It is typically Jaguar, with a sleek, aggressive look accentuated by the low front grille and elliptical quad headlights. At the back, the rear tapers inward slightly, emphasising the X-type 2,0’s muscular, feline appearance. The side-profile is sporty, thanks to the typical wedge shape that Jag’s designers tend to favour.
The chassis is super-stiff and employs high-strength steel in critical areas such as the suspension mountings, the bumper-mounting points and the door-intrusion beams. The one-piece, colour-coded bumpers can resist minor knocks at speeds up to 8kph, even though the car comes with sensors for the park-distance control.
The interior of the 2,0 X-type is typically Jaguar — spacious and opulent. The X-type 2,0 arrives with SE specifications only — Jaguar’s mark of luxury. The CD/radio has 10 speakers all around the vehicle and comes with the option of a six-CD changer. The unit is controlled by well-spaced buttons on the dash, or via the rotary action controls to the left of the steering wheel. The automatic control increases the volume as the car accelerates.
The fully automatic air conditioner, with climate control and pollen filter, adds further comfort to longer trips.
Pure wood inlays make a refreshing change from the ersatz versions commonly found in other models, and there is leather all around the interior, which has ample leg-room, front and back. For safety there are front, side and curtain air bags for the driver and front passenger. The sliding front armrest can be adjusted to accommodate the driver. The boot is an enormous 452 litres.
The engine is a 24-valve V6 that produces a lively 117kW at a rather high 6 800rpm. Torque is claimed to be 200Nm at 4 100rpm. The engine is stealthy on idle and while driving at sedate speeds around suburbia. But like any cat when provoked — or, in this case, when the throttle is buried into the thick carpeting underfoot — that purr turns into a pleasant growl, warning of its aggression, speed and agility.
Variable cam timing and intake geometry provide for smooth power delivery, which is fed to the front wheels via a five-speed manual — or automatic — gearbox. The automatic can be overridden in a typical “J” pattern, allowing drivers to select gears manually when desired.
Even though Jaguar’s cars had a little more than 1 000km on the clocks at launch, the manual version allowed us to change and find the five cogs with ease, and there’s a nice direct feel from the cable-driven linkage.
However, in the hilly bits, a fair amount of gear-swapping is required if you intend maintaining high average speeds.
But it’s around the twisters where the cat is most at home — and corners are dispatched at any speed desired without so much of a hint of side-ways travel owing to its superb road-holding capabilities. Dynamic stability control, which helps prevent skidding, and cruise control that can be set from the adjustable steering wheel, are standard on all models.
A ride in the X-type 2,0 is super- smooth. Only large, traffic-halting humps make any impact on the suspension, which consists of twin-tube McPherson struts upfront and a torsion control-link rear suspension. Typically Jaguar, there are no rattles or noises of any kind.
If you do need to stop in a hurry, ventilated discs upfront and solid discs at the rear — all coupled with anti-lock braking system and electronic brake distribution — make light work of bringing the nearly 1,5-tonne kitty to rest. Jaguar’s claims of 9,4 seconds for the manual and 10,8 seconds for the automatic in the 100kph dash seems realistic enough. Top speeds are a claimed 210kph for the manual and 205kph for the automatic.
Fuel consumption is put at a rather conservative 9,2 litres and 10 litres of unleaded for each 100km travelled, although enthusiastic driving during the launch saw those figures scream through the 14-litre barrier with ease.
Jaguar’s foray into the lower end of the market comes with a R265 000 price tag for the manual, and R275 000 for the automatic. It is bound to attract a much younger buyer who, for the first time, may be able to afford the marque. The cars come with a three-year/ 100 000km warranty, while a five-year/100 000km maintenance plan — probably one of the longest on the market — is standard.
It competes with Audi’s A4 Executive at R232 000, BMW’s 320 at R246 000, Mercedes’s C200K at R266 000, Volvo’s S40 at R227 000 and Peugeot’s 407 ST at R240 990.
Driving impression by Nick Bates
Read Gavin Foster’s review: The new Jag’s no drag