The 500-hp Porsche Cayenne Turbo’s V-8 bellowed melodically as Hurley Haywood pointed it deep into the apex of Turn One on Grand Prize of America Avenue, the 2.1-mile Savannah/Hilton Head Speed Classic track.
Light rain streamed off the glass as the second-generation of the Porsche SUV tackled each turn flat and feisty as we hit about 110-mph on the back straight.
“It wears the badge of Porsche and anything that is named a Porsche will handle well on a race track,” said Haywood, 5-time Rolex 24 champion, with a few other 24-hour race wins thrown in, Porsche his mainstay.
“It is all new, 400 pounds lighter than its predecessor, and it has all sorts of electronic gadgetry that makes it really nimble on a race track,” he said as he drove. “It has Dynamic Chassis Control. It is really brilliant the way this thing is able to negotiate a race track, yet still be absolutely calm on the road.”
They say love is better the second time around. The same may be true for the new Cayenne, as marshals pointed us in as rain fell.
* Cayenne in camera – The first Cayenne was birthed off the platform shared by the VW Toureg and Audi Q7 SUVs, and the second generation shares them as well for 2011. There’s a V-6, a naturally-aspirated V-8 Cayenne S and Cayenne GTS, our turbocharged Cayenne Turbo and a 550-hp Cayenne Turbo S. A Cayenne S Transsyberia and limited edition Cayenne GTS Porsche Design Edition 3 join a hybrid gas-electric version. All got a major facelift to bring more 911 sleekness to the shape, 1.9 inches longer than its predecessor, with a 1.6-inch wheelbase stretch and an inch less height.
As a veteran Porsche racer and driving instructor, Haywood has piloted many a Cayenne since they were introduced to unbelieving Porschefiles in 2002 – the legendary sports car maker designing a 5-passenger sports utility vehicle it claimed was as good on road as off. Now Porsche has entirely revamped its volume leader, a quarter million sold as of February 2009, the most mainstream of its vehicles behind the new 4-door Panamera. Longer, lighter and more powerful, it looks more like an all-in-one design.
“It was Porsche’s biggest seller of all the model lines, so the Cayenne is extremely good for Porsche and people have gotten used to the concept of a Cayenne and its window of performance has gone up considerably,” Haywood said. “It is the same thing we saw when we heard they were going to make a sedan. Who would have dreamt Porsche would be in the sedan business. But all the skeptics were proved instantly wrong when they saw the Panamera. The car is sensational. I drive one.”
The biggest change from the 2010 model is a wider, lower crosshatch grill on a longer, sharper nose. The teardrop headlights are slimmer, closer to the stronger-looking fender’s outer edges. Slimmer side intakes flanking the more aggressive center grill house strips of LED running lights over inset fog lamps. It doesn’t look as blunt anymore, more streamlined.
Matte black plastic frames more muscular fender flares and 21-inch Michelin rubber on beautiful gray metallic and silver 10-spoke wheels showing huge drilled ceramic composite brakes with distinctive yellow calipers. The lower roofline adds to the wide, hunkered-down look. There are more curves and muscle in its side shape, with a long roof spoiler and a more raked rear hatch flanked by aggressive LED taillights. Quad steel tailpipes stick out of the lower fascia, flanking a trailer hitch. It all shares design DNA with the Panamera.
Parked in the Savannah track paddock near some 911 race cars and Cayman racers, our black Cayenne Turbo garnered folks eager to look at and under it, and got lots of admiring glances on the interstate too.
*Cayenne cabin – What I loved about the new Panamera’s interior has been installed mostly intact into the second-gen Cayenne. Swathed in stitched leather with an Alcantara suede headliner and alloy accents, our Turbo has a more sculpted look to the dashboard, with a higher-mounted Porsche Communication Management screen. The unit’s shape flows into the center dashtop vents. Below, a wide, high center console that rises to meet the dashboard center stack, with neatly grouped controls up for dual-zone climate controls and displays, heated and cooled front seats and vent position. At the aft end of the console, flanked by sturdy V-shaped grab handles, controls to adjust the suspension from comfort to normal to sport, raise and lower the air springs, and four-wheel-drive terrain management settings from street to mountain. A separate transmission setting selects between Normal and Sport modes, the latter deepening the V-8 growl as it makes the throttle more responsive and makes shift points more aggressive.
