I'm considering buying a 2003 Type X 2.5L with 133K on it.
I come from a sporty car looking for something to surpass it - 2004 Cavalier with exhaust and intake mods.
Also hoping to put an audio system in it. How many Watts can I get out of this vehicle?
Seems like a clean car and well taken care of, test driving it Wednesday.
Cheers!~

 

AniKonda, it sounds like you want a car to go light to light and have a lot of fun accelerating in it. If so, then the X-Type is not for you. If you do some research, you will find that the X-TYpe is known for having a weak transfer case. It seems like it doesn't so much mind the high RPM power, but the low end torque is what kills them. A new transfer case is going to set you back about $3000 USD. So, as you can see, this car can potentially become a very expensive car to own. With this being said, it may have been a manufacturing defect and by now those bad transfer cases have eaten themselves and now what is left out there is something that will handle what you are after. Are you willing to take that gamble? The problems do seem to have gone away as the years have ticked by, but you still hear about one here and there. The car is a great cruiser and will handle 80-90 mph all day long. But, you want to **** of the Mustang, it will do it, but it will come at a price.

As for the audio, you have to know what radio is in the car to begin with. The car has essentially 2 different radios that come in it. You have a basic radio (looks like any other factory radio from that era) and then you have the Nav system radio. The basic radio you can pull out and install a double DIN radio and the sky is the limit. With the alternator in the car, you can easily get 800W RMS (1600W peak) out of the car. You can probably push it some and get up into the 1200W RMS (2400W peak) range without any major electrical upgrades. That should be more than enough for even a person that likes loud music. The cars come from the factory with a 160 amp alternator. Unfortunately, to go beyond there can be a rather pricy excursion and then depending on the shop you use, can create more problems than solutions. The car is really picky on what alternator it gets.

If you have the NAV system, then you are pretty much stuck with what the car has unless you plan on installing an inline converter to drop the line wires down to RCA level inputs. The problem comes in that the NAV system also integrated the A/C controls into the radio. So, to install a different radio will mean you will loose your heat-A/C. Unfortunately, you can't revert back to the basic radio controls without ripping apart the whole dash to replace pretty much the whole dash ventilation system.

So, can you install a high power stereo? MAYBE. More info would be needed.

If you are truely wanting a car that will provide the performance that you are after, then you really need to be looking at an S-Type R. Those can be had for slightly more than the X-Type, but the performance will be night and day difference from the X-Type. That car will handle the supercharged 4.2L power with ease. Yo ucan even add a few power upgrades and really make it move without worry about breaking something.

I am not trying to talk you out of the X-Type, but I am also a realist in explaining why you may not be the right person for that type of car.