Porsche Cayenne // The Oil Burner

“I’m sorry sir, there is no petrol here today.” The pump attendant gives me a small shake of the head as I park up the Porsche Cayenne at a truck stop fuel station near Jebel Ali.

“Don’t worry, it’s a diesel vehicle,” I reply. “No no sir,” repeats the attendant, giving a discreet roll of the eyes to his colleague, “we have no petrol.”

Behind me, a column of trucks and lorries inch forward awaiting their fuel. “No, it’s fine,” I insist, and point to the chrome lettering on the Porsche’s front wing. “See? It’s diesel. I need diesel.” The attendant looks confused. “Diesel?”

“Yes.” I open the fuel flap. The attendant’s colleague points towards another sign on the filler cap, indicating that this shiny new Porsche does indeed run on the same juice being siphoned into the heavy goods vehicles behind us.

“You’re sure?” “Yes, fill her up please.” Still looking bemused, the man starts pumping fuel into the big SUV, while a long line of truckers behind us look curiously from their cabs.

I ask if many diesel cars stop for fuel at the stop. The attendant flashes a smile. “No sir, this is the first one.”

His response is hardly surprising, as diesel powered cars are few and far between in the Middle East. In this oil rich part of the world, fuel is cheap when compared with the West, and well subsidised by governments. Diesel’s popularity in Europe is largely down to rising taxation, which raises the price of all types of fuel and offers environment-related incentives to cars producing lower emissions of carbon dioxide from exhausts. Diesel, which produces far fewer such emissions compared to petrol engines, also offers much improved fuel economy, and so the prospect of cheaper running costs in areas where owning car is much more expensive than in the Gulf turns the majority of the public to diesel power.

Here in the region, petrol rules the roost. The affection for growling V8s and V6s, the relatively low cost of filling the tank, a lack of punitive taxation and a generally poor image of diesel drastically limits its appeal. Diesel engines belong in big trucks and construction equipment. The queues at diesel stops are long. It’s smelly and diesel engines clatter and smoke. Why would we want to ditch petrol, which has served us so well for so long?

It’s a perception that is somewhat out of date. Modern diesel engines are clean, efficient and increasingly more powerful. Witness its dominance in sportscar racing, where the winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours have been diesel-powered since 2006. More and more manufacturers of performance cars have been turning their attention to diesel technology, driven by societal pressures to create economic cars that can still produce the goods when it comes to an involving drive.

The 2011 Porsche Cayenne Diesel is one such vehicle, and its release in the Middle East follows similar decisions by the likes of Audi to cautiously introduce diesel-powered Q7s here. That move followed the improvement of the quality of diesel fuel in several Middle East countries. What a few years ago was rather impure, industrial stuff best suited to trucks is now more on a par with the standards found in the West. It’s not quite as good, but it’s good enough.

Porsche says the decision to bring the Cayenne Diesel to the region is a natural one, as it wants to offer its full range in as many markets as possible. The company’s Middle East CEO, Deesch Papke, says that although market demand here is small at the moment, in part due to the relatively high price of diesel, that may change in the future and the diesel Cayenne offers an alluring fuel consumption of just 7.5L/100km.

“We offer the Diesel to meet the niche customer demand but do not have certain expectation in terms of sales,” he says. “Within our region that we look after, we have strong diesel markets such as South Africa and India. For customers in these countries it is important that we also offer the Diesel variant for the Cayenne model range.”

Back at the Dubai truck stop, the tank of the Cayenne is full, and I head back onto the road. To look at, and to sit in, it’s pretty much indistinguishable from a regular high-end model Cayenne. From the outside, the only giveaways are the ‘diesel’ badge on the front wing and a slightly more agricultural engine sound, more of a chug than a purr. Inside, only the lower redline on the rev counter alerts occupants to the differing fuel source.

Otherwise, the Cayenne is as it’s been since the updated second generation model arrived in the Middle East last year. That means much sleeker looks compared to its rather bland predecessor, and a dramtically improved interior. Where the old model raised eyebrows with its cheap plastics and utterly dull design inside, the new one is a much more sumptuous affair, slathered in leather but with a high centre console, a la Panamera, which gives it a more performance feel than your common-or-garden SUV. The seats are great too, comfortable but with chunky side bolsters to keep me pinned in place when the going gets more exhuberant.

The diesel model sports a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel under the bonnet that makes 240bhp. That may not sound much for an SUV that weighs more than 2000kg, but it’s the torque figure that’s important. At 2000rpm the unit pushes out 406lb ft to all four wheels, which is twist that petrol engines of that power can only dream about. The result is that the Cayenne D is much quicker off the mark than the power figure would suggest. With the power of a hot hatch but the torque of a Lamborghini Gallardo, when I plant my foot the big Porsche hurtles away from standstill and hits 100kph in 7.8 seconds.

Where the experience of accelerating differs from a petrol-powered Cayenne is in the delivery. With so much grunt low down, the initial kick in the back is almost immediate from the introduction of throttle pedal to carpet. This is where diesel could start to win over fans in the Middle East – get people into a car like this and let them feel that instant grunt, and they’ll soon appreciate that supercar torque. They may however miss the surging acceleration up through the revs, as while there’s plenty of oomph from the Cayenne D, it comes in a single lump at the bottom end. By the time it’s reached 4,000rpm, maximum power has been reached and it’s time to change, so forget any dreams of taking it close to the rev limiter, feeling continous pull and hearing the engine sing. For one, quickest progress is made by short shifting and keeping in the main torque band, and secondly there’s no song worth noting from the V6. The insulation of the Cayenne’s cabin does a good job of keeping things relatively quiet, but I’m not missing much – diesels aren’t renowned for their aural delights and Porsche’s model is no exception. From the driver’s seat I hear little more than a baritone hum; enough to tell me what’s happening under the bonnet but not enough to get my spine tingling. Opening the window reveals a decidedly unsexy and agricultural chugging fron the front of the car. I quickly close it again.

Handling across the new Cayenne range is excellent, as befits the badge adorning the bonnet, and so while the soundtrack may not thrill, the Cayenne D is still an SUV capable of putting a grin on my face. I throw it into a series of corners and it stays stable and composed, the front wheels and suspension soaking up weight and high centre of gravity and feeling alive beneath me. This is right up with the best of sporting SUVs and the eight-speed automatic gearbox is very quick to find the right ratio for swift entry out of corners, especially with Sport mode enabled. This also sharpens up the throttle response, emphasising the whole car’s performance pedigree and keeping my right foot sharp.

I actually had a great time in the Cayenne D. It won’t sell in big numbers here because of the wider issues surrounding diesel and its image in the Middle East, but my time gave us a taste of what we’re missing, and an encouraging vision of what could be should the region’s love of petrol start to wain. If that happens, hopefully there will be fewer confused fuel attendants in stations across the GCC.

pics – The Termite

Thanks to EVO ME

Porsche Cayenne // The Oil Burner

Phill Tromans

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Porsche Cayenne // The Oil Burner

Phill Tromans

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