Jaguar X-Type Named Worst Car Of Decade By New York Times

[Wizegui]

The worst car in the world has to be slow, ugly, nasty, have no character, and utterly unbearable. I vote for the Pontiac Aztek or the whole Ssangyong range.

[JoHaaN]

...the whole Ssangyong range.

[Homer_Bart]

Ssangyong gets my vote too

[Shawn]

Seems a little biased to me.

I'd give the honours to the original Merc ML. Terrible car...

[otispunkmeyer]

cant say im suprised, to me it has to be one of jags worst.

the idea behind the car was sound. they wanted to reach a wider market, take the average age of the owner down and appeal to the young professional. i see what they were trying to do and their idea was good.... design a small executive saloon to entice the aspiring young man from his BMW 3 series or Merc C-Class.

now for me, one of the reasons the XJ was bought by old men was down to the way it looked, the way it drove, the way it was. it looked very stately, it was very comfy inside, lashings of wood and leather etc...all things an old man appreciates, but not the dynamic modern environment the young guns were after. plus the exterior styling really does shout, "mature" and "stately" again very old man qualities... it didnt scream fast, dynamic, sharp etc. its a well made car, but its nt a cheap car and is usually out of reach of many aspiring professionals

so you'd think that, with that in mind, jag would go away and design something pretty radical (with respect to their style at the time).

but what they did instead was, take the XJ blue prints..... go down to the local spar, and pay the cashier 10p for a 75% photocopy. then crimped the body to a mondeo platform.

then they furnished it with the so-so ford build quality and raided the corporate parts bin to fill in the gaps

so what they ended up with, was a shrunken XJ, with the same design philosophies that made the XJ unappealing to the young guys, and then slapped on some lower build quality to get the price down to something the young guys could actually afford.

so they ended up with a smaller, cheaper version of what was a good car, but a car that still appealed to the 65 year old in all of us.

idea - good
execution - bad
the actual car - isnt that bad, i have been in one, but if i wanted wood, and leather and analogue clocks n stuff...id much prefer to have those in a XJ. not done on a smaller budget in a smaller car.

[Spectre]

The worst part of all - the X-Type is a $15,000 car with $3,000 worth of options... that Ford wants you to pay $40K for.

*That* is what makes the X-Type the worst car sold in the US. That cynical expectation that Jaguar buyers were too stupid to realize what a bill of goods Ford was trying to sell, with a breathtaking profit margin tacked on.

[bartboy9891]

The worst part of all - the X-Type is a $15,000 car with $3,000 worth of options... that Ford wants you to pay $40K for.

*That* is what makes the X-Type the worst car sold in the US. That cynical expectation that Jaguar buyers were too stupid to realize what a bill of goods Ford was trying to sell, with a breathtaking profit margin tacked on.

We bought ours for a little less than $30K USD new, and it doesn't feel much cheaper to me. I've got a lot of complaints about it, but the interior is decent, not nearly as good as our Volvo but not bad. The car itself is compact but manages space well and has a good sized trunk. It's a bit too small for me in the driver's seat because I like to stretch my legs.
Driving wise, the steering is accurate and has some feel past 20mph or so. The 2.5 lacks power but is adequate for most people, the engine is smooth enough and sounds alright at higher revs. The 3.0 feels significantly quicker. High speed stability is good, and the car handles pretty well with lots of grip. The ride is good with some and the AWD is useful in winter in Michigan. When driving this car, I feel like the brakes aren't even working. But that's just lack of feel from the pedal as opposed to the actual brakes' (mediocre) performance. High speed braking though is apparently the exact same as our Volvo's and the previous generation CTS.
We've had the car for 4 years I think, there were a few repairs that amounted to a few hundred $ total regarding the A/C and some rattle in the dashboard.

IMO the X-type is a very average car, but by no means the worst. Realistically, when it came out it wasn't too far off from the cheapest AWD BMW 3-series of that time and I think it's better than the AWD MB C-class of that time as well. Comparatively, I would say that the S-type was more outclassed than the X-type was.

However, except for some added traction in the snow, the Volvo S60 is better in every way.

