Porsche purists will recoil in horror, but desperate times require desperate measures: The German sports carmaker is developing its first-ever diesel. With the gas-electric Cayenne Hybrid delayed until at least 2010 and fuel prices spiraling ever higher, the company needs an interim measure. The obvious answer, for the European market, at least, is a diesel.
It's not so un-Porsche as you might think. The plan calls for using the 50-state-legal 3.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection V-6 from the forthcoming Audi Q7 3.0 TDI. In U.S. trim, the engine produces 221 horsepower and a very stout 406 pound-feet of torque — notably more torque than the either the direct-injection gasoline V-6 from the base-model Cayenne or the direct-injection gasoline V-8 from the Cayenne S and GTS.
In testing the diesel-powered Q7, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the engine pulled very much like a gas-fed V-8, with the quick-witted six-speed Tiptronic transmission compensating for narrower rev range of the diesel V-6. It launches the Q7, all 5,100 pounds of it, from zero to 60 in about 8.4 seconds while returning a respectable 25 mpg.
Considering the 3.0 TDI accounts for more than 80 percent of Audi's Q7 sales in Germany, there's little doubt Porsche will find homes for the 15,000 diesel Cayennes it plans to build each year, starting with the European market in March. Meanwhile, the Q7 3.0 TDI arrives in North America later this year.
Photo: Porsche
