Porsche teased the idea back in 2012 with the Panamera Sport Turismo concept, but now it is looking increasingly likely that it is working on a wagon version of the Panamera sedan.
More in the vein of Mercedes-Benz’s “Shooting Brake” sporty wagons, the idea of a Panamera with an extended roofline has been kicked around for a while, but with no sign of commitment from the German manufacturer.
But now a Panamera mule has been spotted running around wearing only light camouflage at the front, but with a suspiciously longer and higher roofline at the heavily-disguised rear, indicating rather strongly that a wagon is in development now.
If Porsche do end up making a wagon version of the Panamera, it will be one pretty damn fast wagon. But it probably won’t be the wildest wagon ever made. We have found five that could make that claim, however…
2015 Audi RS6 Avant
Audi started all this stupidly quick wagon stuff (on the road, at least) with the Porsche-developed RS2 in 1994, so it makes sense that the craziest road legal wagon currently in production is made by the same company.
While the last version of the RS6 was a big, heavy truck powered by a disappointingly placid version of a Lamborghini V10, the current (and lighter) version packs a 412kW/700Nm twin-turbo V8 that is not only ferociously powerful, but also wonderfully aggressive as well.
With its flared guards and colossal exhaust noise, the current RS6 also happens to looks and sound as stupidly aggressive as its engine actually is, which makes a nice change for performance Audis…
2013 Brabus 850 Estate
While it is not like any sane person has described the Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG Estate as underpowered, the lunatics at Brabus clearly thought it needed more power, hence the creation of the utterly insane Brabus 850 Estate.
Based on the E 63 Estate, but with a bored-out 5.9-litre version of the 5.5-litre AMG V8 producing 635kW of power and a staggering 1,450Nm of torque, the 850 rockets from a standing start to the legal speed limit in 3.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 350km/h. That’s probably enough, really.
If you were a small girl, Brabus did offer lower-powered versions of their pumped-up version of the E 63, but these no-doubt came with a pitying look and condescending tone from the salesman as you ordered it.
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300D Estate
Okay, so admittedly, a diesel-powered Mercedes wagon might not fire up images of fire-breathing insanity in your mind. But the you are not Teemu Peltola, a drift racer from Finland.
Peltola, apparently like all Finns, is an amazing driver and likes to be somewhat “unique” when it comes to cars.
While the 300D is a 1981 model in body only, it IS still diesel – it packs a 3.0-litre diesel from a 1998 E-class, but cranked up to pump out 336kW and a colossal 750Nm!
But there is much, much more to it than that – Peltola installed a much bigger Garrett GT40 turbo from a Scania heavy truck pushing 36 PSI, a new diesel pump and home-made intercooler. A bell housing adapter was made to fit a Tremec TKO 600 transmission to the engine and power is pushed through a Lexus GS rear axle.
Peltola has more planned and is currently smoking his way through the Finnish drift scene. More is, no doubt, to come…
1994 Volvo 850 Estate
Not even going to pretend about this one – the 850 Estate is one of the best and most incredible touring cars to ever grace the race tracks of the world, and if you don’t know that, well, just stop reading now…
The 850 Estate was the work of Touring Car legend Tom Walkinshaw and the wagon was chosen because it was more aerodynamically efficient than the sedan (even though ussie legend Peter Brock drove an 850 sedan to 6th in the 1996 Australian Super Touring Championship), but also because it was roughly a million times more awesome than the sedan.
It never actually won the championship, but it won a number of races and looked utterly incredible doing it (usually up on two wheels). Plus, for bonus awesomeness, driver Rickard Rydell once drove a parade lap with a large toy dog in the back, just to wind the other competitors up…
1998 Chevrolet Caprice Hearse
For some people, too much is actually not enough. One of those people is Arne Torman, vice president of US tuning company AMS Performance.
To that end he has overseen the construction of “Madness”, a ’98 Chev Caprice hearse that currently holds the title of “World’s Fastest Hearse”. Which, honestly, we never even knew was a thing…
“Madness” packs a 6.0-litre LQ4 V8 (from a Chev van) packing a turbocharger that boosts proceedings to a frankly insane 1,300 horsepower (970kW). Back when it produced “only” 1,000hp (746kW), “Madness” rocketed to 60mph (96km/h) in just 2.3 seconds. We imagine it is a bit quicker now…
Despite all of the insane power and speed, “Madness” still has air conditioning, a stereo and all of the original equipment to carry a coffin in the back.
That makes it one hell of a way to take that final journey!
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