Why Does This Porsche Diesel Filter Look So Much Like A Butt?

Every so often, car parts look like other things. Sometimes it’s intentional, like the center stack in a Mazda RX-8 featuring a compact disc motif, but sometimes it seems unintentional, like the water pump gasket on a 1997 Toyota Tacoma with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that’s been the cause of many a parts store prank call. This seems to be one of the latter times, with the diesel particulate filter for a Porsche Macan diesel drawing a few eyebrows.

Initially pointed out by Autopian Discord user zmijman, the diesel particulate filter for the European-market 2017 Macan Diesel makes sense. After all, this thing used a three-liter turbodiesel V6, so the two downpipes would likely end up merging anyway for packaging reasons. So-called Y-pipes are fairly common on cars with two banks of cylinders, yet there’s something unique about this diesel particulate filter.

Maybe it’s just the positioning of this vital piece of emissions equipment in its second-hand ad, maybe it has something to do with differing pipe diameters, or the curvatures necessary to package this part in a compact crossover with a longitudinal architecture. Maybe the bubble wrap on the end of the part also has something to do with it, but it’s easy to read more into this diesel particulate filter than what’s actually there.

Funnily enough, Porsche may have originally planned on bringing the Macan diesel to America until, you know, that thing happened. As Car And Driver reported in 2013, “Porsche told Car and Driver that the 258-hp Macan S diesel will be imported to our shores sometime after the Macan S and Macan Turbo go on sale in early 2014. The Stuttgart-based automaker also confirmed that neither the gas nor diesel turbocharged four-cylinders being built for other markets will be offered in U.S. Macans.” Well, it turns out that ditching the diesel for the gasoline four-banger was a shrewd move, as the base Macan opened up Porsche to a whole new audience without the idiosyncrasies of diesels.

Speaking of opening up, does this Macan diesel DPF with this specific patination oriented in this particular way remind you of anything? No? Just me? Alrighty, then. That’s the way it goes, I guess. Maybe it would look different if the heat shields were all silvery and in near-factory shape. Then again, from this angle, perhaps not. Damn, I wish I could show this to Sigmund Freud.

[Hat-tip to zmijman!]

(Photo credits: Ovoko seller)

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