I just finished a trip of about 1700 miles, my first long journey in my '06 VDP. Wow, what a comfortable car and the mileage compared to my xj40 and x300 was outstanding. My outward leg with the AC on and not going over 75, produced 28.8 mpg, but about 100 miles of that was on a U.S. Highway that had a top limit of 60mph. After a tank of local running around, my return journey today over about 580 miles was a stunner. The temperature was sufficiently cool enough more or less that I did virtually the entire trip without the AC. I had the fan blowing much of the way. The trip meter showed 34.1 when I filled up upon arriving home. When I did the math on gallons vs miles, it was 31.8. Absolutely stunning for an 8 cylinder car.
Last thing: I had a giant boo boo driving. I downshifted to take a cloverleaf going from one interstate to another. I failed to put the car back in drive, and ran a the car to 70 mph in 2nd gear. It was loud, the instant mileage was understandably low, and the “performance restriction” light came on and the car slowed. I was so scared by the warning light I did not see the tachometer which would have alerted me to what was going on. I probably drove 10 miles fearing I needed to find a Jag dealer. I finally reached over to the transmission to grab my phone and ask Siri for the nearest dealaer and realized my embarrassing error. Fortunatelty, the light has not returned, and I suspect I overreved the engine and the speed-limiting chip blocked the car from revving further.
So, great car, great performance, and I hope a good bit of resilience.
Eliot Brenner