There is a full compliment of gauges, with a big central 8,000-rpm tach with digital speedometer and gear position indicator, flanked on the left by a 190-mph speedometer overlapping a engine oil and temperature gauges. To the right, a color LCD trip computer screen shows off a navigation map or turn-by-turn directions plus a turbo boost gauge, overlapping fuel and coolant temperature gauges. A sporty three-spoke alloy steering wheel with fat leather-clad rim and power tilt/telescope has two long paddle shifters behind. There are no auxiliary controls for stereo or Bluetooth in this Porsche - the steering wheel is for steering. The navigation system has a 40 GB hard drive, with touch-screen operation of it, stereo, XM traffic, hands-free telephone and superb Bergmeister AM-FM-XM Satellite-CD sound system. The MP3 audio and USB hookup are in the small center armrest storage area with a 12-volt outlet.
The black leather sports bucket seats are superbly comfortable and firmly supportive, with 14-way power adjustments including height-adjustable power lumbar and bottom and side bolsters and dual memory. The bolsters do intrude in exit and entry. Overhead, white LED spotlights and a glowing U-shaped courtesy light frame HomeLink, sonar parking assist and moonroof controls. The glove box is deep, and there are twin gripping cup holders. And let’s not forget the real alloy-faced pedals. With the increase in wheelbase, the back seats have a lot of leg as well as head room for two, even three adults in a pinch. The seat backs recline a bit, and slide fore-and-aft by 6.3 inches. Under the power tailgate, a nice amount of storage room with steel tie-downs and a small cargo nook with net on one side. The rear seats split 40/20/40, only a more raked rear window intruding on some big box cargo capacity.
“They have made the interior a lot like the Panamera, so it is really beautiful on the inside,” said Haywood, VP of Brumos Porsche. “We are selling them as fast as we can get them so it’s a real hit.”
Again, fit and finish was superb inside, while switchgear feel was precise. The Cayenne is quiet at highway speed except for a slight whistle from the driver’s side window rubber, and we appreciated cornering lights outside and white-lit buttons inside at night.
* Cayenne combustability – This Porsche gets anywhere from 300 to 550-hp, with a 380-hp hybrid coming soon. Like any good SUV, Porsche claims decent towing ability - up to 7,716 lbs. In our case, there’s a very healthy 4.8-liter, 500-hp twin-turbo V-8 with a prodigious 516 lb-ft of torque, hooked to a responsive 8-speed Tiptronic S transmission that can be left in “D,” paddle shifted, or just shifted via the gear shift. Letting our 2,800-mile-old tester rip with transmission and suspension set in “Sport,” and 60-mph comes up in 4.9 seconds, and 100-mph in 10.6 seconds, the boost gauge reading up to .7 bar, the quad exhaust emitting a melodious bellow. Thanks to an auto-stop feature that kills the engine at stop lights, plus weight reduction, the Turbo gets better mileage, averaging 20-mpg on our trip, but down to 9-mpg in track use on premium.
The Turbo’s air suspension system has comfort, normal and sport settings, plus a new active all-wheel drive system with stability control. Under normal conditions, drive is biased to the rear wheels. But an electronically-controlled multi-plate clutch sends it forward if needed when you get in deep, or over a hill. A new torque vectoring system can vary power to the rear wheels to help as well, even slowing down the inside rear wheel to help in a turn. On the race track, the Cayenne clipped apexes like a sports car, a bit of bobble over rumble strips the only indication that it’s a bit higher than a Panamera or 911. A tunnel bump in the back straight didn’t upset it.
