Hi Wullie,
I am glad your mate likes his X-type. It's a great car, probably Jaguar's best kept secret. There's a widely held belief that it's a Mondeo in disguise (my neighbour used to call it a Ford in a cat-suit

), but it's really a sports car in disguise. With four wheel drive and the 3 litre engine, it flies and corners like it's on rails - it's the new Mark 2. That engine by the way has a three stage inlet manifold and continuously variable valve timing. I bet the dealer never mentioned that to your mate! (I only found out when I started reading the repair manual). It is a totally different beast to the XJS, a sprinter rather than a tourer, but much more practical than a Lotus Elise

(sorry, end of X-type sales pitch

)
I have thought about converting to gas, but the payback period for the mileage I do is about 4 years. I would be interested to know if your mate noticed any drop in performance compared to petrol and how much boot space he had to give up for the tank.
Cheers, Glenn.
Glenn.
1989 XJR-S 6.0.
2001 X-Type 3.0 Sport.
Both in British Racing Green.