Hey guys! After years of lusting, and making the mistake of buying a 2000 Mustang GT, I have brought home my first Jaguar.

This car made too much sense to pass up. 2005 X-Type 2.5L with 5-speed and bone stock. 70k miles and stole it from the dealership for 3k less than market value. 4-door is great for my family, AWD is perfect for Ohio winters, 2.5L engine improves my mileage situation (work 30 miles from home), and 5-speed satisfies my need to drive a car.

New guy questions:
Is the rear suspension supposed to seem looser than front? I swear I hear the rear struts giving up earlier than what I would call normal.

Is the 5th gear shorter than most American cars? At 70 MPH (112 km/h), the tach reads about 2700 RPMs. I'm used to 2000 RPMs and don't know if this is normal due to the torque curve being in this area.

Tested drifting in snow and must say that it performs on par with my Jeep with regards to predictability. Let off the gas in hard lock turns and it straightens right up. Breaking, though, seemed more in-line with my Mustang in that it kicked out the break pedal (think this is a Ford system and thus the similarity) which basically responds in a dead pedal condition. Is this normal? I was on very slick pavement and know that AWD won't help here. I also realize that this is a heavy compact car and will have to adjust breaking habits.

Lastly, when I depress the clutch there is a delay in RPMs dropping. In my mind I think that this may be due to the smaller engine displacement and the extra back pressure required of the exhaust and that it holds air pressure to an extent. Totally talking out of my ***, but it makes sense to me.

Any tips to establishing current state of the car are greatly appreciated. Check this, look at this, if this looks like this do this... that type of stuff.

Must say that I love the fit and finish of the car. Kids and wife love it. It's everything I expected and more. I work as a Product Manager for an audio focused company and plan on many modifications to the audio system in the future. I hope to add my knowledge of audio to the community as time permits.

Sorry for the novel...
-Mike

 

Mike, welcome to the forums. I think you will find us a very enjoyable group to be around and we will tell you how things are and not try to sugar coat it.

As for the suspension, yes the front end of these cars seems to be planted a little better than the rear. So, yes, the rear end will see to want to step out first on you. But, the balance is pretty good overall and if you know how to use the gas pedal some in a corner, you will find that the car will have almost neutral balance.

As for the RPM, yes, the kitties are geared a little different than what you are used to. But, the motors are also programmed for this higher RPM. No need to worry about it.

As for the engine RPMs, I do not think it is so much a "motor is maintaining RPMs" as much as it is how the tach is programmed and it will take a moment for the tach to respond to rapid RPM changes.

As for things to watch out for: The big thing is not trying to drive the car like a speed demon. The transfer cases in these cars are a bit on the weak side. So, if you like to go light to light, banging through the gears, this is going to be an expensive car to maintain. You drive sensibly, the transfer case will outlast the car.

Also, these cars seem to suffer from a lot of vacuum leaks. This is nice in that the parts to fix the vacuum leaks are cheap and you have a very few select items that are always the culprit. It just can get a bit tiring when you have vacuum leak after vacuum leak.

Another thing to watch for is when you start getting random CELs and whatnot, this is normally due to the battery starting to get weak. These cars seem to be sensitive to a fully charged battery. The voltage starts to dip and the computers do not like it.

Overall, the car is very reliable and if you have the ability to work on the car, most things can be done by you at home. But, if you are looking to modify the car (like you would a Mustang), I wish you luck. There are not many options for a car like this. normally you have 1 manufacturer to choose from and the prices are reflective of the Jaguar image. The only other option is going custom and well, plan to pay a custom price. Not saying that there are not things you can upgrade, but the options are pretty limited.

 

This drove me nuts at first, but I got used to it pretty quick.

Congrats on your Jaguar.

 

Don't plan on making any changes, and truly appreciate your reply!

I've grown up a bit since the Mustang (not too much I hope, though) and got the 2.5L for the mileage.

Hoping to pass it on to my daughter providing she keeps a 3.5 GPA or higher over the next 4 years.

Also was wondering about the transfer case and appreciate your advice. Will probably change out the gear oil just because, but it seems the previous owner took very good care of the car.

 

Hey Mike, no novel, just a really nice post thanks for sharing.

congrats on the car and I'm sure she'll do you proud......there's loads n loads of info and tech helps from great guys here, so check in often

 

Congrats. I don't know about the gas mileage...I used to get better mileage on my old LS1 V8.

 

Just topper her back off and found that I'm getting 25 miles per gallon mixed mileage. Gotta say I'm pretty impressed!

Looked at the airbox/intake mod and was considering the Borla or Mina exhaust. My thoughts are that if I increase horsepower, the engine doesn't have to work as hard to perform the same 70 MPH task on the highway and should drop RPMs enough to make a mileage gain. Thoughts?

Here's the basis of my theory: I had a 1995 Ford Thunderbird with a 4.6L V8 when I lived in Arizona. Used to drive it to Vegas a bunch, which took almost a full tank of gas for the trip. Installed low restriction cold air intake, removed catalytic converter for a straight pipe, and removed mufflers just for fun. This reduced my fuel consumption over the same trip to Vegas under the same conditions to using 3/4 tank of gas.

Anecdote: The funniest part of all of this is that I passed the strict Arizona emissions check with the attendant looking at me like he wasn't even supposed to be allowed to test that car with the modifications being apparent in the sound of the car.

Any tips on increasing mileage would help greatly, and I'm currently searching for the lightest wheels I can find.

 

usaftbird, motor modifications are not going to cause the motor to turn less RPMs for a given speed. What it can do is to make it so the engine is not having to work as hard as it needs to to either bring in the air or push the air out. This is where your mileage gains come from. If the motor has to work less to bring in the air or push the exhaust out, it has to do less work, therefore more of the power is making it to the wheels.

On a side note, some of the members have played with their exhausts to the point that they have gotten engine codes because the engine did not have enough backpressure, which lead to the catalytic converter not being able to perform efficiently. So, it is a fine line that you are running. You can modify the muffler or you can remove the resonator. But, if you do both, you are likely to have problems.

As for other things to keep your mileage as high as possible, the big thing is keeping your speed consistent, preferably at about 70 mph. I find that the X doesn't like being in town at all. Kinda like it like the engine RPMs up over 2,000 RPM, but under 3,000. I have not taken the time to narrow things down more than that. But, this is what I have noticed during my driving.

Since you have the 2.5L motor. I would tell you to hold the gas pedal down so the car shifts at about 3,500 RPM. That should give you some nice acceleration without being abusive on the mileage.

As for other modifications, just skip right past the "Tornado" intake inserts, the intake electric superchargers, or the cheapo "computers" to improve your mileage. All of them are snake oil products. Items like the "Tornado" only are good for book ends. Same goes for throttle body spacers.

If you want more info, I am sure some of the members can chime in and we can tell you what works and what doesn't.

 

Thanks Thermo!

I wasn't thinking of going to the extreme and put straight pipes on it, but appreciate your tip on the balancing act. Had an old 16V GTI that preferred the back-pressure as well.

Well aware of snake oil out there being in the Audio Industry!

Speaking of audio, I see that Metra sells a steering wheel integration harness that works with aftermarket stereos. Gonna give one a try and report back how it works out.