Jaguar X-Type Estate: month 2

Arrived: June 2008
List price (including options): £23,900
Average economy: 34.9mpg

The Jaguar X-Type Estate has been -

Completely integrated into everyday life being used for everything from the daily commute to the most un-Jaguar like role of trips to the tip. It has proven ruthlessly efficient at accruing miles: cosseting and effortless on the motorway, journeys of several hours are dispensed with zero fuss.

We're loving the -

Comfort of the interior; it's a relaxing place to while away the hours and a welcoming place to be after a day's grind. On a practical note, the split tailgate has come into its own on several occasions in tight multi-stories and supermarket car parks alike - it's a real bonus to be able to flick open the top half and lends the X-Type an accessibility that you begin to take for granted; that is until you drive a similar car that doesn't benefit from the feature.

The refinement continues to impress with a relaxed long-legged nature not entirely common among rivals. On a similar note of enduring appeal, the looks have grown on us further and always attract admiring glances.

But not so impressed by -

Our X-Type's thirst appears to be a permanent fixture; a heavily motorway biased period has seen the average creep up to 35mpg, but only setting the cruise at an impractical 60mph forces the journey average towards the 40s. Some of this can be attributed to the extra parasitic losses of the automatic gearbox, but even taking this into account it's not good enough. We've found that using the manual selector, sixth gear can be engaged at a lower speed than when the transmission is left to its own devices - the gearbox's programming doesn't like to let the engine revs drop as far as a human would.

We're looking forward to -

More comfortable miles, racked up in comfort and a not insignificant amount of class. Jaguar's product planners should take heed of the broad appeal of a truly practical Jaguar. We also need try a few more miles on some challenging B-roads to see whether the X-Type can match rivals' driving enjoyment in a more involving environment.

Dave Jenkins