Hello chaps,

I'm currently a Rover 75 owner and while I've been that way for a good decade, I'm thinking about a change. Long story short I've got two potential X-Types I'm interested in; one is a 53 plate, 2.0l Diesel (Manual) with 130,000 miles and the other is a 54 plate, 3.0l Petrol (Manual) with 95,000 miles.

There's only around £500 difference between them, but the Petrol does come with headlamp washers, c/control, ATC and leather interior while the Diesel does seem to be a bit of a poverty spec (Cloth seats, etc.)

I've read that the transfer boxes on the X-type (AWD) can be suspect; is there an easy way to identify boxes on the way out? Can anyone offer advice on which model I might be better going for? Believe it or not, fuel economy isn't an enormous deal for me (Which is why I haven't ruled out the petrol).

A related question - us Rover 75 drivers have a big network of experts and parts that allow us to retrofit many options some of our cars were never equipped with. How easy is the same thing for the X-type? Aka changing seats, interiors, etc. Are there any contemporary upgrades, like a new dashboard sat-nav or ICE to replace the older monochrome LCD screens?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Welcome!

First of all, you might also check the UK forum as no diesel X-Types ever made it to the US, so most of the knowledge on "oilburners" is over there

I'm under the impression that cruise control can't be retrofitted to some diesel models. Satnav etc can be retrofitted to non-satnav cars, but it's a fairly big and expensive process. Best to aim high and get the car that already has all the toys you want. Also, I don't think automatic climate control can realistically be retrofitted at all.

The transfer case should last well enough if you don't abuse the car. Some have reported issues, but most haven't. I'm not an expert, but I recall my mechanic saying there's a magnet on the oil plug of the transfer case, and if it has excessive metal shavings, then the case is on its way out. Also, 54 plate is 2004 which is when they already had the later transfer case. The later transfer case is supposedly more reliable, but it no longer has the viscous coupling so the AWD performance is inferior to the earlier ones. Also, as it omits the viscous coupling, make sure the car has DSC (traction control)! On DSC-equipped cars there is a button in the centre console near the gear lever. On non-DSC cars like mine there's a coin tray instead, see this photo of my X's interior.

Extra info on the X here:
The cars : Jaguar X-TYPE - AROnline

 

TerrorFex, welcome to the forums. I think you will find a lot of good information here. I like to think that we also call a spade a spade and don't color things (I know I don't tend to).

LIke was mentioned, can you upgrade a basic X-Type to something more, of course. But, what is it worth to you? You will find that when you upgrade to the SAT/NAV, you will get the ATC too as it is all part of the same unit. But, you can plan on spending $1000 USD to make the conversion and lots of time hunting down parts as it isn't a simple "1 unit swap". This would be a fairly involved swap.

Based on the questions that you are asking, it is sounding like the petrol version is going to be more what you are after. If you are worried about the transfer case, the initial drive is going to be the tell tail. Get the petrol car up to about 100 km/hr and listen. If you hear a hum or a metal ticking sound, drop the car like a hot potato. If it purrs and is not making lots of metallic type noises, then all should be good.

I think you are going to find that as long as the previous owner hasn't tried to drive the car like a sports car, the transfer case is going to be just fine. While the X-TYpe is sporty and will get up and go when requested, the more you do this, the more likely the transfer case is to fail. You be nice to it, it will be nice to you. I have 140K miles (200,000 km) on my car and it is still on its original transfer case. Just do a fluid change right after you get the car (do some reading as you will find out this is not a straight forward thing unless you know the tricks). Do not be surprised if you pull the drain plug and don't get any fluid out. A lot of us have had this happen and the transfer cases seem to not be affected by this.

EIther one of these cars is going to be a good cruiser and something that you can get out on the motorway and crank up to 120 km/hr or more and cruise the countryside. The petrol version is just going to make passing and whatnot easier but at the potential cost of a transfer case. I really would not worry about the transfer case unless you intend to be very sporty. In that case, I would tell you to skip the X-Type all together and do some looking for either an S-Type or take the step up to the XJ. They will do the light to light bit much better than the X-TYpe could ever think about doing.

The other thing that I would use to help in choosing between the oil and petrol versions is whether you get nasty weather a lot or not. The AWD system will make driving in adverse weather much nicer and easier. But, if all that you get is some rain, then it really doesn't make a difference.