With virtually all the attention focused on Audi’s Le Mans hybrid race car effort over the weekend, the company also snuck in a little surprise for fans of high-performance SUVs.
A day before the racing got underway, Audi unveiled its new SQ5 TDI. It’s the first Audi ‘S’ model ever to be powered by a diesel engine and in this case it’s a powerful twin-turbo three-litre that puts out 230kW and 650Nm between 1450 and 2800rpm. In fact its common-rail system can develop as much as 2000 bar of pressure and can inject up to eight squirts of diesel into the combustion chamber within each cycle.
What all this force means in the real world, according to Audi, is the ability to screech from standstill to 100km/h in just 5.1 seconds and reach 250km/h. Although real-world consumption is likely to be on the steep side when pushed to the limit, Audi is claiming a feather-footed combined-cycle figure of just 7.2 litres per 100km.
Power is channelled to the road via an eight-speed tiptronic gearbox and quattro permanent four-wheel drive with torque vectoring. Also aiding its cornering cause is a set of 20” alloys (21” rims are optional) and a sport suspension system that puts it 30mm closer to the ground than other Q5 models.
You’ll also tell the SQ5 apart by its redesigned bumpers and new platinum-grey grille, while the interior has some new black trimmings and standard Pearl Nappa leather/Alcantara seats that are available in four colours.
Global sales will start early in 2013 although there’s no word, at this stage, on whether we can expect it in South Africa.