Score one for evolution.
I’m pulled over on the top of a scrub-covered plateau, a few short miles from the border of Mexico, with the back hatch of my Porsche SUV open. I’m sitting in back, munching on a granola bar and appreciating the view, but I keep getting up to walk around and look at the Cayenne S.
Porsche’s midsize SUV has been “refreshed,” as automakers like to refer to the mechanical and aesthetic makeovers that usually come along in the middle of a vehicle’s life cycle. In the case of the Cayenne S, the redesign has indeed been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Sorry to the naysayers and nonbelievers, but evolution is good.
The Cayenne looks better than it’s ever looked before. Less bulbous and more sportscar-like. You’d be hard pressed to know why, exactly, unless the new 2015 model was parked next to an 2014 example. The latest vehicle appears lower and wider, the stance more predatory.
Funny how small details can do that. The grille is longer and leaner, and the hood itself takes up more real estate, extending all the way out to the headlights and fenders. The rear, too, is totally redone. It’s all less fussy, more cogent, with fewer lines bisecting the bodywork.
The Cayenne has been out for 12 years, but this is the first model I’d seriously consider owning myself, especially if it was outfitted in all black.
Thanks to a new 3.6-liter twin-turbo V-6, which replaces the former, thirstier V-8 engine, the 2015 Cayenne has 420 horsepower. That’s 20 more hp than the outgoing model, and it motivates the SUV to 60 miles-per-hour in 5.2 seconds. Top speed is a claimed 161 mph.
Hours earlier, I’d left San Diego on a long, meandering route that took me close to Mexican border. I saw no highway police, only border control, one of the oddities in this area. But though I was hustling the Porsche along the back roads, I kept overall speeds down. No need to upset the locals.
I saw a sign for the Mexican town of Tecate, the same name as the beer, and I considered making a detour, and then reconsidered. I wasn’t sure Porsche would appreciate me taking the Cayenne S, which starts at $74,100 and was almost $90,000 as tested, across the border. And yet, I was enjoying my drive.
To my way of thinking, you buy a Porsche because you like to drive. You think driving is fun and you go out of your way to get lost on back roads. You actually look for long and pointless detours.
Meanwhile, most people buy SUVs because they want the ostensible extra storage and passenger space. Or they’d like to (ostensibly) go off-road. Or really, just because they like the high seating position.
The good news is that while the Cayenne is an SUV, it is still a Porsche. It is fun to drive. It’s responsive and decently nimble, even on narrow canyon squiggles. The steering isn’t as good as I’d remembered, feeling slightly vague, but then I don’t expect it to feel as sharp as a 911 anyhow.
The biggest decision most buyers of the latest Cayenne will make is the engine type. If you’re looking for both prodigious torque and great highway efficiency, the diesel variant, starting at $61,700, is an excellent choice. The 3.0-liter turbo-diesel V-6 has 406 pound-feet of torque, and gets 29 mpg highway. Some may also consider the brand-new Cayenne S E-Hybrid, which is an electric-gas hybrid that you can plug in and run up to 14 miles on EV power alone. That vehicle, $76,400, is noticeably heavier, especially in curves, and less dynamic or enticing than I would like. It wouldn’t be my choice.
In most ways, the Cayenne S is the sweet spot in the line up. But if it simply doesn’t have enough oomph for you, there’s always the Turbo ($113,600). It retains a V-8 motor, which also gets twin turbos for a monstrous 520 hp.
The Cayenne has traveled a long way since it was released in 2003. It’s a fair to call it the vehicle that saved Porsche, turning the company into the financial juggernaut that it is today.
But there’s another Porsche SUV now on offer, the smaller Macan, which will likely replace the Cayenne as the volume model. Yet the Macan’s design disappoints me. It isn’t as expressive or, really, as Porsche-like as I would prefer.
I felt the same way about the Cayenne when it came out. It’s taken a dozen or so years for that model to feel as essential to the brand as it does today. It just goes to show how important evolution truly is.
