Recently, while admiring the wife's X-type, it struck me that the car appeared to dropped at the front end.

Bad front struts? Actually lowered?

So I began to browse images of the car to see if I could find a common look. And although most views are 3/4 angles (no doubt its best photographic perspective) there were enough side profiles to determine that indeed it seemed part and parcel of the overall design. In fact, I came to realize that for me, a significant part of the visual appeal of the X-Type is it's apparently lowered front.



Below is the photo-result of my research:

There is an approximate 1 1/2" difference in rear to front ground clearance from the bottom of the rocker...



But when checking for level on the door sill, which logic says should follow the angle of the chassis, it's darn-near dead on...


I also noted that clearance from the lip of the wheel well to the top of the tires was identical, front and rear.

So, based upon my highly-scientific study, I now semi-confidently say "Yes, it is perception, and integral to the overall design concept!"


See what you can do with too much time on your hands?

 

Makes me wonder if this perceived rake is also built into the "sport" side skirts...and I also now want to go out and take a tape measure to my car since my car is lowered with KW coilovers...but its 11:35 at night and I don't park on a level surface...

 

The rake is there when the car is at rest, but notice how the rear end drops as soon as you let off the brake and get into the gas? Squat and Go AWD characteristic.

 

Mine has had the rake ever since day one. Nothing too terrible and just like quartz says, it goes away while driving.

 

Also keep in mind that the rear end of the car is relatively unloaded when the car is parked. If you were to put say 5 adults into the car (pushing the car up to near the max weight it is designed to carry), you would notice that the car will actually start to squat in the back vice having the rake. This effect is very noticeable in pick-up trucks as the weight transfer per axle is much more dramatic.

I would not really worry about it. As long as the car is driving straight and not doing something goofey, all is good. Engineers get paid big money to take these sorts of things into consideration when building a car. They also get to play a lot and be able to try out a lot of different stuff to find the best possible setup that fits a majority of the population. Can you always improve a vehicle to fit exactly what you need. Of course. But not everyone likes what you did.

 

I believe with the 16" rims the rake is less noticable. I like the "rake" look and that was one of the features that caught my eye with my Jag. Interesting question...comment. Thanks for initiating, TimeTraveler1!

 

Apologies for the crappy iPhone pic from the carpark, but my 2.5SE has the same stance. One of my colleagues called it "racey"...

Regards

Rob

 

 

I put Jaguar sport springs on mine recently and it still has the "rake". I like it-a nice, aggressive stance.