Hi All,
I am looking for a car to be a daily driver to keep the miles off my XKR.
The Toyota Corolla I have is probably the most reliable choice (my wife certainly thinks so). However it is too boring and the seats are very uncomfortable.
I can sell it for a good price and invest in another Jag and have money to spare.

I was searching for an S-Type but most of them here in LA seem to be rather high mileage.
I had not thought of an X-Type but found several that are low mileage and inexpensive.
The looks are growing on me but I know almost nothing about them.

I tried searching this thread and haven't found anything yet.
So, for all you X-Type owners here, what are the issues I should look for, any model years I should avoid
and what should I expect if I were to buy one?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John

 

Search by member "thermo", he has many posts on what to look for and what challenges are in purchasing.

 

John,

Just did the same thing, sort of.

When the X came out I hated it, and I worked for Jaguar at the time, oops.

I had many various Jags until Sept 2018, when my S Type got totaled, and like you, replacement S Types here were just not what I wanted for many reasons, and then this 2010 2.1V6 LE popped up, Black on Black (same as the S Type was), and I purchased it. 110K kms, one owner.

NICE car, nothing like the early stuff, and it is the daily driver, and YES, it had some silly issues etc, but now its all sorted, and I LIKE it, not quite like the XJS that I had a few years ago, but I like it all the same.

Starts first time, goes forward in D, and backwards in R, and stops when the key is turned off, what more could you possibly want?????

NOT a keeper, but more than adequate for the foreseeable future.

 

John, X-Types fall into 2 categories, you have the 2002's to the early 2004's and then you have the post early 2004's to 2009. These are their own little monsters. The big differences between the two is starting in early 2004, Jaguar switched what type of transfer case was in the car (went from a viscous coupled one to an open differential style). The other big change was the wiring harness. They changed it some to offer up more options. After that, there were some cosmetic changes, but nothing of too much significance. If you are looking at a 2004 and are curious to know whether you have the early or later design, look in the door jam. There is the build month/year there. If it is March 2004 or earlier, you have the early style. If it is April 2004 or later, then you have the later design.

The early cars could be called from suffering from a weak transfer case. Granted, at this point in their life, if the transfer case was going to fail, it would have failed already. The newer cars need to have DSC (dynamic stability control). With the open differential in the transfer case, when one tire looses traction, that wheel is going to suck up the power going to the other 3 wheels. Where, having DSC in the car, it will prevent the wheel from doing this.

As for common issues with the car, here is a summarized list:
1) vacuum leaks which are normally solved by fixing one of the "big 3".
2) rear suspension wears out the bushings and requires new parts. Can also lead to a non-adjustable toe condition (ie, tire leaning in on the top). This can be solved by upgrading to the "Thermo Mod" (ie, adjustable upper control arm). Bad suspension parts result in excessive tire wear on the inside edges of the rear tires.
3) fan controller will fail resulting in no fan operation
4) earlier cars (if subjected to lots of high RPM shifts) have been known to fail (see above)
5) tail lights can overheat a pin in the plug, resulting in loss of tail lights and/or the tail lights acting funny.
6) car develops a wobble in the steering wheel from 45 to 70 mph. This is normally caused by either a bad alignment or a bent rim (or two, or three....)
7) car develops a hum/vibration at about 65 MPH. This is the center carrier bearing on the rear driveshaft getting a little play in it. A good greasing and normally the car is good to go.

This will probably cover 99% of what you will find. This will also allow you to potentially talk down the price when you start explaining that "I will have to fix this, and then ......."

One last thing, if you are looking for something to zoom around town in and have fun with, this can potentially be an expensive car to own (due to the transfer case issue). You want something that gets out on the highway and cruises effortlessly at 70 mph, then this is your car. I would also say to go after the 3.0L engine vice the 2.5L engine. Both are more than capable for the car. The difference comes when you want to pass someone. The 3.0L engine, you ease into the gas and around you go, no real shifting of the tranny. With the 2.5L engine, you are going to find that you will want it to downshift and get the RPMs up to get around someone.

 

Check the sills; they are a known rust trap and expensive to fix.

 

To add to Thermo's list, a good look at the headliner as well. They start failing (loosening around edges then sagging in middle) and not cheap to fix. Good negotiating point. Mine was fine when purchased ~2 years ago and I noticed just before winter the ultra hot Utah desert heat has begun loosening mine in the front windscreen and rear window area. Bought some non-staining spray adhesive at Lowe's and taped off surroundings before fixing (as to not get overspray).

 

I bought my wife's 2008 w/ 90K miles in November off of CL here in San Diego and my 2007 w/ 70K off of Ebay. My 2007 was located up in Northridge. It took well over a month to find exactly what I was looking for (black/black/3.0/Auto under $5000, and lowest mileage possible). It also took over a month to round up a set of 18" Proteus wheels for it.. found 3 of them in Irvine via Ebay,) and the 4th I found at an auto dismantler in Florida..

Good luck John!

 

Even though she's given me a lot of headaches already I love my x-type. It's my first car and I've learnt so much trying to DIY all the regular fixes and maintenance and enjoyed all the time learning as well.

It all depends who is going to drive it and what they want in a car I suppose.

