There is no accounting for individual taste! Cars are an emotional item and these reviews prove that. I don't know how anyone can compare this car to a Mondeo or Ford Contour, or any other Ford product...what are these people thinking!

Since I first wrote this review I have been stopped by 3 guys in their 20's, 40's and 70's asking me how I liked the X-Type and saying how great looking, stylish, etc it was. So there's some comments from John Q. Public!

The X-Type is Jaguar's entry-level vehicle but it shares Jaguar styling and luxury of the $80,000 models. I do not find that its proportions are off. It is a small car but I guess that is relative. Styling is typical Jaguar - sleek. The trim is not over done. I think it's crisp. The interior has real wood appointments, supple leather seats, and a luxury car look. The lighted visor is cheap looking plastic that seem like it does not belong to this car. The panels match the seats leather look but of course are not leather. The cloth headliner and columns have the same look. No cheap plastic look here, and wow the steering wheel, wood and leather.

The automatic climate control works very well with the exception of start up when it blows cold air in your face from the defrost vents in cold weather. Otherwise it is very effective and selects various modes perfectly. It would be nice if the display indicated what vent is in use. When the temperature is near freezing the rear defroster is automatically turned on at start up. The fan is quiet at normal speeds when the environment is stable. There is a defrost button that turns on the rear window defroster and selects front window defrost at 75% fan speed. This is a handy one touch solution. Pressing "Automatic" turns this mode off.

I have the 8-way adjustable seats with memory and they are infinitely adjustable. The memory mode also adjusts the exterior mirrors. The steering wheel is manually adjustable in tilt and in and out for the shorter drivers. You want to keep those airbags at a respectable distance. Speaking of which there are plenty of them. Side curtain, knee bolster, front left and right. The front passenger airbag is automatically disabled if a child or a heavy handbag is in the seat. Got to protect those handbags!

Lighting in the cabin is good, there is a dome light and front seat floor lighting as wells as 3 lights over the shifter operated by separate switches. There is also an amber light that shines down on the console whenever the headlights are on. This provides a small amount of illumination at night so you can see the controls.

There is a panel of 3 switches that can be programmed to open garage doors or house lighting.

The dash is on the high side but that doesn't affect visibility, which is excellent. The seats can be raised if the dash seems too high for you. The glove box is adequate and has a handy mesh on the door to hold small items. It also has a neat pen holder on the door. It is not illuminated though. To the left of the latch there is a clever little hook that can be pulled out to hang hand bags and such.

The steering wheel has controls for cruise control on the right and the radio on the left that change station, AM/FM/CD selector and volume, plus a mute button. The radio controls on the dash are not intuitive (I had to read the manual, especially to set the clock) and there is no auto-scan feature. There is a nice feature that selects the 9 most powerful stations and assigns them to the preselect buttons. You can program any other station on the buttons as well. The front panel is overly complicated by the cell phone controls on the left but the phone keypad on the right doubles as the station preselects. The radio supports RDBS, which is a system that displays the info about the program. Not all stations broadcast this though. Sound quality is good and the power is more than adequate but if you are an audiophile order the Alpine upgraded radio, which comes with a trunk, mounted disc changer for about $1500.

The rear legroom is scant. At 5'10" my knees are 1.5 inches from the front seat when it's in the position I use while driving. Front and rear headroom is acceptable. The car holds five passengers acceptably for trips to the restaurant at lunch but it is not recommended for longer trips. Two in the back can tolerate a long trip but there just isn't a lot of room for the stuff that people take on long trips. There are two cup holders in the front console and two in the rear armrest. There are hand grabs for the left and right side rear passengers with small hooks supposedly to be used for dry cleaning. They don't work. Even a single shirt falls off. I stopped using them. There also is a grab handle for the right front passenger.

The engine is a 3.0-liter aluminum block that develops 227HP @ 6800 RPM smoothly with plenty of torque, 206 ft-lbs @3000 RPM. Generally people are misinformed that this is a Ford engine. It uses a Duratec Ford block but the heads, ignition, cam, fuel systems and management are Jaguar. This engine is built in the US on a separate production line with Jaguar trained workers. The engine noise is not overly loud in acceleration but you know that power is being developed by the sweet sounding purrrr. While cruising engine noise is barely perceptible. The AWD is biased to the rear wheels 60/40. This car goes where you point it. I don't know about over steer or under steer. I do know that the steering is quick and precise and when you turn a corner aggressively under power the tires stick to the pavement. It is impossible to spin the tires under full power acceleration (no I don't have traction control) due to the AWD drive train's ability to plant the power onto the road. Acceleration is very brisk especially when you utilize the higher RPM's. Red line is 6800 RPM. The transmission shifts somewhere around 6000 RPM. The transmission is very smooth and has a sport selector for more manual-like shifts. This switch also keeps the car at lower gears. The right side of the shifter is the standard PRNDL selector. The letters are illuminated. On the left you can manually select gears 2-4. When you return the shifter to the right side fifth gear is available. When using the manual shift mode the shifter knob blocks the visibility of which position you are in so you have to be aware. You should be aware anyway while driving...especially when manually selecting gears!! In the snow if you drive for the conditions the car is sure footed. Get a little too aggressive and spin the rear wheels and the back end will go out. Dynamic Stability control is a good option in the colder climes. I would have gotten it but the dealer didn't have a car with it at the time. On the highway it is quiet and stable, so much so that you find your speed at 85 mph without realizing it. In fact the car feels even more stable at that speed. Watch out for Constabularies! Wind noise is apparent but not obtrusive. Normal conversation can be carried on. Mileage as reported by the trip computer is 22 MPG for mixed city/highway driving, and up to 27 MPG highway. Premium fuel is required. The trip computer stores 2 separate logs each reporting trip mileage, average gas mileage, and average speed.

This car came equipped with a package that included heated seats and back up warning sensor, rain sensing wipers and moon roof. The passenger's heated seat was intermittent and needed replacement. The backup sensor is a very handy option and works perfectly if there is an obstacle in the way. The trunk has an adequate capacity for baggage for 4. The rear seats tilt down for pass through items. The latches are operated from the trunk. The trunk does not have a key and is released with a button under a lip on the trunk lid.

Fit and finish are impeccable there are no uneven gaps everything fits as it should. The paint is excellent.

I did have an initial problem with a low frequency humming/buffeting noise between 50 and 70 mph. Only a few people could actually hear this as it was extremely subtle.
The dealer analyzed the noise and found that the drive shaft was out of balance. A new one fixed the problem.

Speaking of the dealer Wagner in West Boylston, MA - I have never had a better car buying and support experience. These people are outstanding and then some.

The warranty is a comprehensive 4-year/50,000-mile new-vehicle limited warranty which includes service every 10,000 miles.

- Battery: 4 years/50,000 miles
- Wear parts and service adjustments: 1 year/12,500 miles
- Corrosion: 6 years/unlimited mileage
Amount Paid (US$): 30,600
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: X-Type 5 speed automatic 3.0L auto AC heated power seats moon roof