Retro cars: Jaguar X-Type

Jaguar have recently announced they will be stopping production of the X-Type saloon and estate cars. The demise of the X-type marks the end of Jaguar's attempt to bring retro styling to its range. Jaguar dropped the S-type, which was heavily influenced by the 1960s Jaguar Mk2, in 2008.

The X-type, Jaguar's smallest car, was based on a Ford Mondeo floor plan. It drew styling influence from the original XJ shape, both in the four headlamp treatment at the front the car and the elegantly shaped boot and rear wings.  Overall the X-type looked well proportioned and very much a car in the Jaguar tradition.  Above all it was a Jaguar you could afford to buy and run.

Inside, you could specify burr walnut trim and leather seats. However, it did not quite give me the same retro feel as say a new Mini, or Fiat 500. Whilst from the outside it triggered the right retro visual cues, inside the X-Type felt much less of a retro car. The instruments, for example, could have drawn more on the traditional Jaguar instrument cluster.

Indeed, Jaguar in recent years have tried to play down the retro appeal. The updated grill is much less reminiscent  of the traditional XJ grille. Jaguar's brochures play down any angles that made the car look retro. The interior trim also lacks genuine retro appeal, you cannot pretend that you are in a 60s car.

Perhaps retro was never the right look for the executive car market. Perhaps it was the treatment of the X-Type in the motoring press. Criticism of the 'dated' style seems absurd, when the car was clearly meant to look old fashioned.

However, it was the inconsistent approach to retro that spoilt the car for me. I could forgive its Mondeo origins, although a genuine small Jag, would have been nicer. The Mondeo, after all, did handle well and so did the X-type. If Jaguar had been a little less shy about the retro appeal of the car, they might have done better. As a retro car in the larger saloon market the X-Type was unique. Sadly it never achieved its full potential.

Your comments on the Jaguar X-type

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