Advantages:

Beautiful (in my opinion)
Very cheap to buy
Fun to drive
Comfortable and decently quiet
A decent ammount of features, especially for the price / era (depending on options)

Disadvantages:

Common (some of which are expensive) fails listed by others above
Expensive to own unless you are a DIY person due to certified service prices
Not as safe as modern cars (by a mile)
Not as fuel efficient as modern cars with similar power

That being said the science has spoken and with 5 official advantages versus only 4 official disadvantages I have now decided that yes, indeed, you should buy the X-type. Probably. Maybe. It's a nice car. I love mine. I've said that already...

 

Don't! Unless you are a car mechanic.

 

Rubbish!

 

Ditto, always a troll to yap about stuff they know nothing about it seems. Seen the same thing on Bimmer, Porsche, Mercedes forums.

 

I think you might be overstating the case a bit. ANY car can be a headache if it wasn't taken care of and routine maintenance wasn't kept up. Plus, depending on the year you get you are buying a car that is 11 to 17 model years old. So, even if it was well taken care of things will be just wearing out. Even if you aren't a do-it-your-selfer, if you find a good independent shop repairs and replacement parts aren't that bad. A lot depends on the condition when it was bought. These can be very reliable cars, but they are getting long in the tooth.

 

I just spent £1800+ on mine so now it's probably worth about £1500; ha, ha.
Still, I know (or hope!) that all the bits that have been fixed or replaced will at least last as long as I have the car.
I do like it (2004 manual 2.5 AWD estate) and it does pretty much everything I ask of it.
Hopefully getting on top of all the niggles so it should be a good runner for a while yet.
Not the fastest thing out there but if I want to go fast I take the XJR6!

 

You will like the X-Type. It's not an XKR, but it's not intended to be.

 

Sounds like you should be able to make at least one good one out of that lot!

 

I have one, but the process has been amusing.

I was originally checking the ads for an XJ6, and saw the 2004 a while back. It needed engine work, but is otherwise in beautiful shape and has nearly all of the options. I figured that it would be simple to fix -- then I moved, and hadn't gotten around to working on the problem. While keeping my eye on the ads for an engine (in case it needs a swap), I found the Wagon and bought it at a good price.

While watching the ads for an engine AND a transfer case, I found the 2002 a couple of weeks ago and bought IT at a good price, intending to possibly use it as a donor car -- then discovered that the problems with it were far less than the former owner had thought (the main being that it needed an exhaust gasket, which I installed yesterday). It's in pretty good shape, and most needs to be cleaned up and get some TLC. That still left me hunting for a parts-donor car. That's when I found Kitty Litter, which will soon be stripped to the shell, to donate a transfer case to the Wagon, then provide parts as needed.

So, current status is that I have one good runner and two waiting for attention. When I get the 2004 running, I will sell the 2002. The Wagon will be mostly a pride-of-ownership vehicle, except when I need the interior space for some reason. None will be daily drivers (for that, I have a 2000 Mustang convertible, a van and a Suburban).

The amusing thing is that I'm in a Nevada county which has legal brothels, so with all of these Jaguars, I've added another Cathouse!

BTW, when I look at my posts, the signature block is in very big font, does it show like that to you, and if so, how do I fix that?

 

Sills are not expensive to replace:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...sills&_sacat=0

 

Yes, Very large font. I assume you were just proud of your Cats.

 

Thanks Everybody,
Lots of good information so I'll keep looking and, hopefully, find the car that speaks to me.

I'm not an auto mechanic. Fortunately, my son is and he's had lots of practice on my Jags over the years.

 

Having had my X-Type since 2009... and always having Landrovers, Rangerovers, plus three VW's..... to be honest the X-Type has proven to be the best vehicle I have had... based upon overall life cycle... including towing a 20ft boat 1000's of miles to Portugal and back!!!
(bought at 44k miles, and now done 162k miles...)

Many parts are relatively cheap as being common to the Mondeo..... and they are relatively easy to work on....

only thing that caused me a headache was coding the injectors.... only resolved when I finally learnt of the JLR Mongoose (or rather chinese Mangoose..) cable and the SDD software.....

the only job I cannot do as I don't have a 2 post or 4 post hoist is to lift the bodyshell off the subframe.... which is the same issue as any modern car.... inc. the new Landrovers/Rangerovers….
(though I can replace the front ARB bushes easily as you only need to drop it an inch or so, not totally lift the bodyshell)

Which means when it comes to the time to replace the DMF I will need to pay someone else...

Have done ALL the suspension myself, together with fitting a new turbo, and new injectors, new front pulley conversion (i.e. uprated Ford transit type..)) and new EGR.

Also fully waxoyled with gallons of waxoyl in sills to prevent the dreaded tinworm… this I did BEFORE any rot has gotten hold... (using a professional injection gun with probe, and 14cfm compressor...)

I also have NINE matching Caicos alloys..... 1 set for winter, 1 set for summer... and 1 spare !!!
(these are now very rare and I think I got the very last set off eBay.....)

Though unfortunately the other week whilst parked up when away for work someone stole the door waist seals..... at £200 per set... they just slip off... and they were stolen within 4 hours of being parked..