Hi Chris,
The x type is much maligned, especially by those who have neither owned or driven one. The engines on most modern cars are not necessarily made by the company with the badge on the front, as neither are many of the parts. Car manufactures buy their parts from specialist companies such as Bosch for electrical bits and other similar companies for other parts.
When the X type was designed and produced it was in the ownership of Ford, which was not a bad thing, as Ford technology is well respected in the Industry.
The design is all Jaguar although the Ford input was basically the body pan/chassis which came from a cut down Mondeo, and the engines are Ford, whose engines also power the Aston Martin, the Morgan, and a few other cars.
The X type 3.0 litre AWD is a very good engine and was very popular in the USA , and I used to have a 2.5 litre AWD which was a great car to drive and described by a journalist reviewer as "nippy".
The gearboxes on both models are good, and although I prefer the Auto Gearbox, my x type had the manual, with which I never had a problem.
You just test drive one of each and see which you prefer.
Regards
Peter.