Can this $9,000 2006 Jaguar X-Type Estate make you feel like royalty? – Jalopnik

The seller of the current Nice Price or No Dice Jaguar car claims it is the same model once driven by the United Kingdom’s former matriarch and all-round fun queen, Elizabeth II, may she rest in peace. Let’s see if the price tag allows us to crown this car as a good deal.

In Stephen King’s “Christine,” the titular 1958 Plymouth Fury is sold to a high school student who has become (literally) enchanted by the car’s terrifying charms. The sale involves back-and-forth negotiations, despite King suggesting that the seller is aware of the car’s malicious behavior and therefore should be happy to part with it. It’s the ultimate “I know what I have” sales tactic.

Sometimes it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, a central point in the storyline of King’s bestseller. That was also the case with the 1984 BMW 633 CSI project car we looked at last Friday. At $1,600 it was arguably cheap, but as many of you said in the comments, this was just the beginning of the wallet-lightening journey that the Bimmer would take a new owner on. Ultimately, that just wasn’t right, resulting in a 64% “No Dice” vote loss.

Nowadays things were much easier for Jaguar X-Type station wagon from 2006 hit the road first. At the time the company, along with its Brit Boy Band partner Land Rover, was owned and financed by the Ford Motor Company. The close relationship between Jaguar and parent company Ford was most evident with the X-Type, as it was little more than a restyled Ford Mondeo, and boy, does it look like one.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, unless your expectations are determined by the painfully beautiful XK-E and the mirror-like smoothness of the XJ12. As noted by the seller of our Jag, even the Queen herself (RIP, Your Majesty) felt the X-Type Estate is her thing for Corgi wearing at times when her ‘Landy’ was in the store. What is good enough for the Crown must also be good enough for us.

Underneath that bodywork lies a 3.0-liter V6, designated AJ30 by Jaguar and heavily based on Ford’s Duratec engine, but with cylinder heads designed by Cosworth. As fitted, it delivers 227 hp and 206 Nm of torque from the transverse quad-cam engine. All that power is routed through a five-speed automatic transmission to all four wheels via a center differential that splits output nominally 40 front/60 rear, but can move it to where it’s needed when called upon.

According to the seller, the car recently had an air conditioning service and new brakes and brake discs. It is currently claimed to be working well, without any issues.

Aesthetically, the car appears to be in excellent condition, although the seller notes some minor flaws and claims that, at 20 years old, the car has earned them. That also seems to be the case in the cabin. The leather upholstery, burl wood (yes, real wood) trim and plastics all seem to still be on the hunt. This is a 20 year old car, so the dash screens are relatively small, but there are plenty of buttons to make up for this. There’s also Jag’s strange ‘J-Gate’ shifter for driver entertainment. Despite its small size, this is a luxury ride, equipped with power seats, windows and mirrors, automatic climate control and a pretty decent CD stereo.

I’m pretty sure we can accommodate that request because all we want to do is appraise the Jaguar and the seller’s asking price of $9,000. We can do that, right? What do you think of this small, quite rare estate and that price tag? Does that feel like a deal to ride like a queen? Or is that too much to ask for this cat?

You decide!

Nice prize or no dice:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, Craigslistor go here when the ad disappears.

H/T to Lars Eldnor for the connection!

Help me with a nice prize or no dice. Contact me at robemslie@gmail.com and send a fixed price tip. Don’t forget to include your comment handle.