“It’s the kind of car you can do that in, then take the kids and pick up the groceries at the store and the take the kids to school,” Haywood said as we rolled into the track’s paddock. “They have done a phenomenal job on this car.”
The ride in “Comfort” setting was soft but not mushy, bumps in old Savannah handled well. “Normal” adjusts as needed to road surfaces and did so quickly, while “Sport” was a very firm, but again handled rebound smoothly. Toss it into a turn and the all-wheel-drive just routes power where needed for an all-hands-on-deck grip. The Cayenne didn’t show much body roll thanks to a tightly controlled independent double wishbone front/multi-link rear suspension, Play very hard and there’s understeer, but you can let the rear tires out to play quite controllably accompanied by superb steering feel, even with stability control off. On the race track, the Cayenne just acted like a tall Porsche car, with superb throttle control.
As good as the Cayenne is on road and track, it can go off road quite well. Our Turbo had summer performance tires. But in sand and rutted dirt, the ride was comfortable and controlled and traction great in “mountain” setting. There’s low range gearing via the center console switch clicked to the off-road position, which also lifts the Cayenne from 8.46 inches of ground clearance to 10.67 inches. Standing starts up 45-degree sandy hills saw no slip, the nose, tail and center never bottoming out. And with a hill descent feature that taps brakes to “walk” us down hills, the Cayenne was in control. Then literally seconds later, suspension hunkered down and shocks set to “Sport,” we were ripping through our autocross course with aplomb. The power steering was precise and made it easy to place what is still a heavy (4,784-lb.) vehicle. The 15.35-inch front/14.09-inch rear cross-drilled vented ceramic brakes were fade-resistant all the time, with short and precise pedal feel and great stopping power time after time with no fade. We had slight squeak when braking a few times.
* Porsche price – A base V-6 Cayenne starts under $50,000. But take it on up to the Turbo and base price is $104,800, albeit with standards like a 500-hp twin-turbo V-8, 8-speeed automatic with auto-engine stop, air suspension, moonroof, cruise control, leather seats, 19-inch alloy wheels, Bose sound system and four-wheel-drive. Options speed up the price as quickly as that engine does: $3,965 for the 21-inch wheels and wheel arch extensions; $8,840 for the ceramic brakes, $3,500 for the sport package (body-color trim, roof spoiler and quad pipes); $3,990 Burmeister sound system; and $800 cooled front seats. Add a few more goodies and our very comfortable, capable and fast Cayenne was $128,610. Competition like the Audi Q7 or BMW X5 can’t match the Cayenne Turbo’s power or athleticism on road or off, although the Bimmer comes closest in its V-8 form. Both do cost less.
* Bottom line – The new Porsche Cayenne excels at everything now, being lighter, better handling and sportier looking. It is expensive in the Turbo version, but I saw how well the base V-8 version did at Savannah (with Haywood at the wheel), so there are options. And snob appeal aside,
it is a Porsche.
2011 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Specifications:
Vehicle type - 4-door, 5-passenger sport-utility vehicle
Base price - $104,800 (As driven - $128,610)
Engine type - Twin turbocharged, quad overhead cam, 32-valve, Variocam aluminum V-8
Displacement - 4.8-liters
Horsepower (net) - 500 hp at 6,000 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) - 516 at 2,250 – 4,500 rpm
Transmission - 8-speed Tiptronic S automatic
Wheelbase - 114 in.
Overall length – 190.8 in.
Overall width – 76.3 in.
Height - 67 in.
Front headroom – 38.6 in.
Front legroom – 40.6 in.
Rear headroom – n/a.
Rear legroom – n/a
Cargo capacity – 23.7 cubic feet/60.2 w/rear seat folded
Towing capacity - up to 7,716 lbs. w/trailer hitch
Curb weight – 4,784 pounds
Fuel capacity - 26.4 gallons
Mileage rating - 15 mpg city/22 mpg highway
Last word – The Porsche of SUVs
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