New X-type owner

[Rooster210]

So I just realized I've been posting questions and never actually posted an introduction. My appologies for that and let me fix that now.

My name is Dan. I'm from the great state of Georgia in the US. I know I'm on a UK message forum, but my car was built in England so what better way to find out how to fix it then to go to the source?

I was a mechanic in the military for 8 years and worked as a farm mechanic for years before that so fixing car problems isn't something I'm new to.

I've mainly worked on Hondas and Fords for the past 10 years and finally decided to take the plunge and buy a European car however the initial plan wasnt to buy it to drive. I had actually purchased the car to transplant the engine and drive train into a Ford car that was never all wheel drive. I bought it from Copart as a running driving car. It had been in an accident which crushed the front bumper. After very little work with a heat gun the dent is pretty much out of the bumper to the point I could reattach it to drive it, but its still got some ugly scars on the bumper. I paid a total of 650 USD for the car which equals out to between 4 and 5 hundred £ I believe.

 

Shes a 2007 3.0 automatic with really no options to it from what I can tell with 260K miles on it. It still pulls really good although she has problems. As you can see a serious clean and some work and she should be an alright car. 

My main issues other then looks are a P0753 fault shift solenoid A. And the trunk doesnt open with any of the buttons.

[Old Peter]

Welcome to the Club, Dan.

We do make some good cars in the UK.  The x type is a very good car, a few traces of Ford  ----  nothing wrong with that  ---- and in the hands of a good mechanic like your self, you turn it into a head turner.  It is a nice colour as well.

My S type is the same colour.

Regards,

Peter.

[Rooster210]

57 minutes ago, Old Peter said:

Welcome to the Club, Dan.

We do make some good cars in the UK.  The x type is a very good car, a few traces of Ford  ----  nothing wrong with that  ---- and in the hands of a good mechanic like your self, you turn it into a head turner.  It is a nice colour as well.

My S type is the same colour.

Regards,

Peter.

Thanks Peter. I had actually only been in 1 Jaguar before this. It was an older model from the 80s I believe.  I was more focused on the corvette we were also driving around that day so I didn't pay alot of attention. I know we rode around for the better part of a couple hours listening to the congrats on your purchase of a jaguar cassette tape the dealership included with it.

My other car is a 99 Ford Cougar. (Mercury for me of course) It was built off of the Mondeo platform or the Mondeo was built off of it. I've had a cougar since 2009 and fell in love with it for some crazy reason. But with that being said a car sharing bits with a Mondeo is nothing new for me. So I don't mind a bit. Other then the engine being a Ford 3.0 with VVT added to it and a different intake there isn't much ford to be found under the hood. Inside is just super comfortable to me. I cant say it's the most comfortable, I have a van where the front seats are pretty much recliners and the back seat turns into a full size bed as well as I can almost stand up in it, this thing is definitely in the top 3 cars I've owned for comfort though. I just wish we didn't end up with that god awful green for the dash lights. Although that could possibly be changed if the bits are constructed inside the way ford made the cougar. I'll find out when I can get a chance to snag a couple switches.

 

As I said I actually wasn't planning to keep this car, but then I started it and sat in it and just took everything in. Considering how cheap these can be had and how nice they turned out I can see me starting to look more into Jaguar's for upcoming car purchases.

I really like your S-type. I have to sell some cars before I buy more but Im seriously considering adding an S-type to my garage. There's just something about them.  They look really similar in alot of ways to the X-type. At least to me anyway. But they're rear wheel drive and can be had with a V8. Really liking that idea.

 

 

[Old Peter]

Hi Dan,

I grew up on rear wheel drive cars and although I went through the years of FWD, and even on an X type with AWD [2.5 litre] I found the s type a really good road holder.  My s type, which I have had for nearly 5 years, has never cease me a problem, and the only expenditure I have had other than tyres and fuel, and alloy wheels refurbishing, was a water pump replacement.

My model is one that was rarely sold in the USA, the 2.7 twin turbo V6 diesel, with plenty of Pace, as well as Grace and Space, in the words of Bill Lyons, who styled the earlier car.

The warmer climate of Georgia should assist in a good refurbishment of the X Type.  I was in Arizona a few years ago and did see an S Type in Phoenix.

Regards,

Peter. 

