Welcome to another edition of Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday. I thought I would shake up things a bit, and highlight a couple of Wagons that were recently discontinued within the US only a few years ago. They sold in such small numbers that their combined total sales couldn’t match the sales output of the almost $200,000 Bentley Continental. The vehicles are the Jaguar X-Type Wagon, and the Lexus IS300 SportCross. They were both a radical departure for their respective brands at the time of their introduction, and could never build up any sort of following in the age of the SUV.


Let’s start with the Jaguar X-Type Wagon. This was only the second “Estate” car ever, and the only one actually produced by the company. The X-Type in all versions was suppose to be the volume mark for Jaguar, with projections of over 200,000 per year. That projection was never to be seen, and with many in the enthusiast community calling the X-Type the Jaguar “Cimarron”, sales never measured up to expectations.

The X-Type Estate was introduced within Jaguar’s home market in 2004, with the US introduction a year later, and they were a rare sight indeed. Between 2005 and 2008, Jaguar managed to sell only 1,602 X-Type Wagons in the states, and withdrew the type a year earlier that the European markets. Which brings us to this lovely X-Type wagon offered on eBay. This Silver wagon has covered only a little over 33,000 miles, and it is offered by a California Mercedes Dealer. The only thing this car doesn’t have is the Roof Rails, which is curious as they were standard equipment if I recall correctly.

The Buy-it-Now price for this one of only 1,600 wagons is $23,900. This sounds like a rather steep price, but the question is this: When was the last time you saw one, and will it ever become a coveted piece of Jaguar history in the future? See the eBay listing here.

The Lexus IS series was originally marketed as the Toyota Altezza (the word “altezza” is Italian for “highness”) and introduced in its home market in October of 1998. It morphed into the Lexus IS200 and IS300 for North America during the 2000 model year. The SportCross Wagon made its debut within the US almost two years later. The cars that were made available came equipped with Automatic transmissions, though you could theoretically purchase a five-speed manual during the 2003 model year.

Sales projections for the sportiest Lexus was never met, with the high point being the introductory year at over 22,400 sedans, and slowly spiraled downward. The SportCross figures were especially dismal, with only 3,088 sold between 2002 and 2005. Which brings us to this IS300 SportCross available on AutoTrader. It is a 2003 model, with the 215HP I-6, Automatic, and has covered over 65,000 miles. It does sport an all leather interior, and is priced at a reasonable $13,495. The Lexus IS Series will probably never match the desire of either a Jaguar X-Type or a BMW 3-Series, but with a rear drive chassis, and an inline six cylinder engine, I wouldn’t count it out. See the AutoTrader listing here.

The point of this posting is to see if either of these wagons is worthy of your hard earned dollars. Remember, within a few years these are going to be very rare beasts worthy of some respect, but maybe not yours. Tell me what you really think….