I am going in the morning to test drive the 3 different 2003 X-type 2.5L's that I have narrowed it down to to purchase. With this being my very first Jaguar, I was hoping that ya'll could help me out with some suggestions and ideas of things that I need to inspect/listen/look for while looking at and test driving. I have looked at the CarFax and know that the routine maintenance has been done to it. I just know that everyone on this forum has or has had a Jaguar or two and has learned from owning them, therefore has an incredible amount of knowledge. So any input or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

the main things that are going to be wrong with this car can be easily seen or heard. Listen to the car at all speeds and if you hear a slight whine from the front of the car, go to the next because the transfer case is going to quit soon. If you hear a slight whine from the rear of the car, no big deal, this is the center driveshaft support bearing and can be replaced easily if you are into doing DIY.

The biggest thing (what I got screwed by) is check under the car to see if it is wet at all. If it is wet, go to the next. I thought replacing an oil pan gasket was easy, but still have the gasket in my garage just waiting to tackle this PITA job.

Also, if you can get a 5 speed instead of an automatic, I would highly recommend it. I haven't seen as many problems with the manual trannys.

 

carlinasj, not to talk you out of the X-Type, but if you are looking for a sporty car to go from light to light, revving the engine, then the X-Type is going to be an expensive car for you to own. You want something to cruise the highways at 70 mph, then this is a good car. Like was mentioned, the transfer cases in these cars are relatively weak and if you do a bunch of hard accelerations, the transfer case is going to fail. At $3000 a transfer case to have it installed and seeing them fail in as little as 30K miles, you can see where that gets expensive. You accelerate where the car will naturally shift at about 3,000 RPM, then the transfer case will outlast the car. You start pushing the shift points up to say 5,000 RPM on a routine basis, plan on setting aside about $200 a month for a new transfer case.

As for other problems, like was mentioned, the whines the car can make. Also, do a visual of the check engine light. It should come on as you attempt to start the car and then as soon as the engine is running, will go off. If it stays on, there is some issue with the car. If you are a backyard mechanic, you can normally fix it pretty easy. If you are not, it can get expensive to fix.

Do the idiot checks: do the wipers work, engine/drivetrain make any funny noises when accelerating hard (which I recommend doing atleast once when test driving as this is the most likely time it will make a noise), do the windows auto down and up (all 4 windows in this car, granted if they don't, you can show the salesman in another car how they do and that you will have to have this "fixed" and that some money needs to come off the car if you are going to buy it, really, the fix is just holding the button in the DOWN position for a few seconds after the window is all the way down and then closing the window (holding the button in the UP) and holding the switch in the UP position for a few seconds after the window is shut. You do that, the AUTO UP/DOWN feature will be restored.

Like was also mentioned, the underside of the car is ok if there is a little bit of oil. But, if it looks like someone just did an oil change and dropped oil all over the place, RUN.

On a personal note, you may want to consider looking at the 3.0L motors. They are not quite as popular, but the power differences are nice. The 3.0L motor has a lot more low end torque. So, there is no need to be hard on the gas. The 2.5L motor will make the car move, but you need to get the RPMs up in the band (keeping it above say 3,000 RPM). The 3.0L motor can accelerate about the same way keeping the RPMs under 4,000 at all times. If you are worried about mileage, there is only about a 1 mpg difference between the two motors.

 

I picked up my new 2003 X-Type 2.5L with Sports package, Quartz in color with tan interior.Has 78k miles and I got a 5 yr/100,000 mile extended warranty on this car to boot!!! Super happy and in love with my new Jaguar!!!!

 

Sounds great! These are great cars if you don't abuse them! Glad to hear you are loving it just as much as most of us are!

 

Congrats Caroline!