X-quisite Feline

British cars are tops too. Though not always beautiful nor reliable, these cars nonetheless have unique characters of their own. As Road & Track editor Peter Egan once mused, if these cars can’t be beautiful, at least they are humorous. In that case, then, there is nothing funny about a Jaguar. And like a tailored Savile Row suit too, nothing cheap.

Even in Jaguar’s entry-level X-Type.

On paper, the X-Type does not have much going for it. For starters, this car sits on the very same platform the Ford Mondeo does, a car parent company Ford sells to commoners. Though Jaguar and presumably informed automotive journalists alike say the X-Type’s chassis underwent a lot of tweaking resulting in a vastly different car from the Mondeo, still… Also, a variant of the X-Type will go down in history as being the first front-wheel driven Jaguar. Which is truly a break from tradition somewhat like a Brit putting ice cubes on his ale.

Wait ’til you see the X-Type in the flesh though, and that ale does seem to taste better when chilled. Okay, the ale is not better with ice, but the X-Type is worthy of the Jaguar name indeed — front wheel drive format notwithstanding.

It starts with the X-Type’s body. Though a tad more plebian in looks compared against its more pricey siblings, still there is no denying the X-Type can anything be but a Jag. Virtually all the styling cues that has graced this marque through its rich past up to today’s models are present on this car. The sculpted hood which follows the shape of the four, round headlamps, the drooping nose-to-tail lines, the triangular tailights, the small, swooping greenhouse. For a relatively small car, Jaguar stylists somehow still found a way to make the X-Type have that low, wide stance that have defined Jags through the years. No I-mean-business-don’t-mess-with-me-look-here. No "understated elegance" nonsense either. None of that Teutonic form-follows-function simplicity too. Like all Jaguars, the X-Type is a rolling museum piece, a triumph of art over computer-generated uniformity. You see one and you know you’ve experienced something special.

Of course, to fully experience a Jaguar, one has to sample the car’s interior. And being an entry-level Jaguar does not mean the X-Type is a let-down. After all, an utterly luxurious yet tasteful interior seems to be exclusive to the Brits. American luxury is Las Vegas cheesy while German can seem cold and stark, but the British, particularly Jaguars, have that naughty Victorian quality to them.

The X-Type is no exception. Sumptuous leather with exquisite stitching, plush carpeting and more wood than an average-sized English forest. There’s more plastic in the X-Type than one would expect, but rest assured it is quality plastic. Meanwhile, all the power-this/power-that and CD player toys are present, as is the signature J-Gate auto gearbox shifter. Forego tinted glass though, as the X-Type’s interior is sure to attract dates the likes of which are guaranteed to give a man something stiff other than his upper lip. On second thought, get the darkest window tint you can. Told you we’re talking Victorian naughty here.

Driving it is a delight as well. While it’s admittedly tempting to say things like it’s quite easy to catch the car’s tail by deftly performing bits of the steering-and-throttle dance routine when tackling a corner too fast, it’s simply not possible as the X-Type stays soberly glued to the road, thus depriving this writer a chance to sound cool with the readers. What I’m positive about is that more than adequate power was available under my right foot, and yet more importantly, this power was delivered in a silken, hushed manner. Though I can only guess its potential, the X-Type may possess high performance levels, especially the all-wheel drive version I’ve driven. The best thing about it is that it suggests to achieve these without hysterics.

There are several X-Type variants offered by Jaguar Philippines, prices of which start from P2.1 million to a little less than P3 million for the all-wheel drive 2.5-liter Sport version. Incidentally, Jaguar Philippines say they intentionally keep the X-Type’s pricing steady through the years the car has been available in the country, conscious that price movements have a profound effect on the Jaguar image. Especially price reductions since things like these may indicate some degree of desperation on a distributor’s part to sell and thus not a good sign to the customers they cater to, who believe exclusivity is a major part of a particular marque’s ownership.

Which is just as well, as these things should really be beneath premium marques and — perhaps more so — to its clientele. After all, like wearing Savile Row suits, Jaguar ownership says a lot about a man’s taste and, equally important, his capacity to indulge in such fine stuff.