The word "powerful" is relative. For some people, a powerful diesel SUV might be something like a 190 horsepower BMW X3 or VW Tiguan, since the class goes as low as the T-Roc or Captur. However, there are only two models that deserve you fast diesel money, and they are the Audi SQ7 and BMW X5 M50d... soon to be joined by the SQ8.
These models have never been all that common. Sure, there's also the 4.4-liter SDV8 in the Range Rover, but it only makes 339 HP. Meanwhile, Mercedes stopped making the OM629 4-liter back in 2010. But BMW's crazy idea was not to have many cylinders, but lots of turbos, four of them to be precise.
That's how they were able to get 400 horsepower into the X5 M50d, which doesn't sound that amazing until you realize it's making as much power per liter as a Ferrari V12 supercar or an Up! GTI.
Having lots of turbos of varying sizes isn't the only way to make a powerful lag-free diesel engine. Audi's idea was to use an electric supercharger to force in more air before the turbos kick in. The 4-liter block is shared with the Bentley Bentayga and VW Touareg, though the Cayenne chickend out. Does that mean there's some sneaky software in there?
So, Audi V8 versus BMW inline-6 - which is the fastest? This is an especially interesting question if you live in a part of the world where these engines aren't available, aka America. The official numbers state that the SQ7 is the quicker model, but we wanted to check an independent acceleration video anyway.
And to our surprise, the X5 was very much quicker up to around 110 km/h. It's got a smaller engine with less power and torque, so the outcome is most likely due to Audi's tuning of the ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox, which lags on launch in almost all its cars equipped this way.
So which one should you buy? Well, you might want to check out this comparison review for the normal versions of these SUVs. In short, if you're after a sporty model, it's got to be the X5, plus it has a better cabin as well.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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