Never again (Jaguar X-type in general)

Member Name: robert_p

Product:	Jaguar X-type in general
Date:	14/05/04 (697 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engine sound, Relaxed, mostly

Disadvantages: Build quality, Handling, MPG

Bought the car from new as an alternative to the BMW and Merc crowd. What a mistake.
Rocking seats, crunching auto box and performance that sees it beaten by a 1.6 Astra.

Yes, it's a relaxing car to drive on the motorway (as long as you don't mind low 20's mpg). If you like this car and are going for a 2.5 or under, don't get the auto. It changes gear at the wrong time, saps the engine power (which is already sapped by the 4x4) and so ends up screaming it's head off just to make normal progress. This in turn hits economy, and of course the refinement that you may expect of such a car.

There are known issues with the auto program which was 'rectified' after it broke down the first time. The dealer said they knew nothing about the seat issues, then later when I complained again (because the passenger seat started rocking also) they admitted that there is a problem. Interior materials are tacky, as is the switchgear. Leather is nice.

I really wanted to like this car, however for the money my friends BMW's and Merc's, or my previous VW for that matter have never put a foot wrong. Oh, and my friends 323i also returns 36MPG on a run. Mine was lucky to average 25. I drove the 2WD 2.1 Litre version which seemed like a much better car. Certainly it handled better. The 3.0 was OK too, but not a patch on the German equivalents performance-wise.

To cap it all, when I finally had had enough of this car after two years, the depreciation was horrendous! The Jaguar dealer didn't want to know. They already had too many X Types that they couldn't sell, so didn't want mine.

Summary: