X-type Jaguar Ownership

January 13th 2017

I had an eye for the baby Jaguar for a long time I remember the good reviews it got on top gear just after it was launched, racing down an Icey road against someone on a ski slope If memory serves me correctly but I could be wrong. So once my Ford Focus died its death spring last year it was my chance to own one and I found an ok example or so I thought. My budget was tight and I figured I'd be in a better position in a couple of years time so this would be a stop gap, a last hurrah to my youth.  I looked around the net and found a nice black X-type in Luton not far around the m25 full service history the whole ticket excellent. Took it for a drive and it was a real pleasure to drive paying up and taking the beast away for some happy motoring ha ha or so I thought.

I don't think it had been a week before a fuel line came loose from an Injector and hot diesel was sprayed all over the engine bay although this was a simple fix it was the first time I'd be visited by green flag to solve a problem or get a tow. Then I have to be honest there was a period of hApply motoring and she behaved nicely for a few weeks.

I was on my way to Aylesbury charging my phone along the way and playing music over the blue tooth adapter plugged into the cigarette lighter when all of a sudden, no music yes the cigarette lighter socket had died and it's just not worth getting repaired. Another few weeks of happy motoring content with radio 2 for entertainment ensued.

Then whilst tracing down the motorway there was a strange whistling sound from the drivers window  it was intermittent, sometimes it wasn't there sometimes it was loud. The seal on the inside of the window had come loose and would let the fast air through a tiny gap to make a whistling noise. Now this needs to be pushed up from time to time to make it seal properly and is not worth getting replaced.

It was about this time she developed an intermediate problem starting, sometimes on the button but otherwise a couple of cranks on the starter motor before it would catch and start the engine but until it failed I wasn't going to do anything about it. Sure enough at my work car park the starter motor jammed on to the flywheel and this needed another trip by green flag. Unable to solve it this required a tow to my local garage and a new starter motor installed for the sum total of £260 not cheep I'm sure you'll agree.

After picking it up from there I noticed that somewhere I must have picked up a tiny crack in the rear off side wheel as it sometimes leeks air but that's hit and miss too.

The new starter motor was the death bell for the fly wheel, notorious for failing on X-types and Mondao's mine developed a horrible rattle until it became undrivable just recently. Well this is a £900 repair and I have to admit she does drive like new but a Toyota might have been cheaper to maintain over the short term.