hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum and new to being a jag owner as well and just wanted to start this to meet everyone and also understand a bit more about my X-type! common problems,little quirks whatever you wanna post or give advice im all ears! im going to be the proud owner of a 2003 x type and i have heard good things about it so far things im curious of is listed below...
-do they require premium unleaded gas?
-common issues of course
-price of maintenance and repairs
-reliability and performance from experienced owners
those are really the main questions i had about them. for extra info about it it is going to be the 2.5l automatic base model with AWD.
join in guys let me know what you know and help me become a seasoned expert!

 

chaos, welcome to JF. I think you will find it very enjoyable here. We strive to make this place as friendly and jovial as we can make it. We pride ourselves in being a better car club. But as part of this, we also ask that you stop by the New Member section and introduce yourself there. There you will be able to meet up with those that make this place what it is.

As for your questions:

- Premium fuel: This has been asked a lot and this is what I will tell you: must you use it, depends on the car. Some people have used regular unleaded and had no issues. Others have gone down to mid grade and had nothing but issues. There doesn't seem to be any relation to why some cars handle it better than others. So, do you have one of those cars that is very picky or do you have done that will be happy with whatever you feed it?

Common issues: I can sum them up into 2 basic categories: vacuum issues and rear suspension issues. The car is really picky about any sort of vacuum leaks. The good thing is we know where you are most likely to get a vacuum leak and they are fairly cheap to replace. Others are a bit more involved. But, if you can turn a wrench, you can save yourself lots of money and fix them yourself. As for the rear end, the control arms seem to be touchy about the condition of the bushings. If you see your rear tires starting to wear on the inside, it is probably time to do some rear suspension work. We have posts here on how to fix just about anything on the rear suspension if you do some looking . There is even a post about an upgraded upper control arm that will help fix the negative camber issue (plus the cost of 2 of the upgraded arms is the same as one factory arm). The only other "common" issue I can think of is the rear calipers. Again, this is one of those things that some people have no issues and others are working on the rear brakes once a year because the e-brake lever froze up on them. The brakes will not give out on you. The issue stems from the e-brake lever getting stuck and it will lead to excessive wearing of the pads. There is a how-to on repairing the caliper if you are one of those with a bit more mechanical ability that the average joe.

Price of Maintenance: This is a very loaded question. If you go to the Jag dealership to get all your work done, it is going to be costly. Your local shop that you trust should be able to do most of what you need as the suspension on this car is not any more complicated than that of say a Ford Fusion or a Volvo S40 (both of these cars actually share common parts with your X-Type). The engine is a Ford Duratec with a few twists (location of the water pump, different intake (yet, does the same job)). If you can do your own work, then you will find this car not any more difficult to work on than any modern day car. Probably easier as we can tell you a lot of the pitfalls and give step by step on what needs to be done. If you can do the work yourself, then this car is not any more expensive than your last Ford/Chevy/Dodge/etc.

Reliability: I think the car is a very reliable car if you are nice to it. What I mean by this is the X-Type is a cruiser, not a drag racer. It likes to get out on the highway and get up to 80 and just run. You want to go light to light and play with other drivers on the road. Well, hope you have deep pockets. You will **** off the kitty and it will make you mad back. I had my X-Type for 7 years and it didn't have any other issues than I would have gotten with any other modern vehicle with 180K on the clock.

 

ah im not sure what is used in it currently but i will be sure to ask i took it on a test drive and it drove very nice with 130k on it. i am also very happy to hear they arent too complicated to work on as i have some mechanic experience. also good to know i was browsing for commonly replaced parts and they seemed to be in the range of more common cars in my area price range wise. thankfully i dont use my car as a drag racer as well i love to just cruise so fits me perfectly! thanks for the info and proper direction ill be sure to look around!

 

A couple of other known issues yet mentioned here...Is the drive train..Not so much the engine , be it the 2.5L or the 3.0L..thay had coolant system issues, from expansion reservoir tank to water pumps...the big problem was losing coolant and finding out too late because the engine overheats and fails...

The Transmission is a JATCO and requires regular fluid changes with proper fluid specs, if you want long life as well as the transfer case..The Sealed for life champagne was a death sentence for these cars...finally most X-type owners woke up and started servicing these items....The center support bearing of the propeller shaft is a known noise maker as it begins to fail...and then there is the Ghost of Lucas haunting the electrical system, mainly all the battery cables fail...Other issues are basic wear and tear items.

Just keeping it honest. I had a 03..3.0L and kept it running great for 8 years until I sold it and it was still running great..but I put a lot of TLC and preventative maintenance into it to keep it in tip top shape.

 

ah man you make it sounds scary... lol but its always good to know!

 

As soon as you get it home drain and refill the transfer case.

There is a pretty simple jack up one side of the car to drain and jack up the other to fill thread, should be easily found with a search.

 

common issue or preventive measure? i have access to alldata so i can find it easily just curious.

 

Jaguar lifetime lubrication.

 

Welcome !!

Changing the fluids on a new to you car is always the best practice then you know you are starting fresh and not relying on the previous owner.
I would suggest changing the following. (in order of priority IMHO)

Transfer case oil.
Rear diff oil.
Engine oil.
Fuel, air & cabin filter
Break fluid (Turkey baster to suck out whats in the reservoir and replace)
power steering fluid (turkey baster also)

Now not required but keep in mind and in no order.
Tranny fluid.
Spark plugs (single electrode as our cats don`t like the duel or quad)
Grease center support bearing.
Coolant.

I usually do this on any pre loved car I Buy

 

im not so concerened with the tranny thankfully i know the person well and they also own towing and repair shop but ill be sure to take a look at some them and thankfully i dont buy into those multiple electrode plugs i think they just wear down the electrode quicker. thanks for the advice

 

The X-type and S-type like to eat coils. I recommend planning on replacing your plugs, coils, and all common vacuum hoses within the first few months you own it. Just get the parts ordered (they're all on Amazon, prime if you're a member) and plan a Saturday to get it done. Start about 8am and you'll be all done by dark if not sooner.

I had an '01 2.5l X-type with 100k miles at purchase and it was a wonderful car. Still wish we had it. Bought the wife an S-type because she missed it so much. Enjoy!