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Want Porsche? Sit still in the Cayenne's driver seat and gently blip the accelerator pedal. These are not the sounds emanating from the typical SUV. The Cayenne's exhaust rumbles a bit louder, maybe, and certainly deeper. Even at idle, the burble of low-restriction mufflers, the cams and the suck of intake air remind us of the late, great Porsche 928, a V8-powered GT that swallowed chunks of pavement at an alarming rate. Yet this is the Porsche SUV, and the thought can be difficult for longtime Porsche enthusiasts to get their arms around. Perhaps Cayenne more appropriately invokes images of the Paris-Dakar 959s skimming over giant dunes in the Sahara at 140 mph.
The Sahara we couldn't arrange, but we did muck the Porsche Cayenne through a muddy off-road course in the south of Spain. It should be noted that Porsche development engineers laid out this course, no doubt to highlight the Cayenne's off-road strengths. This was not a bolder-laden wilderness trail like the Rubicon, but it included axle-deep mud and steep, low-grip 50-yard grades. Up, down and across, the Cayenne performed flawlessly with little sweat for the driver. In most cases the electronics did the heavy lifting, and the driver had to simply, lightly modulate the throttle or brake in low range. The Cayenne's performance impressed even the jaded, and supported Porsche's assertion that it has more off-road capability than the X5 or ML, which we've tested in similar circumstances.
At one point we crept the Porsche Cayenne through a succession of holes a couple of feet in diameter and 10 inches deep, dropping a wheel on one side into one of the holes and then another wheel on the opposite side into another hole, so that the vehicle repeatedly bobbed left-right like a pack camel dipping its legs to be loaded. Impressive or not, Cayenne's off-road capability may not amount to much of a sales point. This is what SUVs are supposed to do, but Porsche salesmen like to joke that few 911 owners will even take their cars out in the rain. It that's true, then there's not much reason to think Cayenne owners will allow their SUV to be blasted with gravel or painted with mud.
Still, the hole-crabbing was instructive as to the overall stiffness of the Cayenne's body / frame, and to its rattle-free operation on pavement. It flexed just a bit in situations that might bend lesser SUVs in half. And remembering the joint Cayenne / VW Touareg platform development, we presume that the less expensive Touareg will share the same, solid rigidity.
On a muddy flat in the off-road course, we tried to evaluate Cayenne's anti-skid electronics, and we discovered something we don't expect to find in the Touareg. The electronics are programmed relatively loosely, allowing either the front or rear of the Cayenne to slide a bit before the brakes apply themselves or the engine throttles back. In the mud the Cayenne's standard 32/68-torque bias showed itself in easy dirt-tracking power slides, with the steering wheel turned slightly in opposite lock and the rear-end hung out in a fishtail-type skid with a bit of accelerator modulation. There's more than rumbling exhaust to suggest that Cayenne's V8 isn't the typical SUV engine. There's a ton of power here. Even in the Cayenne S, the reserve of torque is better than ample. At any speed, the six-speed automatic kicks down quickly with a jab at the gas pedal and the S accelerates like a jumbo jet approaching rotation speed. We're not sure why anyone (sanely) needs more get-up in a big SUV than the Porsche Cayenne S, but those who do might try the Turbo.
The Cayenne Turbo is easily the quickest SUV we have ever tested. With a 0-60 mph time of 5.0 seconds, the Cayenne Turbo has more than a half second on its closest competitor, the Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG. And at about seven seconds from 0-60, the Cayenne S is no slouch. Ten years ago, that kind acceleration was quick in a sports car. On the road, the Porsche Cayenne is smooth, fast, and big. It's not just acceleration or Porsche's reported 165-mph top speed, but the high speeds the Cayenne comfortably carries in most circumstances. The steering isn't as quick as that in Porsche 911, but its weight and response have a familiar feel. The Cayenne's air suspension keeps it on the stiff side, though it can be manually softened, if the driver chooses. Either way, this SUV is impressively precise and responsive. Its 2.5-ton mass is masked by impressive stability and agility.
The Porsche Cayenne drives lighter than any big SUV on the market, including the X5 or ML, and speed creep is a constant issue. The brakes allow it to shed speed like a good sedan, and almost without realizing it you can be traveling 120 on roads posted 65. Speeds we'd never even consider in a Chevy Tahoe or some equally hefty truck-based SUV, except in a carefully controlled experiment, feel almost mundane in the Cayenne. It can be unnerving, almost otherworldly, based on conventional SUV sensibilities.
If one maintains a respectful awareness of the laws of physics, none of the Cayenne's performance comes at any particular cost, except perhaps in the size of the parking space it requires or its thirst for gasoline. EPA figures say 14 city, 18 highway for Cayenne S, 13 / 18 for the Turbo. As an SUV, the Cayenne is not subject to a gas-guzzler tax. We suspect Cayenne shoppers are not overly concerned about fuel costs, however. While Porsche dealerships may need some time to adjust their service schedules to the idea of daily-driven Porsches, drivers should have no difficulty with the concept. The Porsche Cayenne isn't the least bit finicky, or hard starting or rough. Nothing during our test run suggested that you couldn't or wouldn't want to drive it every day, even for the most mundane chores.
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