First of all, hello everybody. Figured I'd introduce myself and ask a question all in one go.

Secondly, I want to start by saying I've always loved Jaguars. Everything from the interior, to the look of the body, to that beautiful hood ornament. My car finally got totaled after putting ten grand over a year and a half into it (it was a '99 Buick, worth about 1,500). I got approved for a financing loan at a local dealership and I went there to check out their inventory. They have a gorgeous '04 X-type, fairly cheap with a little over 100,000 on it.

I can afford the payments, however I'm 21 years old and several people have asked me what car I'm interested in. As soon as I tell them they fly off the handle. Anything from "It is IMPOSSIBLE to do all the work on that car yourself" to "You're going to have problems with it every other week."

I'm POSITIVE none of the allegations are true, however I figured I'd submit myself to a group of people who I know for a fact know what they're talking about. With that said: What do you guys think?

 

Hi and welcome to the forum Improvise,
maintaining any car may be difficult if things are stretched but if you are in the know through friends and the forum, I believe you can save money in the long scheme of things

Obviously you have taste and like the X Type.

I have had 3 and have one now.

If you go for the 2004, you are probably on to a winner as 2004 models and newer are less prone to major faults and niggles as they were ironed out for these releases.

I have had a 2002 2.0, a 2005 SE Auto and now have a late 2002 sport 2.5 Auto AWD, (all wheel drive).

I prefer the AWD and I believe these cars are better but, I like the AWD integrity for rougher roads and all weather conditions. Having said that the 2.0 liter version is a front wheel drive and for most every day conditions it is a superb car!

The X Type you are looking at is probably very nice but remember if you have a loan and things get tight, you may struggle, but sometimes these things have to be done to progress!

You haven't said what the X Type model is so it might be of interest to enquire further and to ask what kinf of maintenance schedule has been carried out?

If the car has been regularly serviced by jaguar or a good dealer then you are onto a winner, but be careful, and damn good luck to you! And most of all you are young, have fun!
Regards, Stu

I sympathise over your last car, the loss of the buick must have been sore as well so try to go easy, especially on the wallet.

 

Thank you for the warm welcome and the timely reply. You definitely put my mind at ease. I'm going to the dealer tomorrow for a test drive and (hopefully) to talk numbers. If my final decision ends up to be the Jag, I'll be around the forum, for sure.

 

Well you are in the mood but be cool, if I may be so bold, I suggest you take a friend with mechanical knowledge and check it out.

If in doubt about anything, i would suggest you message Thermo, if you need a quick answer he is more knowledgable by far and he is in your area/timezone!

Stay cool and I hope your deal goes sweet? And if you are put off by anything don't be shy in backing out, the right car is worth waiting for and you want more advice and input you can post the advert here and you will get a swarm of input if you need.

Plus say hi to everyone at the new member intro section:
New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

remember be cool, and stay happy... Stu

 

IMprovize, first off, welcome to the Forums. I think you will find that we are a wealth of knowledge here and can talk you through just about anything. so, stick around, see what you can learn and go from there.

As for the X-Type being a good car, that is a loaded question. Seeing how you are 21, I have to ask a fairly point blank question (and please do not take this the wrong way): How do you plan on driving the car? Are you one of those that likes to zoom light to light or are you one of those that takes it easy getting up to speed and just like to cruise. taking a guess based on the fact that you dropped as much money as you did into the Buick, you are probably looking for something a bit sporty. If you are after sporty, then the X-Type is probably going to put you in the poor house. The X-Type is a great cruiser. It will get out on the highway, cruise at 70-80 mph all day long and last forever. You go light to light, the transfer case is going to let you know what you are doing and after about 30K miles, you are going to be putting a new transfer case into the car to the tune of about $3000. Please also keep in mind that I am assuming you are in the US and the 2.0/2.1L motors are not an option and all the cars are AWD. If you are not in the US, then if you get one of the diesel variants or the FWD only X-Types, then you are golden.

I also have a feeling that you are looking to bump up the power and/or customize the car to make it yours. Like you are probably getting a feeling for, bumping up the power is going ot lead to problems since you are going to want to use that power which is going to take the transfer case out all the quicker. When it comes to other improvements, they are hard to come by as not many are available and what are available are a little pricy. Now, we can help you get around some of it, but there is limitations to what you can do.

As for repairing the X-Type, how good are you with your hands? If you can do a lot of work yourself, the X-Type can be a pretty inexpensive car to own. A lot of the mechanics of the car are based off of Ford products, so, if you know where to look, you can get a lot of stuff at the local parts store. We have also found that some parts can be obtained from say the Volvo line of cars too (upper control arm for the rear suspension for example). but, you need to know how to cross reference parts and in some cases, just take a gamble and see what you can find. But a lot of stuff is very easy to work on and the number of special tools is very limited.

Give us an idea of what you plan on doing and we can tell you how practical it will be to do and what you can expect to pay. With enough money, anything is possible. The question then becomes, how big are you pockets.

 

I'd definitely say I'm the cruising type. Six of that ten grand was spent from the first day of owning the Buick. I test drove it around the town the lot was located on and it seemed fine (it wasn't a dealership it was a shady used lot, but at the time I needed a vehicle the next day and it was the only thing I could find that was runnable and not leaking anything). Driving it home it started stalling out. Pulled over and called the guy who sold it to me who all but laughed at me.

At the time I didn't know anything about cars. I took it to mechanic after mechanic who all fixed different things non of which fixed the issue. So six grand later my friend helped me fix it and I've been doing all the work myself ever since. It was also a '99 Buick with 200,000 miles on it when I got it. It's been one big two year long headache. Hah.

I'm definitely not as knowledgeable as some as far as working on vehicles and such goes, but if I have have a problem I can't figure out my neighbor or a friend usually wanders over to help me.

I'm also located in the US, the X-Type I'm looking at is a 3.0 AWD.

And I definitely don't take any offense, don't worry. The way I see it though, if I'm gonna shell out thousands of dollars for something, I might as well take care of it.

 

Hi
I recently acquired an Xtype 2.1 petrol 2003. The level of build and comfort puts you just on the edge of the luxury sector. Reading through your info and seeing the great advice our members have laid on I reckon by now you have bought the car.
Nothing really to say other than enjoy a vehicle that has it all, thermo put it on the line - if you rag it, get ready to pay. I avoided the 3ltr because of import duty ( I live in Cyprus) and MPG costs. If I was 21 and busy about town, fancy free and able to afford it - then sure as hell I'd buy it.
Good luck and welcome to the world of Jaguar.