Hello all, recent member of the Jaguar world and I'm very much enamored of my 2017 F-Type. So enamored that I want a beater to drive in the winter, to work, rather than this beautiful vehicle, which has less than 3,000 total miles on it.

As I started looking at beaters (price range $1500-$3500) I started seeing mid 2000 X-Types pop up. Many of the cars are AWD, clean, and the sellers claim they run well. Some have miles in the low 100s.

Am I crazy to consider one of these for my beater?

I'm not good at working on cars. And I need something reasonably reliable in which to get to work.

I can't quite resist the idea of one of these X-Types.

Advice on how to buy one suggested... I'll also accept advice NOT to buy one, if that's better.

Thank you.

 

Do not.

Unless you are willing to pay $$$$$$ in parts and labor for repairs (and there will be lots of).

And good luck.

a quick example :
Fan Control module, fails on most cars, original cost around $600 and maybe $150 for labor to replace,

 

Im in the exact same boat. New ftype r owner looking for a beater/commuter and checking x-types. Saw a 2001 , 100k with 5-speed manual. Looks clean.

 

Check the sills carefully for rot, they are notorious.
Transfer boxes can fail on 4wd drive ones and that is not a cheap fix.
Everything else is just mechanical/electrical same as any other car really.
The clutch is quite heavy on the manual which is why I am going to change mine for an auto.
Nice to drive, 2.5 petrol is quite pokey and it handles really well with lots of space inside.
Check out the test by Clarkson:

 

Ryan/Chronguy, I came from the X-Type (now drive an XJ) and they will do what you are after. Working on them is not any more difficult than other cars and parts are not that expensive unless you have to go to the dealership for pieces. As I see things, there are 2 fatal flaws with the car:
1) if the sills rust out, the car is essentially done as the cost to fix the sills will be more than the car is worth. Get one with good sills, you will be golden
2) this may not be so much the case now that the car is older, but the transfer cases in the car is the weak link and if you plan on driving the car like you stole it, you run the risk of having to replace the transfer case (about a $3000 repair bill). Can you have fun with it periodically. Sure. I did in mine. But, the more you push it, The more likely you are to get into this situation. It will cruise the highways forever in comfort.

