After 2 1/2 years of joy, the novelty has somewhat worn off and I’m feeling it’s about time to replace my beloved MX-5. I came up with a set of requirements for a replacement, pretty much as follows:
- Reasonable fuel economy – I’m sick of averaging <30mpg
- Able to seat 4 adults – I kind of miss road trips with friends
- Comfortable – increasing back trouble has made low-slung sports cars a bit painful
- No more expensive to tax/insure than the MX-5 (not difficult!)
- No more than 6 years old
- Pretty! No self-respecting petrolhead wants to be seen driving a shed.
After cooking up a savings plan such that I could afford to go and buy a replacement in March/April then sell the MX-5 just in time for next summer, I made the mistake of taking a look at the market just to see what was available now within my planned budget.
I found a few interesting BMWs – mostly 320d and 520d, but they’re a dime a dozen. I planned to go and take a look at a nice 520d which seemed like an unmissable deal, but they’d taken a deposit on it before I was free to travel through to see it.
Since I was already geared up for car shopping, I decided to take a punt and go to see a nice looking silver Jaguar X-Type 2.2d SE – heated leather, electric everything, built in sat nav – the works. Not really a model I’ve ever given a second thought to, to be honest, but after seeing her up close and going for a test drive I was completely and utterly sold.
Well, one thing inevitably led to another, and I am now a proud Jag owner, 3 months ahead of schedule. Here she is:
