Fascinating. There’s actually a Contour design flaw of which I was unaware. So this is in addition to the car’s early wheel bearing failures, early alternator failures, early starter motor failures, chronic Check Engine light illumination, etc. etc. etc.

Gutting the pup cats or going with aftermarket headers is the “fix”. Fun.

Comparing notes with friends and neighbors, it seems newer sedans have had more problems. One friend with a 2004 sedan is considering trading in for a Lexus, he’s so upset with the reliability.

I am the current owner of a ‘96 Contour SE. Let me guess: The plastic impeller wheel in the water pump shattered and the engine overheated?

Most owners love these cars. So hopefully Jaguar will sort out the problems soon, if they haven’t already.

An advantage of updating results four times a year, as I do but no one else does, is that we won’t have to wait a whole year for signs of improvement. Instead, an improvement might be apparent as early as November (and even October, since participants will get a preview then).

That’s because the X-Type wasn’t based on the generation of Mondeo that included the Contour, but was based on the new one after that.

As for Lucas, I’d be shocked if an XF, or any Jaguar for that matter, has ANY Lucas parts in it anymore, as IIRC Lucas was merged out of existence a decade ago. Blame Delco, or Bosch, or whoever Ford sources their electrical bits from.

BTW: My old E-type has been pretty reliable over the years, with most of the issues caused my the inept mechanic of the previous owner. How many 43 year old Toyondassans are still on the road? Or Fords for that matter? ;)

–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org

So you can say I’m not having a good morning.

Clearly time for a new host. It’s possible that the site won’t be back up until I find one and get everything set up there.

Any strong recommendations?

Update: back up now. But definitely time to move…

You should hear me when I meet some guy with a $550,000 Saleen S7!

Michael Karesh : I owned a 1996 Ford Contour SE. Loved the car until a known design flaw severely damaged the engine at 66,000 miles.

I can attest that the X-Type looked and drove nothing like the Contour. The “rebadge” badge was undeserved.

Haven’t driven an X-type, but I’m sure the suspension and pricier materials (probably a fair assumption that there’s a lot less stamped steel parts in the suspension) make it not a rebadge.

Michael, speaking of that design flaw: its happened twice to people I know locally…not cool at all.

Oh, but I trust an American car more than a Brit. And I only own Japanese-made American cars.

I can attest that the X-Type looked and drove nothing like the Contour. The “rebadge” badge was undeserved.

Now your just being cruel.

Another acquaintance dumped a year-old top of the line Mercedes E-Class for the same reason.

Perhaps if you hang in there the issues eventually get sorted out.

Everyone knows that on real British cars, there is a 3-position headlamp switch.

Flicker, Dim and Smoke.

Badum bump! Thank you, I’m here all week.

BTW the X-type is probably the most reliable Jaguar ever built simply BECAUSE the bones came from a mass production car which had been “sorted”.

On one hand, the X-type was a novel idea, and perfectly suited to the UK (where the vast majority were sold) to compete with the 3-series (which is immensely popular over there). On the other hand, it was seen as a cynical “Cadillac Cimmaron” rebadge (which truly is not the case).

I always thought the X-type actually looked pretty nice. The all wheel drive standard would not have gone amiss here in northwestern Michigan, either.

But the lack of ANY dealer within several hundred miles, and the upscale price-point here in the states kind of killed any chance of one ever being in my garage.

Even in the end, when they were a steal-deal bargain, the no-dealer-nearby gig was a deal killer.

Nope! One of the first 2001 models.

She’s been a good girl to me.

Problem is, with the average car the vast majority of owners report no repairs in the first couple of months. So when even one-third do, as in this case, you end up with a score nearly four times the average.

It is also possible, even likely, that the reported repair rate will be lower in future updates, assuming that Jaguar quickly identifies and rectifies the car’s initial bugs. Many of the cars in the survey were produced early in the XF’s run.

KatiePuckrik – what year is that X-Type? Probably not from early in the first model year.

Then again, I used to own a DSM. Its really hard to get less reliable than that. A friend of mine has a picture of his 2nd Gen Eclipse in his garage on jack stands, captioned “And now we capure the DSM in its natural habitat.”

The skeleton includes the powertrain (V6 came from the 1996 Taurus), major electrical components and their associated wiring.

I’m not knocking the X-type in this regard, I’m just saying there’s a reason it does well and the unique components in the XF, the S-type and Lincoln LS (both are related to the new model) were sub-par on the reliability scale.

Oh, and thanks to Michael Karesh for compiling this data.

Yes, an X-Type! There! I said it! I love her dearly and I wouldn’t change her for the world! She handles like a dream, extremely reliable and has an interior which Germans can only dream about (I’m looking at YOU BMW 3-Series!).

I have a Jaguar X-Type and a Toyota Yaris.