Rare Rides: The Fanciest Mondeo - a 2007 Jaguar X-Type Sportwagon

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

The Rare Rides series has touched on Jaguars multiple times previously. But perhaps those beautiful and powerful sporting vehicles lacked something the true car enthusiast always requires: cargo capacity.

Presenting the very rare Jaguar X-Type Sportwagon.

In the early 2000s, Jaguar had just passed its 10th anniversary under Ford’s ownership. The British marque was a founding member of the brand new Premier Automotive Group — Ford’s answer to all things luxury and parts-sharing. Jaguar’s lineup at the time consisted of just three vehicles: the S-Type midsize sedan, the XJ large sedan, and the XK coupe and convertible. The brand needed more to compete with rival luxury marques engaged in a race to the lower end of the market. That’s where the younger customers were, but those customers needed lower monthly payments.

Ford’s answer was to utilize the third-generation Mondeo platform to underpin a brand new Jaguar, one which would be considerably cheaper than the S-Type. Enter the X-Type.

On sale for the 2001 model year, the sedan’s specifications were limited no matter where in the world they were sold. Jaguar restricted power to V6 engines of 2.5 or 3.0 liters, and all X-Types had all-wheel drive. Transmissions available at introduction were of five speeds, in manual and automatic guises. The exterior design was the last one penned by well-known Jaguar designer Geoff Lawson, who also drew up the XJ220, the original XK, the 1995 XJ, and the S-Type.

There were a couple of problems with the X-Type other than image, reliability, and resale value. First, Jaguar’s European customers desired more efficient, smaller engines, as well as front-drive. The company addressed this in 2002 with the introduction of a front-drive 2.1-liter version sold outside the United States. A diesel joined the lineup later. Europe also desired a wagon, being a continent which still purchased such arcane things. Jaguar complied, asking new designer Ian Callum (Mr. Lawson passed away in 1999) to work on a luxury estate.

Perhaps more accurately, executives at Ford presented a nearly finished design to Callum and told him to sign off on it. The resulting wagon used 420 different parts than the sedan and 58 revised stampings. Cargo capacity with rear seats in place was 24 cubic feet, or 50 cubic feet when folded. The Estate arrived in Europe in 2004; the Sportwagon roared into North America in 2005.

Every Sportwagon in North America was an automatic with the 3.0-liter engine, and came generally well-equipped. The additional body style didn’t matter though, as the Sportwagon was discontinued on our shores after 2007. Production ended in 2008 for all X-Types after a quick visual refresh, and examples were sold into 2009. Something like 1,700 Sportwagons found North American buyers (exact figure not located).

This 2007 example in beautiful jade green metallic has 79,000 miles and asks $7,900 at a dealer in Oregon.

[Images: seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Aug 11, 2019

    Curious...Can you drop a Contour SVT suspension under one of these?

    • Jagboi Jagboi on Aug 12, 2019

      Doubtful. This is based on the generation later than the Contour that was sold in the US. Jaguar did offer a sport suspension as an option and quite a few of the wagons had it.

  • GenesisCoupe380GT GenesisCoupe380GT on Apr 07, 2020

    Oh the many, many driveshafts in this car that snapped like peanut brittle. Kind of hard to believe the same company that built the stunning XJ sedan cranked out this barrel of pure abject toxic waste

  • Tassos Isn't this just a Golf Wagon with better styling and interior?I still cannot get used to the fact how worthless the $ has become compared to even 8 years ago, when I was able to buy far superior and more powerful cars than this little POS for.... 1/3rd less, both from a dealer, as good as new, and with free warranties. Oh, and they were not 15 year olds like this geezer, but 8 and 9 year olds instead.
  • ToolGuy Will it work in a Tesla?
  • ToolGuy No hybrid? No EV? What year is this? lolI kid -- of course there is an electric version.
  • Tassos No, this is for sure NOT my favorite Caddy. Very few Caddys with big fins work out as designs.FOr interiors, I much prefer the Caddys and other US luxury cars from the 30s, Packards etc. After the war, they ditched the generous wood veneer (without which no proper luxury car) for either nothing or the worse than nothing fake wood.For exterior, I like many Caddys from the 60s and early 70s, when the fins slowly diminished and finally disappearedEven the current " Art and Science" angular styling is quite good and has lasted a quarter century (from the first CTS). They even look better than most Bangled BMWs and even some Mercs.- from outside only.
  • ToolGuy Good for them.
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