We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

Say hello to our next project car. It was cheap, it has AWD, and it'll (hopefully) be great at off-roading once we're done with it!
We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

If you want to attack some muddy trails or hit the green lanes without worrying about your paintwork, you have a couple of options. Either buy a Land Rover Defender (if money allows) or go the budget route like I did and buy something cheap and cheerful with good off-road credentials; my £800 Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin or a Suzuki Jimny are great mud-pluggers.

A Shogun Pinin like this is a great option for cheap off-road fun!
A Shogun Pinin like this is a great option for cheap off-road fun!

Then again, you could make life really difficult for yourself by buying a car so far removed from off-roading that it’s not actually been done before. And that’s why I’ve bought a 191hp Jaguar X-Type 2.5 V6 AWD…

We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

I’m not going to ruin the surprise too much about what we have planned for the car. For those of you wondering, no, I’m not ripping the V6 out to give to Phil, my MX-5. Transforming this AWD luxury saloon into something pretty capable off road is well within the realms of possibility; we’ve had a look underneath and have already drawn up plans.

What I can tell you so far is how damn nice the car is. Despite 186k miles and non-existent suspension bushes, the Jag is buttery smooth, torquey and super relaxing to drive. It is, I think, my greatest purchase to date, and also one of the cheapest, costing just £490.

We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

It’s got electric leather seats, a trip computer, a touch screen and a five-speed manual gearbox. It’s also spacious, has a wooden dash and looks smart from any angle.

Now anyone who knows about the shady history of Jaguar will know that the X-Type was based on a modified version of the Ford CD132 platform, aka the Mondeo. It’s because of this that most people instantly turn their noses up at the junior Jaguar, but because I, and you, are not most people, you’ll believe me when I say that the X-Type is an unappreciated hero.

We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

Not that it really matters, of course. This is going to be transformed into an off-roader, so it could drive like a bag of nails on the road for all I care, except that it really doesn’t. It sounds OK, too, although to really unleash the V6’s potential, the cats and silencers would need to be removed (…which gives me a great idea).

We Bought A Cheap V6 Jaguar And You'll Love What We've Got Planned

Anyway, that’s a little intro to the new project car. Work to make it love mud will commence in January and we’ll be taking you along for the ride!

If you have any questions or suggestions, fire away!

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Comments

Joseph Le Corre

Once you’ve finished you should enter it into an amateur rally event.

12/31/2017 - 13:01 |
144 | 0
Ali Mahfooz

Is this going to be smashed like Trevor was after the series? 😛

12/31/2017 - 13:07 |
22 | 0

Probably, as Car Throttle is becoming more and more like Top Gear… “Buy a super cheap car, have fun with it, and then destroy it” - I wouldn’t even wonder if they would drop a caravan on it…

12/31/2017 - 13:09 |
88 | 0
Anonymous

It’ll work. Cause it’s a jaaaaaaaaaaaag.

12/31/2017 - 13:10 |
356 | 6
redflamexfire(R32 squad)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

LOL!!!!

12/31/2017 - 16:21 |
12 | 2
DL🏁

Up next: turning a Defender into a track weapon

12/31/2017 - 13:18 |
150 | 0
01/01/2018 - 01:29 |
68 | 0
hummerinator (Suzuki samurai, lada niva & iveco daily lover)

Ooooohhhh boiiii you’re lovely!!!

MARROC CHALLENGE!!! MARROC CHALLENGE!!! MARROC CHALLENGE!!! MARROC CHALLENGE!!!

12/31/2017 - 13:36 |
10 | 0
ᴶᵘˢᵗᴬᴿᵃⁿᵈᵒá

Lol some of the comments here are prime quality

12/31/2017 - 13:45 |
14 | 2
DennyR

[DELETED]

12/31/2017 - 14:13 |
4 | 6
JenstheGTIfreak (pizza)

In reply to by DennyR

I think you need to read again

12/31/2017 - 17:20 |
12 | 0
Anonymous

Yes please. Take the doors of like a wrangler. No wait. Take as many body panels off as possible

12/31/2017 - 14:52 |
10 | 0
Matthew Henderson

interesting

12/31/2017 - 15:36 |
4 | 0
Gabriel Lung

Good luck with this Jag and I hope you will post soon on YouTube about it! Cheers!

12/31/2017 - 16:07 |
6 | 2