[Rooster210]

5 hours ago, Old Peter said:

Hi Dan,

I grew up on rear wheel drive cars and although I went through the years of FWD, and even on an X type with AWD [2.5 litre] I found the s type a really good road holder.  My s type, which I have had for nearly 5 years, has never cease me a problem, and the only expenditure I have had other than tyres and fuel, and alloy wheels refurbishing, was a water pump replacement.

My model is one that was rarely sold in the USA, the 2.7 twin turbo V6 diesel, with plenty of Pace, as well as Grace and Space, in the words of Bill Lyons, who styled the earlier car.

The warmer climate of Georgia should assist in a good refurbishment of the X Type.  I was in Arizona a few years ago and did see an S Type in Phoenix.

Regards,

Peter. 

I grew up with pickup trucks. I didnt really get into FWD until about 10 years ago when I got into cougars.

Right now the only thing that doesn't work is the boot latch and Shift Solenoid A. I'm not sure about B through however high they go because A is playing up. 

The latch, I think the actuator in the Latch is bad. If I push the  button on the key fob I hear something inside the dash click that sounds like a relay so its working the actuator just isn't releasing. 

I'm going to the pull yard this weekend and grabbing a new latch and probably a Solenoid so that I can get this thing back on the road. 

Other then that its just the bumper and other small trolley dings. As well as maintenance things like light bulbs.

I'm going to have to go through soon and do a fluid and filter change as well. Having 164K miles l need to do it just because I don't know when the last time it was done.

[Rooster210]

4 hours ago, R2e said:

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the forum! I can confirm, when you eventually do get an S Type with the V8, it won't disappoint. There are two versions, naturally aspirated (like mine) with a 0-60mph time of just over 6 seconds, and the supercharged STR, 0-60 just over 5 seconds. I love my S Type and after 50 years of owning and running a wide variety of cars it is simply, in my opinion, the best car I have ever had (And that after 15 years of so of owning Mercedes Benzes, E, C and ML classes). I went for the naturally aspirated one as it is plenty fast enough and I have always liked unstressed V8s, also the STR carries a price premium.

Thanks for the welcome. I found an Stype like 3 miles from my house sitting at a lot. I havent stopped to look because honestly I have no where to put it right now but everytime I see it I get that Ohhh I want that feeling. The big problem I'm seeing is all the ones close enough turn out to be 3.0L. Not saying thats a bad thing, it's what my Xtype has in it as well as the cougar has a 3.0L out of a Ford Taurus. Similar to the ST220 Mondeo. Same engine block as the Xtype just not VVT. 

Being as I have 2 cars already with a 3.0 I need my next one to be a V8. Or bigger lol

I'm a collision repair technician so I see all brands of cars and get to test drive a ton of them after repairs are done. I was never really that impressed with any mercedes. Some BMWs are impressive to sit in with all the electronics but I just wouldn't want to drive one. Theyre expensive to fix here and I live an hour north of Atlanta which is a MAJOR city with ALOT of accidents. I dont know there's just something about the Jaguar I like. I get all the Nice- ities of a Jaguar but I can still do mechanical work on it like its a Ford. That to me makes the car just lovely to own. 

I would love a supercharged one. Although I dont like how much higher people think they should sell for just because of that. Im sure there's ways around that. I really dont see an issue with slapping a supercharger on a car that didnt originally have one lol.

[Rooster210]

5 minutes ago, R2e said:

The 3.0L S Type is a nice car, but it is 1 sec slower to 60 than the V8 and the fuel consumption is only better by 1 or 2 mpg. The STR is not only supercharged, there is a lot more to it than that, suspension changes, etc, and it is rarer, which is why it commands a premium price. Personally I find the non supercharged V8 fast enough and I love leaving BMWs and Audis standing when I get the chance, it certainly picks up its skirts and flies for an old thing! And it's a huge amount of car for not a lot of money.

Yeah even on eBay I seen them for just a couple thousand bucks in great shape. But they're just base models. As far as suspension and all that changing, they normally do change all that on higher models. But I can find a base model for lets say 3-4 thousand which seems reasonable for my area. The Cheapest model labeled R that I've found is around 9K and the only one listed as supercharged is at 18K. That leaves me 5-15k that I can spend on parts to end up with the same thing as a supercharged one unless you check the registration of the vehicle. I think it would end up cheaper and be alot of fun in the process