February 2025 | Issue 775 | Page(s) 42 - 45
I was pleasantly surprised to see the excellent X-Type Buyer’s Guide by Paul Guinness in the November edition of JD. For sure, there are many people who scoff at the X-Type, but they should thank their lucky stars there is a Ford connection with their cars. When they jump into it on a frosty winter’s morning, how easy it is to flick the de-icing switch to defrost the front windscreen? Very, thanks to Ford having the patent on heated front windscreens! However, I digress.
It is 11 years since I documented my first trip to Italy in my petrol X-Type AWD Sovereign Estate 3.0-litre in an article that appeared in the March 2013 issue of Jaguar Driver. It also covered the Historic Monte Carlo that passed through Gap, in France, a couple of hours’ drive from where I now live in Italy. I have made numerous continental trips in the X-Type and have now covered 28,000 miles, so it is still a relatively low-mileage car, with 65,502 on the clock.
Now, once again, I find myself about to set off again to Italy. My local garage, which has looked after the car since I bought it, gave N90 AWD a thorough going over, so with an MoT, a belt change, new oil and filter, brake fluid checked for water content, and coolant density now okay to minus 27 degrees, I was ready to load up.