As for other things you need to be aware of that can be easlly fixed, but may be nuisances:
1) car is known for getting vacuum leaks. The fix is easy (we have the big 3 to start with) and generally is not an expensive fix.
2) with age, the cars seem to be developing valve cover leaks which can lead to misfires due to oil collecting in the plug wells. You do the repair for this at the same time you do preventive stuff for the vacuum leaks and you can have a good running car with minimal work
3) the rear suspension. The bushings seem to wear out on this fairly fast and will cause the rear tires to lean in at the top. You may also see the tires start turning in towards the center of the car. Both of these conditions will result in rapid tire wear. There is a fix for the upper arm that is referred to as the "Thermo'ed" arms. This will allow you to adjust the tires that was not possible in stock form and get the tires straight up and down again. Not an expensive fix if you can turn your own wrenches.
4) fan controller. This is another one of those things that just seems to be a general nuisance.There are some cheap modules out there that are not worth the materials that they are made of. But, cars reaching the 100K mark will start seeing issues. The quick check is to simply find the car with a cold motor and start it up with the A/C turn on max (high fan, temp dialed as low as it will go). If you open the hood of the car, you should be getting a strong blowing of air from the fans. If you are getting a gentle breeze, the controller is starting to go.
5) Starting in mid 2004 (any car built after March 2004), jaguar went to a different style transfer case. The early cars had a viscous coupled setup and this ensured one front wheel and one rear wheel always turns. The later transfer cases were an open "differentiial" style. What this resulted in was all 4 tires could get power, but in a low traction condition, 1 tire will take all the power (not any better than a FWD or RWD vehicle). If you are looking at a later car, ensure there is a switch on the center console marked "DSC". This will help correct this shortfall. Starting in about 2006, DSC was standard on the cars because of this. There are worries about the transfer case failing. Take the car for a test drive. If it sounds like there is a box of rocks in the engine bay, the transfer case is going.
6) headlights. 2 different things that I will say you need to be aware of. The bigger thing being that you can get halogen bulb or HID bulbs. Obviously the HID bulbs are brighter and are more desireable. If you are not sure what to look for, simply open the driver's door and look between the hinges. If you see a sticker there that say something to the effect of "This vehicle is equipped with High Intensity Discharge lights", then it has HID bulbs. No sticker, then it has halogens (barring someone modifying the car). The other thing to pay attention to is that the plastic supports for the headlights get brittle with time. This will result in the headlights either pointing way up in the air or down at the ground directly in front of the car. park the car about 6 feet from a wall and turn on the headlights. You should see them just over the hood. Both at the same height. If you see something different than this, problem with the headlights. The fix is cheap, but also involves pulling the headlight assemblies from the car and replacing the internals. Not hard, but not a quick fix either.
7) Nav/non-nav. There are 2 radios that came with this car. Navigation version and non-Nav. I will say that there is a pro and con to each. The Nav version is nice in that the car comes with the navigation built in, but it also has all the A/C-heat controls built into it too. So, a single failure can mean loss of a lot of stuff. Where the non-Nav is the basic setup and you have separate panels for the A/C-heat and the radio. I mention this because to switch from one to the other is not money wise. Can it be done. A few people have done it. But, it is very expensive to convert between the two. So, decide which system you want and use that as an initial ruling out of cars. Worst case, I would say to go wtih the non-Nav and then upgrade the radio only to a new head unit that has Nav in it using an aftermarket company. Then the only thing you are missing is the auto-temp controls.
8) The motor. Atleast here in the US, you have the option of 2 motors, the 2.5L and the 3.0L engine. Both are adequate for the car. They use the same block. The question is how they are driven. The 2.5L motor likes to get wound up and once it is, it makes all the power you will need. The trick is, getting it wound up initially. The 3.0L motor, I liken it more to a V8. When doing something like passing a car on the highway, you just ease into the gas and around you go (lots of low end torque). No need for a downshift (where the 2.5L will probably downshift on you). But ,this will cost you roughly 1 MPG. I was normally getting around 25 MPG with my 3.0L with a mix of city and highway driving.
9) last thing, e-brake. Some cars seem to have no issues with the system, other people have had nothing but issues. Can I explain why the difference? Nope. The quick check is to pull up on the e-brake lever. It should come up a few inches and then stop. If you pull on the e-brake handle and it comes up quite a ways (feels like it hits a sudden, mechanical stop or is pointing at the dome light by the windshield), then you most likely have an issue with one of the rear calipers. The e-brake levers will tend to corrode and stick. This will result in the e-brakes not releasing and you wearing out a set of pads rather quickly.. The fix is easy enough, a new/rebuilt caliper. Not a hard job, but when you are having to do it say once a year, can be a little tiring. I got to the point that I had a spare set of calipers and I would rebuild the calipers with a rebuild kit (I have a write up on how to do this). Other people had the same calipers for the time that they had the car with no issues.

IN summary, the X-Type is actually a very reliable cruising car and most people have very few issues with them. Most of the issues, we have a quick fix for. But, you want something to blast from light to light and get big power from, it may be an expensive car to own. Do not be afraid to drive it and enjoy tossing the car around corners and whatnot, but it will also come at a cost like any other car.

 

Really helpful, guys. Thank you.

I am rather inclined to continue down this path. It's either a Mercury Sable with 60,000 miles (probably the easier choice, I know) or a nice looking X-Type with110,000 miles for almost the same price! It's really hard to accept the Sable. LOL.

 

Ryan.
Thermo summed it up very well. I have 2 X-type Estate wagons, that I purchased specifically as winter cars. (Even though they are being driven year round right now.) I have been looking for a 3rd X-type to purchase as a parts car or if it runs, a back up to the back up car.
Presently on Autotrader, Gar Gurus, and E-bay there are over 200 X-types for sale. Prices range from $1K to $13K. From my perspective $4K to $6K appears to be the sweet spot for what appear to be more reliable X-types with 75K to 100K miles with good interior and decent paint.
The X-types selling in the $2.5K to $4K all seem to have some sort of problem, defect, or issue that will cost some money to resolve.
Things like:
Faded paint, Lots of door dings, falling headliner, Worn out driver seat, worn out interior, clouded headlight covers, oil leaks, some sort of code/s on. Wheels have been curbed, and/or wheel finish is shot. Or the car has seen winters and there is some corrosion all over the bottom of the car and suspension. Not enough to rot the rocker panels, but enough to make the suspension hard to work on due to corroded bolts.

