Diesel With More Punch
by David Finlay (06 Dec 05)

When the first front-engined diesel X-Type was brought to the world a couple of years ago - to the accompaniment of flatline alarm calls on the life support systems of old-school Jaguar enthusiasts - the engine in question was Ford's two-litre TDCi unit, which produces a modest 128bhp. It gave the X-Type unusually good mid-range performance, but more generally it didn't feel as quick as a Jaguar ought to.

That's been attended to by the addition of the 2.2-litre diesel to the range. Used in the same specification as found under the bonnet of the Mondeo ST TDCi, it gives an extra 24bhp over the smaller engine, and you can feel every last one of those 24 horses pulling at the reins. In my opinion (though not that of some colleagues), the 2.2 seems appreciably quicker in all conditions, most especially when an overtaking opportunity presents itself and you don't have much time to make use of it.

The extra power has also allowed Jaguar to fit a six-speed gearbox. The two-litre can't pull a sufficiently high top ratio to make any more than five worthwhile, but the 2.2 has no problem at all dealing with a sixth gear which gives not far short of 40mph for every 1000rpm. The smaller-engined car isn't suitable for an automatic transmission, but I reckon that this one is, and it seems odd that manual remains the only option.

One X-Type issue has not been fully resolved with the introduction of the 2.2 diesel. Jaguar can do a fantastic job of providing heavy, powerful cars with a superb ride/handling balance, but paradoxically it struggles to do anything of the kind with lighter, less powerful ones. I've said before that I believe this is because the X-Type is not a car Jaguar people really want to build (it was introduced to shove up volume after Ford took over), and in particular I can't be persuaded that they are at all comfortable with front-wheel drive.

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