Happenings

Porsche's Frugal Panamera

BY Burnpavement

With an engine that sips fuel, this Gran Turismo will make long journeys a single-tank affair.

Porsche's coupe-like luxury sedan has a new three litre V6 engine with a rated output of 250 hp and 550 Nm of torque. Sending it's power through an eight-speed Tiptronic S gearbox, the engine powers the car from zero to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds, with a top speed of 242 km/h. It has a range of over 1,200 km on an 80 litre tank. With the standard tyres, the fuel consumption figure is rated at 6.5 l/100 km, which dips to 6.3 when fitted with low friction tyres.

You might think this is a new Panamera S Hybrid variant, but you are wrong. It's the new Panamera Diesel. Despite being a more conventional engine, it comes stuffed with the latest technologies such as common rail direct injection, electrically controlled variable geometry turbochargers and controlled exhaust gas recirculation with an oxidation catalyst and particle filter.

The new engine gets an auto start/stop function fitted as standard. To improve the driving quality, Porsche's adaptive air suspension is available as an option over the standard steel spring suspension. This allows the driver to choose from a very wide spread of suspension characteristics: comfort to sporty.

Visually, the new model gets discreet "diesel" badges on the front doors. The Panamera Diesel will only be produced in a rear-wheel drive format and reach customers from August this year.