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The last-of-the-line X-Type was a very different beast from the early cars, but we meet one X400 fan who has combined the two with some neat OEM-style upgrades
I THINK this must be the most northerly 3-litre X-Type,” laughs Nathan Reynolds as he explains the history of the car you see here and although there are undoubtedly a few examples employing their all-wheel drive layout to good advantage up in Scandinavia, when it comes to Britain he’s probably correct. Located near Wick, just a short hop from John O’Groats, the nearest Jaguar dealer is 105 miles to the south which explains both the rarity of these cars originally in the north of Scotland and also makes it all the more impressive that Nathan has managed to create an impressive array of OEM-style upgrades.
As regular readers will know, we’re very much fans of the X-Type here at JW but the world at large can take some convincing before it appreciates the car’s merits – most people having been brainwashed by the lazy ‘Mondeo in a bowler hat’ jibes from back in the day.
Initially Nathan admits he was similar. “I didn’t think much of Jaguars at the time,” he admits but having acquired a timeworn X-Type from a friend, he came to love it – despite the car in question being the lowest rung on the X-Type ladder in the shape of the front-driven 2-litre diesel.
Before long, he found himself wanting a better example and working on the basis of ‘go big or go home’ started hunting out a 3-litre example in the rare manual flavour.
For obvious reasons sourcing a car locally wasn’t an option but within 24 hours of searching online, Nathan turned up a suitable car down in London. In a boost for the beleaguered Met force, Nathan describes the former police officer vendor as a ‘Legend’ and the process of buying the car and having it transported some 600 miles north went smoothly.
A pre-facelift example from July 2002, the car itself was something of an enigma in being a 3-litre yet in the relatively sparse Sport Premium spec with plain charcoal interior and pretty much bereft of all options, yet proudly bearing the Jaguarbranded fitted umbrella in the boot.
Work began on transforming it as soon as it was off the trailer, Nathan’s vision being to create the ultimate pre-facelift X-Type by adding all the options available at the time and then some.
It’s not always recognised just how much the X-Type was incrementally improved during its lifetime, Jaguar claiming that 500 changes were made to create the facelift model and the differences in electrical architecture created some headaches when trying to install features offered on the facelift model to this pre-facelift car.
