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By Royal FordBoston.com
April 9, 2005
Not the lines you'd expect to read in the discussion of a Jaguar. Yet look at the nose, and you'll see four ovoid headlamps topped with the muscular, quad-rounded form of the front fenders, a thin, split, vertically slatted grille. Jaguar, you say. But then look rearward, over the high glass of the cabin, at the sturdy roof rails atop the station wagon. Were it not for the leaping feline you saw earlier at center hood, you might doubt what you see. Yes, it's a Jaguar, the 2005 Sportwagon. It is the first production station wagon the company has offered. Why? It probably has its roots in Europe, where wagons find far more acceptance than SUVs, and where Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo have been major wagon wheelers and dealers and where Saab is about to enter the fray. What's key is that all offer AWD - the SUV trait so many Americans pay for in vehicles often far larger than they want. And they can handle passengers and cargo in varying configurations. Jaguar gave us the X-Type in 2002 as a sedan; at the time, I thought it would be a hit in the United States. You could get luxury and AWD at a reasonable price, get around in winter, and still be able say you drove a Jag. Yet the car, despite incentives, has not sold well here, not even reaching 30,000 in sales last year. But since the X-Type's introduction, a strong trend toward so-called cross-over vehicles has swept the market. These "wagons," large and small, offer the utility and nearly the capacity of big SUVs, without the behemoths' downsides. Jaguar is hoping its entry into this field will help keep the X-Type alive as it joins the Sport and Vanden Plas sedans in the X-stable. I spent a week in the X-Type Sportwagon and found it to be a solid car in a field that includes Volvo, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz and will soon include Saab. It is a smooth, quiet car powered by a 3.0-liter V-6 engine that turns out a respectable 227 horsepower. Fully loaded, its torque, 206 lb.-ft., had a bit less tug than I would prefer, but it's not often you'll have five people and a full load in this smaller wagon. That is the only power plant available for the Sportwagon, and the only transmission is a smooth five-speed automatic. You need a sedan for a five-speed manual. I'd call the Sportwagon a study in compact luxury and gentle handling. It does not give you the stiff ride we have come to expect from mainland Europe's manufacturers, but offers, instead, a subtly quiet ride, slightly soft, built for cruising, stable at speed. But that, in fact, is what most owners of this end of Jaguar's lineup look for: gentle luxury. This car glides, with a slight body roll in hard cornering and a hint of nose-dive in heavy braking. There was also, as is common in all-wheel-drive cars, a hint of understeer in accelerated cornering. But this is not necessarily criticism. It is simply a description of a characteristic, and all good cars have character of their own. Jaguar brings the Sportwagon in at a reasonable base price, just over $36,000. That includes a relatively impressive array of standard equipment: 17-inch alloy wheels, an eight-way power driver's seat, automatic climate control, leather-trim seats, a moon roof, 70/30 split folding rear seat, a wood- and leather-trimmed steering wheel, and sturdy roof rails for carrying cargo. It meets a high standard for safety equipment, with ABS, traction control, dual stage front air bags, front side air bags, front driver's knee air bag, and front and rear side-curtain air bags. It is a very comfortable car in the front cabin, where space is ample and the seats are gripping. Rear legroom can be a bit tight if front-seat passengers get greedy. The middle seat on the rear bench is best for short hauls. With the rear seat folded down, this high-roofline car is quite commodious. Bins in the walls of the rear cargo area mean plenty of space for packing, antiquing, or hauling outdoor gear. This is not a car you'd have expected from Jaguar. But I suspect it's a car they needed to build. Now they have to sell it.
Find a USED 2005 X-Type for SaleFind used car inventory in your area.
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