・Highly presentable inside and out.

・UK-unique 3.0-litre + white + manual.

・Low mileage, fresh MoT, fresh 40k service stamp.

・Cherished by one owner since 2011.

The Jaguar X-Type is a front-engine, all-wheel/front-wheel drive compact executive car manufactured and marketed by Jaguar Cars from 2001 to 2011. With a production life of just one generation, it was initially offered as a sedan, with the estate following in March 2004. Both were manufactured at Jaguar’s Halewood plant near Liverpool.

Designed by Wayne Burgess, the X-Type sedan was developed during the period when Jaguar was owned by Ford (1999 - 2011) and marked Jaguar's entry into the crucial compact executive segment. At its launch in February 2001, Autocar called the X-Type “likely, the most important Jaguar, ever”.

The X-Type was initially offered as all-wheel drive only and mated to a 2.5-litre or 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine as offered here. Interior woodwork on the dashboard and doors trims is genuine sapele mahogany, manufactured with veneers at Browns Lane’s Veneer Manufacturing Centre.

Because it shared its CD-132 chassis with the Ford Mondeo, the Jaguar X-Type was pilloried (somewhat unfairly) for being little more than a Ford Mondeo in drag. However, as an entry model to the Jaguar marque, the baby Jaguar was always so much more than that. Even today, its ride, handling and grip offer a refined balance between comfort and sporting ability with a quality cabin that is unmistakably Jaguar.

Specified to the high-end SE trim grade with veneer inserts and chrome body addenda, this low-mileage and highly presentable Jaguar X-Type received its first UK registration on 5th July, 2001. During the intervening 20 years, the car has been lovingly enjoyed by just four keepers, the last of whom acquired the car in October, 2011.

Jaguar X-Type ‘Y957 FTA’ is understood to be unique in the UK, being only one with a combination of a white exterior finish - plus - having the 3.0-litre V6 powerplant - plus - being paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox - plus - the two-tone cream and beige interior.

The car is for sale due to a recent passing in the family, with the bequeathed having no place to garage and protect the car from the elements. Regrettably, the car is offered for sale to a new keeper who hopefully will care for this graceful feline in the manner to which she has evidently become accustomed.

Along with the V5C, the Jaguar will come with a new MoT, a still-wet 40,000-mile service stamp, two sets of keys and a leather-bound holdall containing the driver’s handbook, total care handbook, an audio systems handbook, an operating highlights booklet and a CD-ROM on the car’s operating features.

There is a file containing a number of service and maintenance documents over the years, including a new lambda exhaust sensor (May, 2016), the AWD transfer box (August, 2016) and a new fuel pump (August, 2019).

While a smidgen short of Concours standard, the interior of this Jaguar presents in exceptional condition and the writer, in the absence of any blemishes whatsoever, was frequently having to remind himself that this is a twenty-year-old car.

The sapele veneered wood trims on the dash and door cards are pristine, as is the general condition of the two-tone cream and beige leather upholstery, carpets and roof liner. Only the steering wheel has a patina commensurate with the car’s low mileage rather than its age.

The boot is very tidy and the liner appears in original condition – like nothing has ever been placed in there. The weather-proof car cover currently being stored in the boot will accompany the car.

It is quite evident that over the years the car has been garaged when not in use as the top of the dashboard and rear parcel shelf show no signs of sun-bleaching which would normally be the case when a car has spent most of its seemingly charmed life in sunny Cornwall.

All the electrics are in fine working order, as are the instruments, dials and switchgear.

The condition of the exterior matches that of the inside and is indicative of the love and care afforded the car during the past decade. The light lenses are clear and show no hint of the age-related fogging usually associated with a car of this age.

The front and rear bumpers and their chrome inserts are in remarkable condition and are blemish-free. The alloy wheels show no scuffs or evidence of being ‘curbed’ and again, are in ‘as-new’ condition.

The brightwork around the car – including the chrome trim running over the upper edge of each side window bank – is in exceptional condition, none of which has a scratch or mark to its surface. A cursory glance down each flank of the car shows no evidence of damage at any time in its 20 years and even the front number plate, for all its vulnerability, remains blemish free.

At the time of its 40,000-mile service, the car’s latest MoT was conducted in mid-September, 2021 and issued with no advisories. The custodian reports the car to be in excellent mechanical condition with steering, brakes and V6 engine performing as well as their engineers intended.

Only underneath do we see evidence of its 20 years and full-time coastal existence, but even then – according to the MoT technician – much of the discolouring is surface-related.

We script writers at Car and Classic are bound within certain parameters to refrain from venturing too far away from the middle line when it comes to describing the cars we are assigned to photograph and write-up for auction.

From a legal standpoint, this is of course, fully understandable – the subject car has to be/do what we say it is/does. In describing ‘Y957 FTA’, this writer hasn’t ventured from the middle line one iota.

The new keeper will have a very tough act to follow in maintaining the near-showroom condition of this car. This writer has not seen another 20-year-old Jaguar X-Type like it. If he could take it home, he would. But he can’t…which will make for a rather sad day, to be fair.