Rover 75

Rover’s last chance saloon is rapidly gaining a following among enthusiasts. And with many a good reason…

- Craig Cheetham

The Jaguar X-Type was, inmany ways, a pastiche ofa Jaguar. A fine car and a competitive entrant into the compact executive market, which was booming in the early 2000s. But a car that was also built out of necessity rather than passion.

It was a response to a market need, to help Jaguar expand its range and help it compete with cars like the BMW 3-Series, which was storming the sales charts.

It’s somewhat ironic, then, that the X-Type’s closest British rival was developed using BMW’s financial and engineering input. That car was the Rover 75, and although it has its flaws, it was arguably the best car that the company ever made. It also oozes character from every pore.

Rover diehards will probably argue against this point (and if we were talking about the 75-derived MG ZT it may be a different story), but of the two cars, it’s the Jaguar that’s the better one to drive. It has a more communicative chassis, more eager power delivery and sharper steering, while it retains Jaguar’s legendary ride quality.

I’ve owned an X-Type and a 75, both in 2.5-litre V6 flavour. For a while, I owned them concurrently, so my judgement that the X-Type is the better driver’s car is more than simple hypothesis, plucked from the content of contemporary road tests. But there’s a reason the X-Type has moved on to pastures new and the 75 remains. And, indeed, why it will remain indefinitely.