Would P450 make sense in US?

 

As an outsider looking in I reckon it would make a helluva lot of sense.
You Yanks have always loved the venerable V8 and IMHO a detuned V8 makes much more sense in the US than the V6, and it puts out 70 more horsepowers to boot.
It would sell like hotcakes with one proviso - a price waaay less than the R and very little more than the V6.
I for one can't figure out why JLR dropped the V6 and replaced it with the P450 in ROW markets, and went with the V6 and not the P450 V8 in the NAS market, it seems completely the wrong way round to me.
I can only surmise that it must be down to CAFE regulations, assuming the P450 is a gas guzzler compared to the V6 (and maybe it isn't!).
Either that or they are winding down production of the AJ133 V8 and they wouldn't be able to produce enough of them to satisfy NAS demand.

 

The P450 does make a lot of sense. It's roughly halfway between the P300 and the '21 R in power, and most certainly more fuel efficient than a 3.0L V6 pumping out 450 hp. Now...if it just came with an MT.

 

Agreed though I have been surprised at the efficiency of my 450hp 6. It is getting 11l/100km (about 21mpg) driven mainly around town with enthusiasm. When I had the XKR (5 litre) it was rarely under 13.5l/100km (about 17.5mpg) and had been as high as 18l/100km.

 

In and around town, I only get about 15mpg. Interstate highway travel on cruise will net about 28-29mpg.

 

Yeah, well I suppose barely any of my driving is in heavy traffic as I come in to work early and leave early and get pretty good runs both ways.

 

The P450 seems apealling to me . In UK it is about $9500 less than R. In US probably more.

 

And you could whack a VAP pulley plus tune on it taking it to 620+ horsepowers for a measly $2,000 US, massive savings over an R never mind the 45+ more hp's!
But of course there are two problems with that:
1. New car warranty (although I have never read or heard of a single instance where a VAP tune has voided a warranty claim).
2. You have to take the car to a VAP tuner or agent to apply the tune, no more easy hand-held device.

 

I know, right?

Some XKs were V8 NA, while XKRs were V8 SC. To me, having V6 SC and V8 SC made less sense than V8 NA and V8 SC for a flagship car. Don't even get me started on bringing 4-cyl into NA market. What were they thinking?!