I have the opportunity to purchase a 2002 X-Type from the original owners - a 91 year old 'little old lady'. She is a distant relative that recently had her keys taken away and wants the car gone. I am planning to look at it this weekend but have not been given many details about it. Here is what I know : Black on black, 62K miles and according to family it is 'fully loaded' with options. I don't know the specifics yet about options or even which engine. It is a mid west car (Dayton, Ohio) but was shipped to Florida each January and back in April. I believe is is mostly city miles as they didn't make any long trips. All maintenance performed as scheduled. They are asking $2,000.

From what I have read/researched rust is a major issue with these. Hopefully there is no rust due to limited use during the winter in salt areas.
I have also read about the transfer case issues. Based on the owners I imagine it has been lightly used so hopefully no issues here.

I plan to inspect the sills for rust closely and drive to make sure engine runs smoothly and no funny noises. I will listen closely for any sign of whining from the transfer case or strange suspension noises.

What other issues specific to this vehicle should I be looking for? I can turn a wrench so any type of regular maintenance items I can take of.

I am planning on this being used by my daughter to get to class daily. I like what I have read about the all wheel drive and think this would be a safe car for her to drive.

I know it is hard to say without knowing more specifics (engine, options) but I think for $2K (if the items I mentioned above check out that) this is a good deal. Any thoughts on the price?

Lastly if I do purchase it, what maintenance items should be at the top of my list? I hope they have complete service records for my review.

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

If it is as well taken care of as you describe, that sounds like a terrific car. It would have either a 2.5 liter engine or a 3.0 liter engine. Biggest difference is the 3.0 is a bit more powerful, but the 2.5 does not make it feel underpowered. If you know your way around a car you should be able to discern pretty quick if it is in decent shape or what might need some attention. If something needs to be changed most parts are not terribly expensive either compared to other cars.

Biggest thing would be to change all the driveline fluids (transmission, transfer case and rear differential) if they haven't been done. There were some early teething issues with early transfer cases, but if this car was one of them affected, chances are the issue would have appeared sometime in the last 17 years. With the early transfer cases being a viscous coupling, they are especially good in some provided you have a good set of tires.

Generally maintenance is not too bad for most things for a DIYr. If you would do a search on here for any items you might have questions about, most likley you would find the answer and how to fix it as pretty much anything that can happen to an X-Type has been discussed on here through the year.

Good luck. Hope it works out for you and if you do end up getting it there are a lot of people here that will help you out.

 

Steggy, look at the rear wheels. See if they are leaning in at the top. If so, you may need to replace some suspension arms in the rear. Also look at the inside edge of all 4 tires. When the rear arms start to wear, the inside edge of the rear tires gets eaten up in a heartbeat. IF the front toe is off, this will eat up the inside edge of the front tires. You will also notice a shake in the steering wheel when you hit 60+ mph. If you need rear suspension components, look up "thermo a-arms". You will find many threads on this subject.

One note of caution and I am sure I am going to hear grief about this: be easy on the transfer case. Yes, it should not have any issues. But, it has also seen a pretty easy life more than likely. Especially the early transfer cases (like what you are getting) were built such that the bearings could fail early. This was especially common on those cars that saw hard accelerations from a stand still. Not saying that your daughter is going to race the car around, but it is something that she should know about. May keep her driving the car a little easier. The car will do highways till the wheels fall off of it. It isn't a "I accelerated hard once and the transfer case failed. It takes many hard pulls to make it fail. Getting on it once in awhile is not going to really hurt it. So, don't baby it. But, you abuse it and it may abuse you.

As for the motors, both are suitable for the car. The big difference is where they make their power. The 2.5L likes to be wound up. You get the motor up around 4K-5K RPM, it is going to scoot. Where the 3.0L, you can be down at 2K RPM, driving down the highway, and then ease into the gas to scoot around a slower car without having to downshift. The mileage on both cars is going to be very close to each other.

 

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'll be sure to check tire wear closely.

I'll report back to this thread after I have had a chance to view/inspect.