At 8:15 EST on November 7, 2011 a British-registered, right-hand drive Jaguar XF 2.2-liter diesel departed New York City with the aim of arriving in Los Angeles, California in seven days time - a journey spanning over 2,800 miles and 11 states.
With independent UK test drivers David and Alexander Madgwick at the wheel, the XF will cross a continent in order to evaluate just how frugal the 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine can be.
A GPS device will be fitted to the car to allow the project to be interactive – the daily progress of the XF as it travels from coast to coast, its average speed and economy can be tracked at either www.facebook.com/Jaguar or www.twitter.com/Jaguar (#XFCoast2Coast). Fresh images will also be posted daily.
A strictly standard car, the XF was shipped from Jaguar's global headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, making it the first diesel Jaguar to enter the US.
The project will test the capabilities of the XF – serving as an engineering exercise to determine the maximum efficiency of the car. It's not the first time that the new British-specification model has embarked on a long-distance trip. Earlier this year, an XF 2.2 was driven from the factory at Castle Bromwich to Munich – a distance of 816 miles – on a single tank of diesel and achieved an average of 57 mpg imperial (47.5 miles per a US gallon).
Despite being the most fuel efficient production Jaguar ever built, the XF 2.2 produces 187 hp and 332 lbs ft of torque, to allow the XF to accelerate from rest to 60 mph in just 8.0-seconds before reaching a top speed of 140 mph. The XF 2.2 emits just 149 g/km of CO2.
