, for the most part, when it comes to expensive pitfalls with this car, there is only 1, the transfer case. But, this is easy to overcome if you drive the car sensibly. If you are planning on playing with the car and doing a fair number of high RPM (ie, over 4,000 RPM) shifts, you may want to look at the S-Type or the XJ. That will take that kind of performance much better. Not saying that you can't occassionally put your foot into it. But, the more you do it, the sooner that new transfer case will be required.

The other common "pitfalls" with this car are:
1) vacuum leaks. These are normally cheap fixes, especially if you can do them yourself. These are very well documented here and in most cases, $20 or less will get the car up and running with no problems.
2) headlights. The supports for the headlights are marginal. They seem to last well enough if you don't touch them, but you get in and start man-handling the headlight internals, they will easily fail on you. This is where this can be a cheap fix or an expensive fix based on what you are willing to do. It can be expensive if you don't have any mechanical ability and you have the HID headlights (a brand new headlight is about $800). If you can pull the headlight out of the car and can use some epoxy glue, you can fix it for a few hours of your time.
3) e-brake lever. this is a hit and miss with this car. Some people have never had an issue, others have perpetual issues. I have personally taken this project on as I am one of those that was having to replace atleast 1 rear caliper a year due to the e-brakes not releasing. Worst case, you can get a rebuild caliper for around $100. I have a repair method that really only costs you your time once you get a few tools. This requires a specialty socket (14mm pentasocket) which can be had via e-bay for around $20. The rest of the tools are your everyday tools that you probably already have at your house.

If you want a good car to do cruising with, the X-Type is great for that. You want something to sling around town, mess with "boys and their rice", this is going to be an expensive car.

On a side note, what part of MD are you in? I'm down in the southern tip near California/Pax River NAS.