2002 Jaguar X-Type Article at Automotive.com

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2002 Jaguar X-Type 3.0 Sport Wrapup

Below is an enthusiast article written by the automotive experts at European Car. Only the "world situation" has sparked more debate around the office than our long-term Jaguar X-Type sedan. After a year in our fleet, the opinions of staff and other Primedia employees were spread wide across the love/hate spectrum.

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IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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Article From European Car Magazine

Long-term Wrap-up: Jaguar X-Type 3.0 Sport

/ By Greg N. Brown / Article provided by: European Car Magazine

Only the "world situation" has sparked more debate around the office than our long-term Jaguar X-Type sedan. After a year in our fleet, the opinions of staff and other Primedia employees were spread wide across the love/hate spectrum.

Although no one was heard defending it as a great car, "really good" was heard a few times, including from one veteran driver who spent a week in it noodling around West L.A. Some thought it good enough for the "buyers of badges, not sport luxury cars," a shot at Jaguar's dive into the shallow end of the luxury pool. And a couple of the more ornery staffers accused the X-Type of displaying the most banal side of platform engineering and parts-bin sharing. That, in my opinion, is a bit too harsh-this is not a bad automobile-but it is indicative of the high standards by which such cars as Jaguar are judged.

The 2002 Jaguar X-Type 3.0 Sport came our way in March 2002, preceded (perhaps burdened) by expectations greater than any first-year car generally can satisfy. However, the X-Type wasn't some wild stab at a lukewarm market, thrown together by a tentative minor manufacturer. It was a boldly announced, aggressive thrust into new territory, accompanied by lots of hoorah and promises of huge growth.

For good reason: Vastly improved product and a bullish American market had helped Coventry escape the British car industry's overall malaise, its cars' quality ratings had radically improved, and glimpses of future Jags showed it was a company fully prepared to expand into new market segments. Furthermore, Jaguar had the heritage that promised a distinctive interpretation of the European sports sedan.

Kevin Clemens had driven it first for us, and his favorable impression had the staff clamoring for a long-termer. But, in maybe the most telling result of the car's 12 months with us, it was returned with the lowest mileage of any long-termer in memory.

In the car's defense, it displayed decent reliability. It broke down but once, when it just wouldn't start. A new fuel tank solved that problem, and the service was excellent, the dealer needing just 2 days for the fix. The only other part that broke was one jet of the headlamp washer system. And we never attended to an almost imperceptible yet still annoying rocking motion in the driver's seat, presumably from a mounting bolt that had lost its tension. These two items seemed too small to bother with, a mentality that could be interpreted as our lack of passion for the car.

A troublesome clutch and vague shifter were common complaints, as was a seating position ill suited for those long of torso, who said the low roofline and high-mounted seat meant a lot of crane-necking, especially at overhead stoplights. Also noted was the car's squat and dive during stop-and-go driving, turning freeway commuting into a prolonged teeter-totter session.

At the time of delivery, the car's suggested retail price was $35,950, which included a 4-year/50,000-mile limited warranty, scheduled maintenance at no extra cost, and 24-hour roadside assistance. That tariff doesn't sound all that bad, and then we added on over $7,000 of optional equipment. That made the bottom line $43,895, which made a few of us wince. The options were prolific, to be sure, but tolerance of the car's foibles became thinner as the price became thicker.

The common element that turned most people off was actually an element considered absent from the car. Call it panache or soul or character, a desired "presence" that would loudly proclaims Jaguar's heritage. Despite loads of grip from the standard all-wheel drive, especially in foul weather, it wasn't the kind of vehicle that invited us to an open road and a wide-open throttle. This growler turned out to be more pussycat than performer, but we suspect Jaguar knows it. The enthusiast press has been lukewarm, sales have been short of projections and production was cut back to compensate.

However, we also suspect that Jaguar will be doing all it can to splice proper Jag genetic material into the X-Type before its lifespan is up.