2009 Porsche Cayenne
The sportingest utility vehicle
Despite the weather, my time in the Cayenne Turbo S wasn’t a waste, really; it’s just that I spent more time appreciating the traction and stability features than the monstrous power of the newly up-horsed engine.
I got about a half day of turbo-glee in, before nature applied a coat of freezing rain to the streets and highways, then covered up the whole skating rink with snow; leaving the situation inconducive to high-performance driving.
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Oh well. The truth is that you probably don’t need me to wax rhapsodic about the enhanced V8 of the Turbo S anyway. Suffice to say, it’s off the chain. Horsepower has been tweaked up to a potential 550 (!), and the Cayenne lets loose 553 lb.-ft. of torque, which comes on at a low 2250 engine revs (Porsche says the max-torque potential is available from 2250 to 4500 rpm)
Porsche’s 4.8 litre, twin-charged eight-banger makes the Turbo S (which is the top of the Cayenne line-up, the vehicle is also available with a six-cylinder powerplant) the sportiest sport utility vehicle you can find.
My test S managed the power of the big engine with Porsche’s six-speed automatic transmission (Tiptronic with sport mode and “hill hold” function, and wheel-mounted thumb shifters, if you enjoy that type of thing), and kept the all-wheel drive under control on the slippery streets and byways with Porsche’s proprietary traction management and stability managing controls (acronymed PTM and PSM)
It was the stability management that shone for me in my time in the tester. The PSM is the umbrella under which the traction control and (standard) ABS brakes operate, and the sophisticated, multi-pistoned monobloc rig earned its keep as far as I’m concerned, during the Rabbit Incident.
Around these parts we have a lot of wild rabbits running around, and they’ve done that thing rabbits enjoy, where they all turn white so they blend in with the snow and are hard to see. Now, the younger, unseasoned rabbits that haven’t seen a winter before tend to get a little confused among the bright lights of the big city and start leaping around willy-nilly in the street.
And so it was that I was driving down a narrow avenue near the university, a high-traffic area with a lot of oncoming cars, and pedestrians to either side, when suddenly a group of four of them came jumping out into the road in front of my vehicle. I hammered the brake pedal (as there were no cars behind me) and hoped for the best, and the Cayenne brought itself to a fully controlled, perfectly straight, ABS assisted halt on the icy road in plenty of time to avoid, um, mashing any rabbits. Hopefully the juvenile lupines learned something from it as well.
While I realize this anecdote isn’t strictly scientific, the Cayenne gets six out of five stars for handling and braking just for that incident, as far as I’m concerned.
Moving inside the tester, the Turbo S provided most (though not all!) the luxury-ute trappings one would expect in a marque in this price class. High-quality leather wrapped all the seating surfaces, and the seats were very comfortable in both rows. The fully adjustable driver’s seat was excellent, and the position allows good all-round visibility from within.
Parking is enhanced by a park-assist system, which varies the frequency of its beeping according to the distance the Cayenne is from an object (though the ultrasonic can’t detect objects made of sound-absorbing materials; snow, for example), and made up, to some degree, for my tester’s lack of a backup camera. Up front, a LED multi-light strip mounted high on the center of the dash alerts a driver to obstacles near the forward fenders and bumper.
The steering wheel (adorned with buttons to run all basic onboard controls, along with the Tiptronic’s shifters) is automatically heated, and adjusts itself according to constantly-monitored cabin temperature; an excellent inclusion, in the wintertime.
The variable air suspension is operated from a switch on the center console, allowing a driver to change the height of the Turbo S, and the center stack is, of course, festooned with buttons.
I always like to joke that if you are buying a Porsche (and pretty much any Porsche, not just the S), you’d better hope the stereo is programmed onto stations that you like, because changing them to your own prefs isn’t a user friendly process.
I’m only sort-of joking when I say that, too. While I did manage to get my choices into the presets, it was neither intuitive nor straightforward; and the tester continued to this odd trick where it would spontaneously change stations.
But attacking the Stuttgart electronics is the low-hanging fruit when you’re talking about Porsches; so I’ll leave it alone now and focus on my major quibble with the Turbo S tester:
It is my position that when you are paying the jumbo megabux for a prestigious niche car like this, it should include every option the company can provide. The model I used, though, still didn’t feature keyless start (you can get it, though - it’s called “Porsche Entry and Drive”), nav system or a backup camera.
Summary:
Strong Points
Weak Points
- - excellent brakes
- - excellent engine
- - well-done interior
- - puzzling electronics and control interface
- - high price
Editors Rating:
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