Porsche Cayenne S - long-term review

According to Porsche, the new Cayenne chewed through nearly two-and-a-half million test miles during its development. This included scraping its bumpers around off-road routes in Spain, as well as peppering its underside across punishing sand dunes in Morocco. How many of these miles were done on track? I’ve been trying to find out.

And having pounded our Cayenne S around a circuit for six days straight as a support/camera car for an upcoming YouTube series, I can safely say the Cayenne Coupe is surprisingly capable on track. But is that actually surprising? It’s a Porsche, after all. So, it should be good, shouldn’t it? But smashing up, down and around the TG Test Track has – once again – reinforced the breadth of the Cayenne’s abilities and its constant aptitude to subtly and humbly impress.

Now, I’ve got to be honest, over the last few months, I’ve never really twizzled the steering wheel-mounted ‘drive mode’ all the way right to ‘Sport Plus’. When you do, the car crouches down on its air springs, pumps the cabin with more synthesised V8-ness, exercises the throttle and engine and enthuses the gearbox to become a tad rev-hungry. I’ve got to be honest, it’s a bit too much on the road or day-to-day. But on track (or for an extremely spirited road drive) it makes a real difference.

Our Cayenne is in a particularly sporty spec given it’s got a diff lock and Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) system to reduce the number of braking interventions. It also means you can skid (until the diff gets a bit confused and makes the rear end hump the tarmac), while the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (£2,546) works with the 48-volt system to adjust the torsional stiffness of the anti-roll bars on the front and rear axles in milliseconds in order to actively stabilise the car's body (great for lobbing it around Hammerhead). Then there's the Sport Chrono Package Clock (£801) so I can really bang in the lap times.

With those fat Pirelli tyres, I’ve always been interested in where the Cayenne’s limit of grip is. And, having played with it on the lockstops, it’s higher than you think. Porsche’s Active Suspension Management really stands out. This is the Cayenne’s new two-valve technology and variable spring rate in the air suspension. Instead of one valve for damping the body and wheel movements, the damper now features two valves that allow the rebound and compression stages to be changed separately. That’s why at times you can feel the Cayenne having two suspension characteristics depending on how hard you wallop things as the two air chambers can be connected or disconnected by a valve. This makes for a broader range of ride between the Comfort and Sport Plus suspension characteristics, meaning there’s a noticeable increase in comfort when in its most lax mode, and improved rolling and pitching movements in Sport Plus.

With a 170mph top speed (which I can verify is true) and 0-60mph happening in 4.4s, the S is a surprisingly quick car for something that’s 2,200kg – even with an entirely aluminium monocoque. Thankfully, the Cayenne S also features new brake discs with a larger diameter. Measuring 410mm at the front and 358mm at the rear (an increase of 20 and 28mm compared to the previous car) it can stop all that weight… even if it headbutts its chin towards the floor while doing so. The brake pedal has plenty of feedback and doesn’t get too soggy after a few laps. Though, all that braking has covered our lovely five-spoke sport wheels in a cloud of terracotta brake dust.

A feature I always forget to use is 'Sport Response’. That little button located in the middle of the driving mode wheel. Prodding this primes the engine and transmission for a surge of power and responsiveness for 20 seconds thanks to an increase in boost. But, for the first time ever, it’s also linked to the PASM to make sure the suspension is prepped for an aggressive launch too. I just wish I’d remember to use it.

So how many miles do I think Porsche’s engineers did on track during the Cayenne’s development? Plenty. The chassis is so sweet and the car is set up for punishment. You’re not going to take it on a track day regularly, but if it fell onto one it’d embarrass a few people. With that crisp, reactive eight-speed Tiptronic ‘box, a burbly V8 engine, cracking chassis (a Range Rover Sport wouldn’t know which way you went in the corners) and the ability to kick its arse out, it’s certainly more fun than some of the hot hatch EVs that have come on the scene. And at this point I am wondering if there’s anything the Cayenne can’t do.