New Porsche Cayenne is so sporty it’s not fun anymore | Car

The Cayenne is the Porsche success number. Every year, about 100,000 copies of this SUV leave the factory gates. At an average price of around 100,000 euros. That is a total of 10 billion euros in sales for Porsche from this model alone. So it is understandable that Porsche wants to keep its successful combustion engine model as long as possible. And so there has been a facelift of the third generation, which is so radical that other manufacturers would speak of a completely new car.

That’s not for nothing. The current generation has been around since 2017 and the next generation – purely electric – will only be on the roll in about three years, a superficial head and butt correction was not enough. Six years between launch and facelift is a long time. Why did Porsche take so much time? First, because it was not necessary. In 2022, with almost 96,000 units, every third new Porsche will be a Cayenne. And secondly because this model has to last longer than the usual eight years because there will be a switch to an electric Cayenne in 2026. The current model will then continue to run for a while because not everyone wants an electric car.

As an SUV or as an SUV coupé, the car looks wider due to the new front with the enormous air intakes, but also due to the newly designed ‘powerdomes’ on the hood and the even more pronounced fenders. The license plate has been moved down at the rear. The taillights have been redesigned and are now three-dimensional. This makes the SUV appear wider.

When you get behind the wheel, you initially think you’re in the Taycan. For the first time, the instrument panel in the Cayenne is fully digital. Even the tachometer. Although the start button is still to the left of the steering column, it is no longer a stylized key, but a button. The gear lever is now behind the steering wheel. It looks the same as a Braun shaver. Also nice: the cooled smartphone compartment for inductive charging: charging is never interrupted because the phone is too hot.

Due to the digital dashboard, many buttons have now been moved to the infotainment system, but the air conditioning controls are now in the place of the automatic lever. The driving mode dial is now standard on the steering wheel and there is also a physical button for the volume of the music. The optional passenger screen is copied from Ferrari and the more expensive electric vehicles from Mercedes. In terms of navigation and infotainment, it can do the same as its larger counterpart in the middle, but it also displays driving data such as speed, driving mode or G-forces. Classic television viewing is not possible, but you can stream your favorite series as a co-driver. A special layer ensures that only the passenger can see it and the driver is not distracted.

There are two types of undercarriage: steel springs or air suspension. The first has new shock absorbers that can react differently when compressing and rebounding. You really feel it, because the two-ton truck hardly wobbles and remains balanced even in tight corners. The downside is that the so-called straight-line stability is partly sacrificed for this. It goes fine on a billiard cloth-smooth road, but as soon as there is some rutting in the road surface, you are constantly adjusting. No problem on short journeys, but on the way to the south of France it will undoubtedly be quite annoying.

The air suspension is slightly smoother, but here too the sportiness takes its revenge. Even in the most comfortable position, this chassis is also ‘searchy’ and nervous. The fact that our test cars were equipped with the largest wheels probably didn’t help, but Porsche must be careful not to drive customers away with this model by wanting to let sportiness prevail at the expense of the rest. The advantage is that the five-meter long and weighing up to 2500 kilograms SUV feels much smaller and more manageable than some other SUVs, where you sometimes feel like you’re in a carriage.

The Cayenne is available as an SUV and an SUV coupe. The volume of the trunk depends on the chosen body shape and whether a battery pack is located under the floor. The load space varies from ‘only’ 434 liters for the PHEV Coupé to 772 liters in the conventional SUV. The plug-in hybrid received a stronger battery pack with an increased capacity from 17.9 to 25.9 kWh. As a result, the WLTP range has increased from 42 to a maximum of 90 kilometers of pure electric driving. The performance of the 3.0 V6 engine has been reduced somewhat because of consumption and emissions. Yet the car sprints from 0-100 km / h in 4.7 seconds. The top speed is 254 km/h.

The plug-in Hybrid does well, both in the pure electric mode and in combination with the V6. As long as there is energy in the battery, the 470 hp hybrid shoots forward when the accelerator pedal is pressed. With the 60 electric kilometers that the Cayenne Hybrid realistically achieves, the majority of commuters can get to work. This model will undoubtedly be the most sold in the Netherlands. The entry-level model is again the 3.0 V6, which is now 353 hp instead of 340 hp, but it is more expensive in the Netherlands than the hybrid version. In the Cayenne S, the V6 has been replaced by a new 4.0 V8 engine that produces 474 hp (was 440 hp). The price list of the new Cayenne starts at 110,000 euros for the Cayenne e-Hybrid.