Hey guys, I just purchased my 04 x type about a year ago, and just wanted to share with everyone, how pleased I am with this car. Even with the stigmas that follow jaguar and even the X type, I love this car. I have had zero problems with it, which is surprising due to the harsh Michigan climate it's been subjected to.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and hope everyone is enjoying theirs as much as I am!!

Cheers
CJ

 

Congratulations! Good to hear you like your x type. Personally I find the X to be graceful, inside and out. Just as a cat should be. It's the only car I've owned that I didn't want to part with after 4 years.

 

Welcome to the four umm! Good to see another happy X'er joining us. Stigmatas aside, I love my black cat too (03 sport), and its been very solid. It came with 35,000 mi on the clock, and she's up to 57k now. Last week i had to replace the water pump, which cost $420 at the dealer, but that was my first "repair."

Enjoy!

 

Cjay, welcome to the club. I think you will find the car a very reliable vehicle as long as you don't abuse it. Then, well, hope the pockets are deep.

Keep looking around and learn what you can about the car. There is lots of useful information here. If you ever have any issues, post up. I'm sure someone around here will be able to help you out.

So, sit back, pull the computer up, and enjoy a cup of Joe. Hope to hear more good stuff from you.

 

I baby the hell out of this car. Washed in a touch-less wash every Saturday during winter, and hand washed every other week inside and out, with full detailing and engine cleaning. It's a pleasure to spend as much time as I do on it. Now I'm just trying to collect some money to add a bit of personal flare to my car. Not sure what I want to do yet though. Any suggestions would be great, though my budget is tight with college, rent and the such.

 

Hello, congrats and have many happy safe driving
Don't forget to take a look at FAQs at the top of the forum

 

Cjay87, one thing that you are going to learn with the X-TYpe is the cheap and mods do not necessarily go hand in hand. First off, when it comes to mods, you have very few options if you want something that is bolt on. So, what that means is doing something custom. As you can imagine, custom and cheap are not in the same ballpark unless you have someone you know that is willing to donate their time.

As for upgrades, how are you with paint and whatnot? The reason why I ask is that you will find that the car will benefit from tinting the side marker lights with what is called "window tint paint". This will make the side markers blend more in with the side of the car, not making them stand out as much as they currently do. You do have the option of going with clear side marker lights, but you will only find them for the lights just in front of the doors. So, you would only get 2 of the 6 on your car to be clear. Looks ok on a light colored car, but with a dark color like what you have, not so much.

You may want to do some looking around for some LED 194 bulbs. This will be a fairly cheap thing to do (I just picked up 10 of these on E-Bay for $4 delivered to my house). That will give you a bright white look to the driving lights (inner headlights when the high beams are not turned on) and they will match up to HID bulbs pretty well. Just a warning though, be nice to the headlight housings. MOre than one member has found out how easy the internals of the headlights are to damage, which then means getting new headlight housings. Not a cheap venture. IF you need more info on this, let me know.

As for other mods, really it depends on what you are contemplating. Another "easy" one is to get some paint the same color as your car (or another color is that is what you are wanting) and then paint up the decorative plastic under the hood.

Just a warning though, so, take this as you see fit. You will find that Jaguar owners (especially those with the older vehicles) like to see the car like it came off the showroom floor. So, any modification (however slight) may be met with opposition. Granted, I will also say that it is your car, so, make it how you want it to be.

Be creative, come up with some ideas and if you need a sounding board, let me know. I have a pretty good hand at making stuff so I can give you some ideas on how to get what you are after. I'm looking at expanding the burled wood inserts on the doors to encompass the whole opening above the handle to pull the door shut. Just need to play with a photoshop program to see what it may look like before I go through the expense of getting the wood (not a cheap thing).

 

Here is what I would eventually like to do. Exterior would be adding some chrome accents (MINA gallery items), though I have found the same parts on Welsh Enterprises, but for much less. However, I'm unsure if there is any difference in quality. If anyone has an answer for that, I'd very much appreciate it. Only other things I would like to do, would be change the grille out for a new black one, but undecided on what one. Lastly, E type hood scoops for a classical throw back to one of my favorite cars on the planet

As far as interior, the only changes I would make are a new shift knob, the color on mine is awful...and an E type steering wheel, full wood grain with black spokes. However the wheel will wait till next winter when I have more disposable income.

I'd greatly appreciate any feedback and/or ideas for a newb Jag Owner. I don't like to make many mods or alterations just tasteful changes to add my own style. And I like the idea of tinting and the bulb swap, I will definitely look more into these, very inexpensive and tasteful! And if you finish or photoshop that wood onto the door, I'd love to see the finial outcome.

 

HI Clay

Welcome aboard. The customization of the X is completely personal. It is either a lot of work, or a lot of money, or both as seen in Jeremy's (exexpat) car. Since you already have the Sport half the work is done. Bolstered seats and the chrome delete is half the battle.

I've just done the LED running lights as Thermo eluded to, I actually think we got the same lights off ebay. I hated the yellowing running lights right beside my HIDs, the LED evens it out although it's more noticeable at night. I tinted the windows, future plans are an aftermarket head unit and speakers, an Exexpat intake system (already in my cart at Autozone) and when my tires are bald maybe some 19s. I'm doing the all 4 wheel new rotor and pads and painting the calipers and getting some 4" exhaust tips as well. I'd like to 'clip' about 3/4 of an inch off the front springs and get the 05 sport chin spoiler. If it weren't so darn expensive I'd get the Estate roof spoiler just because it looks cool. I'm also deleting the roof rails and making some mesh grill inserts. So you can see, either expensive or labour intensive, nothing is easy with our cars.

 

Thanks for everyones input so far!

I have to say, the amount of time and money that has been put into the creative process and also your cars alone is staggering. Since I am a poor-ish college student, most of the more pricey changes will have to wait until I graduate next fall.

To hear the range of ideas is great though. I never though to do any of it, though the ideas are brilliant to say the least. I did order some Blue LEDs off Ebay for my running lights today, but was curious to see if anyone had swapped their interior lighting at all, and how much of a pain that is?