2004 Porsche Cayenne S With 1.9 TDI Diesel Is The Definition Of Frugal Luxury

For the 2024 model year in the United States, even in its base form, the Porsche Cayenne comes with a 3.0-liter turbo V6 generating 348 horsepower and 368 pound-feet. This makes it more powerful than the first-generation Cayenne S with its 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V8, which had 335 hp and 310 lb-ft. But if performance and speed are not what you are looking for in a Cayenne, then this 2004 Cayenne S might answer your needs.

The vehicle recently came up for sale in Ukraine as a good-looking first-gen Cayenne with OEM wheels and a few aftermarket tweaks. The styling isn’t the most important thing about it, as there’s now a 1.9-liter TDI diesel engine from Volkswagen under the hood of Stuggart’s flagship SUV. The four-cylinder direct injection compression ignition mill is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox sourced from a Volkswagen Touareg 2.5 TDI.

This surely sounds like a Frankenstein consisting of seemingly unmatching Volkswagen Group components but the owner says they have done the transformation with big attention to the detail. The longitudinally mounted 1.9-liter diesel produces 150 horsepower (112 kilowatts) in this application, which likely means that it is sourced from a 2000-2007 VW Golf, Bora/Jetta, or Sharan. Probably the best news is that the Cayenne’s factory all-wheel drive apparently works as it should with a fully functional locking differential.

But what was the point of the heart transplantation? Well, according to the owner, the Cayenne is now much more efficient than before. The original V8 gas engine barely managed to hit around 12 miles per gallon (approximately 20 liters per 100 kilometers), while also burning a significant amount of engine oil. After the switch to four-cylinder diesel power, the SUV is now at least twice more frugal than before while still reportedly retaining much of its performance on the highway. 

What other modifications can be seen? On the good side, the Cayenne’s original and archaic infotainment system has been replaced by a 10-inch touchscreen display running Android operational system. On the bad side, those LED lights integrated into the OEM reflector halogen lights at the front aren’t really our cup of tea.