Learn Me: Jaguar X-type

I need to buy a daily driver for myself in the next couple of months.

Looking through the local CL listings I saw what appears to be a very clean low mileage Jaguar X type.

I know they are basically an all wheel drive Ford Mondeo in a nicer suit. What should a person know about an X-type or Ford era Jaguars in general before considering one as a daily driver?

Thanks

What year?  What engin?  

We have one.  Bought out of Florida a couple of years ago it had live in a garage and was driven to the country club.  It's a 2002 manual gearbox 3.0

The thing is reasonably sporty but not terribly fast.  The suspension has a clunk that I can't track down even though I replaced a LOT of parts last year.  It seems like a nice enough car with some random electrical foibles that pop up occasionally.  It goes great in the snow and wet.  The seats are fantastic but overall the interior is rather cozy.

What else do you want to know?

In reply to dean1484 :

It's a 2002 model. 2.5 liter engine with an automatic.

Hold out for a 3.0. The 2.5 is SLOW. Also the transfer case on these are a week point but it is because a seal goes and the 3/4 of a quart of oil leeks out and they then they lock up.  Always look for seepage at the transfer case rear seal on these.  Transfer cases in the early cars are more susceptible to gear failure than the later cars. There was a redesign. 
 

the rest of the car is nice as Ford products go. 
 

Headlight adjusters fail. There are rebuilt kits but I just wired them in place. 
 

The fly by wire throttle can be problematic. 
 

Look at the rear wheels for excessive camber. The rear camber is not adjustable. You have to move the whole subframe around. There are Volvo suspension parts that you can swap out that then let you adjust rear camber. 
 

Alignments are critical in these cars to keep the suspension from eating parts and tires and transfer cases. Fuel millage goes south if the alignment is off.  A out of alignment one of these will kill a new set of tires in less than 200 miles. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Dean,

I knew you had experience and knowledge about these.  I don't have my heart set on an X-type. I saw a car with just over 50k on the odometer, no rust (yeah California!) and price that surprised me in this market.

Thank you for the great information.

I had a 2.5 5 speed that lasted me to about 170k miles without any major issue. It was a pretty nice car, and the 2.5 isnt that slow. The only trouble spots were pretty much already covered; headlights, rear control arms, keep fluid in the center diff, and also mine ate a few coil packs. Otherwise it was pretty reliable. I let mine fall into disrepair at the end and kinda regret letting it go. 

I'm curious as to how similar the X type really is to the Contour.

Somehow it's a car that becomes more attractive if I think of it, not as a cheap baby Jag, but as a grown up Contour SVT.

We rented one (2.5/AT/AWD) in AZ years ago and really liked it. We did a lot of sightseeing that week and it was great for the 700+ miles we put on it.

Also a big fan of the Contour, my college buddy had one that we drove from Upstate NY to Daytona Beach for spring break. It was a 4cyl/5apd and I liked it, I felt it handled better than it's cheap family car image.