Defying critics and physics, Porsche’s new Cayenne Turbo makes the impossible look altogether easy.
Words: Matt Masster
Photos: Porsche AG
While question marks quite rightly hang over the wisdom of the current SUV Zeitgeist, there is still much to be said for the engineering acumen behind some increasingly remarkable end products.
The new Porsche Cayenne Turbo is a substantial car by any yardstick. A whisker under five metres long and two metres wide, it’s also 1.67 metres tall and weighs in at two and a quarter tonnes. But it also hits 62mph in 4.1 seconds, 100mph in 10 seconds, topping out at 177mph.
When Porsche unveiled third gen Cayenne last year, much was made of its clever hybrid architecture – a blend of alloy and steel that significantly lightens the new car compared to its predecessor. The 30hp more powerful engine in this new Turbo has also been reduced from 4.8 to 4.0-litres. Less is more then – very much the Porsche philosophy, even when it comes to two-tonne SUVs.
This car has been subtly restyled, with the rear light bar the most dramatic improvement over the model it replaces. Inside there are some significant changes too, with a less fussy cockpit centred around a vast multi-purpose touch screen. The impression, as always, is of uncompromising quality. The driving position is excellent, visibility all round typically top notch.
The engine of any Turbo is the major talking point, and here Porsche has not spared the horses. The new, smaller, powerplant is a so-called ‘hot V’ in which the Turbos are installed between the cylinder banks. This allows the recirculated exhaust gases to stay warmer and be more easily controlled by virtue of their proximity to the head. It also improves the packaging and weight distribution of the engine.
Porsche’s new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 delivers astonishing levels of lag-less power and monstrous quantities of torque, via a new 8-speed auto (not the twin-clutch PDK) and regulated with a bewildering hardware package. When you read through the options list that includes ‘Porsche Active Suspension Management’ (standard on the Turbo), ‘Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control’ and ‘Porsche Torque Vectoring’, you realise that a formidable amount of technology is at work, should you have ticked the right boxes.
And you should, for this is where the new Cayenne comes into its own. The £2,315 optional ‘Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control’ provides Zuffenhausen’s latest active anti-roll system, reducing lateral roll in fast corners without the need for cumbersome anti-roll bars that compromise on ride quality.
Your first few minutes on a decent B-road in the Cayenne Turbo require a little faith, for no car of this size should be able to go, stop or corner as freely. The grunt is easy enough to imagine, but the brakes – albeit £4217 optional carbon ceramics in this instance – are so immediate, powerful and progressive that the kerbweight conundrum is all but eliminated.
Steering feel could be better, but only at the expense of some of that more important refinement. The Cayenne Turbo is easy enough to place accurately on the road anyway,
and what it lacks in feedback it makes up for with comfort, bolstered by superb ride quality. ‘Normal’ on the mode switch offers a preternatural waft that ought to be at odds with such roll-free cornering. And even in the most aggressive ‘Sport Plus’, which drops the ride height and stiffens the damper settings, new three chamber air suspension ensures the Turbo remains resolutely settled.
Much of what makes the Turbo remarkable is available on a well-optioned entry-level car of course. Here, you are paying a fraction under £100k for the rocket ship grunt, the styling and the status. In any configuration, this is a hugely accomplished, practical and desirable car, but the Turbo is the prize bull.
Yet while the 911 and to a lesser degree the 718 do have that intangible ‘soul’ Porsche often mentions, the Cayenne feels more like a device. A remarkably impressive device mind you – one that you will delight in for the length of your lease period before, presumably, swapping out for another. It is not something to love and cherish as much as it is to simply admire and enjoy. Which is by no means a bad thing.