cars blog: Jaguar X-Type

The Jaguar X-Type is a compact executive car which was produced between 2001 and 2009 by Jaguar. As the smallest of the Jaguar model range, with saloon and wagon variants, the X-Type was the only estate ever manufactured in series production by the company. The X-Type was manufactured at the Halewood assembly facility near Liverpool, a Jaguar Land Rover plant which also produces the Land Rover Freelander.The X-Type, codenamed X400, was Jaguar's first compact 4-door saloon since the Jaguar Mark 1 of 1955. The X-Type was one of the last to be styled under the supervision of Geoff Lawson, with the principal designer credited as Wayne Burgess.The X-Type was lightly based on a modified version of the Ford CD132 platform shared with the 2000 Ford Mondeo. the Jaguar X-Type only shares about 15 to 20% of the Ford Mondeo design and has unique features which lets it stand on its own as original design platform. Nearly all cars made today use cross platform design to lower cost of production and to provide replacement parts across vehicle lines. Distinguishing it from its rivals and its Ford origins, the X-Type was initially offered as all-wheel drive only and mated to a 2.5 litre and 3.0 litre AJ-V6 petrol engine. The AJ-V6 petrol engine design is unique to the the Jaguar X-Type one notable addition is the use of variable valve timing. The Jaguar X-type AJ-V6 petrol engine is also set apart by the use SFI fuel injection, 4 valves per cylinder and features fracture-split forged powder metal connecting rods plus a one-piece cast camshaft and has direct-acting mechanical bucket (DAMB) tappets. In 2003, the X-Type was offered in front-wheel drive with the introduction of Jaguar’s first four-cylinder diesel engines (based on the Ford Duratorq ZSD unit from the Mondeo and Transit), and with the smaller 2.0 litre petrol V6.Jaguar X-Type won AutoWeek's Editors Choice Award as the Most Significant Car at the Geneva Motor Show of 2001.