[LeMans GTR]

Yes, the X type isn't that good, but calling it the worst car of the decade is a very long shot, sure it depreciates like hell, but buy them used and you get comfy, semi stylish car that isn't too bad to drive.

[British_Rover]

I can't agree with the article. As bad ax the X-type is it was only a sales and marketing failure but not a complete failure as a car. Yes it was over priced but it didn't drive horribly and it was in general reliable. The plant that makes the X-Type got a could of gold quality awards from JD Powers.

The worst car of the decade is probably the Freelander. That was a sales, marketing and a failure as a car. IMO the least reliable modern vehicle ever made or at least sold in the United States.

[Spectre]

I'm sorry, but they're just *not* reliable. Their transaxles are weak, their electronics fitments are horrendous even for historical Jaguars, and they *still* have problems where the engine will just blow all the coolant hoses off for no apparent reason.

[British_Rover]

I'm sorry, but they're just *not* reliable. Their transaxles are weak, their electronics fitments are horrendous even for historical Jaguars, and they *still* have problems where the engine will just blow all the coolant hoses off for no apparent reason.

Freelander engines last 30,000-40,000 miles on average a handful might make it past 50,000 miles but it is unlikely.

Transmissions average 40,000-60,000 miles.

Window regulators burn out about every two years.

Sunroof motors last two-three years even if you don't use them.

They need brakes every 20,000 miles or so but a light footed driver might get them to 30,000 miles.

The only thing that works on the whole car is the chassis which is very very strong. I can balance one on two wheels and open all the doors. The torsional rigidity is very very high.

[Spectre]

X-Type transmissions have been known to go out at 30K or earlier.

X-Types have been known to lose ALL rear illumination, including rear stop lamps, leading to accidents and injuries.

X-Types have been known to have similar issues with brakes.

X-Type door control modules have been known to burn out in 15K, making it impossible to raise or lower the windows - or to lock the car door with the electrics.

X-Types have also been known to have random gasket failures in the engine bay - headgaskets, oil pan gaskets, you name it.

[torrent_rider]

ANY publication that calls the X-type the worst car sold in America the last 10 years and yet gives a pass to the whole Buick range and doesn't even mention the Pontiac Aztek just cannot be taken seriously.

[Momentum57]

Being the only owner of an X type I have to say there are much worse things on the market in the last decade. Lets just look at the luxury market: the Lincoln Blackwood only sold one year 02 and started at 52,500. Truly an example of badge engineering gone wrong it was just pick up with a shine grill and tailgate that did not come down but opened up sideways.

Now mediocre is nothing to scream about but for a brand that was known for beautiful cars with huge faults this car was a jump up. Now you can't get a Mondeo in America so buying one of these used is like getting a Mazda for free.

The selection of this car for the article was based strictly by the fact that Jaguar US discontinued the sale of the X-type to go far up market for the XF. Watch this guy go all out on the STS or DTS whatever GM decides to cancel saying that it was the worst Cadillac of all time.(also watch him say the new small Cadillac BTS coming to america is the best idea ever) The author is short sighted and is only basing this opinion on reaction to recent events.

[British_Rover]

Bah I got the trump card in this Freelander VS X-type battle.

I will just ask our regional Service rep. as he is also a Jaguar service rep.

I have a feeling what his answer will be.

[LeMans GTR]

X-Type transmissions have been known to go out at 30K or earlier.

X-Types have been known to lose ALL rear illumination, including rear stop lamps, leading to accidents and injuries.

X-Types have been known to have similar issues with brakes.

X-Type door control modules have been known to burn out in 15K, making it impossible to raise or lower the windows - or to lock the car door with the electrics.

X-Types have also been known to have random gasket failures in the engine bay - headgaskets, oil pan gaskets, you name it.

Not to be an arsehole or anything, but do you have any articles, threads etc to back up your statement?

Because our car's mileage is 33k and we haven't had any problems so far.

[Spectre]

Among other problems:

http://www.lemonauto.com/complaints/...guar_xtype.htm

I can also quote you the TSBs that have gone out on the POS. There's a LOT of them.

[British_Rover]

No the most scientific



but...
Freelander forums on Edmunds.
Freelander

X-Type forums

I haven't read through all the X-type forums but they can't possible be as bad as the Freelander ones.