We've heard talk for some time that Porches will be gracing the world with a diesel Cayenne. Sourced from Audi via Volkswagen (now essentially owned by deep-pockets Porsche), the 3.0-liter oil-burner is more a volume and CAFE proposition than anything related to performance. Seeing as how the off-roading (not) Cayenne is already the poster boy for all that's wrong with the brand, no one really cares about a diesel truck. But check this: it seems as if the yet-to-be released Panamera 4-door is getting the same engine. According to the Ozzies at Motor Authority, Porsche let slip at a focus group right here in California that the big sedan will have a spark plug delete option. Interestingly, Porsche now has access to all the diesels in VW's garage– the V8, V10 and V12. But all those mills are too heavy for Panamera duty. At this same focus group, Porsche also indicated that a Panamera Targa is in the works, to compete with a convertible version of the upcoming Audi A7. Wait a second– focus groups?
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The better TDI in the VW stable is the 1.9L. Mated to a truly lightweight car I bet it would astonish us with its MPG. I seem to recall the euro-only VW Polo exceeding 90 MPG with it when I was exiled to Old Blighty.
Somehow I don’t see Stuttgart coughing up an econobox however. The Cayenne though can not die soon enough.
–chuck
Meh, early on, Porsche was building small tractors that look like gussied up Ford 8Ns. So a diesel SUV isnt that much of a stretch, ‘specially if the parts are in house
modern day oel burners are quite powerful, sadly we N America have been cursed by the Diesel Nazis, no Diesels for many many yrs.
Compete with the A7. You know, the car made by the subsidiary of your subsidiary.
Once the reckoning is over in Detroit, it will move back to Europe and finish what it started with Britain’s car industry. This time, the target will be arrogant Germans.
blowfish,
When diesels can approach the emissions of gas engines, then we’ll let them back in.
Until then, those of us who live in urban areas are quite happy that North American cities aren’t plagued by diesels. Go to, say, Munich, which has a favourable geography for dealing with air pollution, and breathe the air. Pretty nasty, isn’t it?
Then, go to Los Angeles or Toronto, which have very _bad_ conditions for pollution, and imagine it with 70% diesel cars. Remember, diesel NOX and particulate emissions are terrible, compared to gas. Yes, even ULSD and/or “clean” diesels.
Hopefully, that little object lesson will help you understand why CARB bans the damn things. Until a diesel can meet the _minimum_ emissions that gas engines have been meeting for a decade or so, they don’t deserve to be sold on these shores.
I think the market is ready for this?
http://www.greencar.com/features/vw-235-mpg-car/
If the price was right; I’d commute to work in it.
“…Porches will be gracing the world with a diesel Cayenne…”?
Repeat after me the world’s second-oldest Porsche joke:
Homeless guy knocks on a door, asks for dinner. Homeowner says if you paint the porch out back, you can have dinner, and he hands him a gallon of barn red paint.
Half hour later, homeless guy comes back and says the job is done, “But that ain’t a Porsche out back, it’s a Ferrari.”
If I remember correctly- correct me if I’m wrong- I heard through the grapevine that early Cayenne sales gave Porsche enough money to put the Carrera GT into limited production. So, the Cayenne has some good qualities there…
psarhjinian :
June 28th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
blowfish,
When diesels can approach the emissions of gas engines, then we’ll let them back in.
hear the blu tec is pretty clean.
arent we selling them here already?
have I just woke up from Mr. Peanuts Pres Carter administraton?
Cayenne sold more than 924 + 944 + 928 total.
And the tooloing costs were divided with Touaeg.
So little risk for Porsche.
For a porsche dsl they need V10 or 12 inorder to go fast. Cant be an also ran at the stop light grand prix
How about Used veg oil? will it be as Carcinogenic as King Abdullah’s black gold?
We can buy these UVO at the pump , but almost same price as dino oel.
Where I grew up there was a brand of Cancer stick called Abdullah #7.
Never mind the diesel, that car is butt fucking ugly! There’s no other way to describe it.
What the hell were they thinking of?
I hope the Panamera gets better in person because I agree with everyone else; that porsche is Ugly. How the hell do you go from a design like the Cayman (and everything else) to that?
That happens when you take a ‘correct’ the 911 body i.e. switch the engine from front to back and add 2 doors in the process.
Ugly if you ask me….I’ll stick with Aston Martin’s 4 door design.