From my research;
-it appears that the X-types can be very very and I mean very reliable up to about 180,000 miles. Beyond 180K it appears that a lot of things can go wrong with the drive-train and the car is just plain worn out. (Of course there can be exceptions to this if the owner has taken very good care of the car.)
For X-types with mileage over 110K, the drive-train should still be fairly reliable if all the hoses, belts, and peripheral engine items are looked after. But you have to expect more nuisance failure of plastic parts. Whatever you purchase will be over 10 years old. (Example: 3 weeks ago, out of the blue with no warning, on one of my Estates, the plastic overflow/return line on the coolant reservoir broke off, half the coolant was pumped out in a matter of minutes and the car started overheating. Easy fix, but the car was down for the time it took to order a new tank. Still, with the current cost of Coolant and purchase of the new tank, $60+ bucks down the drain and I had the car parked for 2 weeks.)
Another thing to look for on the "low cost $2K to $3K" X-type you purchase is the tire condition. Many dealers will sell the car with tires that have 5/32nd of tread on them. (Many dealers have contacts with used tire suppliers, where if the tires are almost new, they will have them swapped, for a set of more worn tires. Then they will put the good tires on a car that they can sell for more.)
- A new set of tires will cost $400+ making your low cost purchase that much more expensive.

With the above written, plus what Thermo said can and will go wrong. Do the following as part of your purchase research.

Assume the car can be reliable to 180K miles.
Subtract the mileage of the car you want to purchase from the 180K to determine the potential life of the car.
(Say 120K on the car. 180K -120K = 60K)
Next determine how many miles a month you will drive it. (Say 1K for this calculation)
This means that the car has a life of up to 60 months.
Next pick a $ number that is your car payment per month. (I'll use $100 and $300/month) - Average car payment in USA is now $523/month)
This means that the purchase cost of your car while you own it could cost between $6K and $18K.
If you pay $3K for the car, it will pay for itself between 10 to 30 months. (Based on the above estimated car cost/month)
With this basic calculation, you can estimate how much money you are willing to spend on the car for repairs. If the car lasts 30 months without any repair costs, then you have money in the bank, or could just throw the car away and purchase another. Or you could allocate $3K for service and repairs to make the car last 60 months.
Next go back and do the same calculation for a car with less mileage, that you pay more for, and see which purchase appears to be the better deal.

I am often willing to pay $1K to $2K more for the car with mileage between 75K and 90K versus a car with over 100K miles. So far, I believe I have lucked out with all my Jaguar purchases.

This is one reason I love modern Jaguars so much. You can purchase a very reliable great looking car, that had rapid depreciation, for not much money. You get a fun/great used car for not much money.

Joe

 

DSC optional in 2006, standard 2007>





Options on my car (2006) + 17" wheels are nice

 

I've had XJ8's for years and now have a 2004 with 91k sitting in my yard for sale. In the time I've owned the 2004 XJ8 I've spent very little on repairs. Normal stuff like oil changes, brakes, battery etc but nothing major. I just bought a 2006 XK8 to replace it and find it's not as comfortable and not as roomy as the XJ8. I think if you can find a XJ8 with less than 100k for less than $5k you would be well off. Just make sure the suspension is in good shape and it's after 2002. My friend has a 2003 XJ8 with 234k on it and it's still running great. The wife wants me to keep the XJ8 for her to drive....

 

Was a very well taken care of 3 owner car beginning life as a Corp. Lease. Having said that, 2+ years = (already had Thermo'd rear upper control arms) REPAIRS =
· Front suspension replaced (arms & control rods)
· Right front CV (damaged by not installing suspension correctly - my fault)
· Radiator hose assembly w/thermostat (ubiquitous split in "t" plastic)
· Rear front lower control arms
· 4 wheel alignment (obviously)
· Tires (got 12,000 from brand new Tiger Paws, smfh)
· Fuel pump
· Small rubber hose from fill tube to tank to fix evap failure for licensing on emission test (3 weeks after cutting hole for fuel pump, double smfh $850/tank drop)
· Battery
· MAF (to fix a very rare lean code NOT caused by an vacuum leak)
· Fan control module (last week)
· Normal forum suggested & guided TOTAL (that's ALL) fluids replacement = normal maintenance

Most all this is expected failure on an older car, even with documented yearly maintenance from previous owners in CarFax. It still drives marvelous, gets noticed and commented on.