prototype racers have decimated its competition on the race tracks for the last decade.
Now, Audi is taking its high-
performance oil-burning tech and
dropping it into the company's flagship Q7 SUV to create the new SQ7 TDI.
Under the hood, the SQ7 comes
packing Audi's new 4.0 liter, twin-
turbocharged, diesel V8 engine with an electric compressor.
The result is a luxury SUV with 435
horsepower and 664 lb. ft. of torque
while achieving a manufacturer
claimed 32 mpg.
According to Audi, the SQ7 is good for a sprint to 62 mph in just 4.8 seconds and an artificially limited top speed of 155mph.
That's impressive for such a large high-performance crossover SUV.
And much of this can be attributed to that new twin-turbo diesel V8.
The 4.0 liter unit utilizes sequential
turbocharging technology which
deploys one turbo for low and medium engine speeds and the other for high-end performance.
The two exhaust driven turbos are
augmented by a electric compressor unit that fills in any gaps in the engines' performance envelope. Since the compressor cuts out any delay time the turbos need to spool up, the system essentially neutralizes the dreaded turbo lag.
Although Audi and VW Group's diesel technology has been under great scrutiny in the past year, there's no doubting the capability and potential the company's diesel tech possess. As a result of VW's emissions scandal, sales of the company's TDI-powered cars are
on hold in the US.
However, it should be noted that the scandal is centered around VW's smaller 2.0 and 3.0 liter powerplants while the large 4.o liter units have not been affected.
Business Insider had the chance to test out the Audi Q7 on which the SQ7 is based and found the large crossover to be quite a competent performer. With the 4.0 liter turbodiesel, the SQ7 looks to be an impressive beast indeed.
Audi has yet to confirm whether the performance-oriented Audi SQ7 TDI will ever make it over to US
showrooms. The gasoline-powered Q7 crossover is currently on sale with a base price of $54,800.
Source: business insider.
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