- Trying to decide between a sports car and an SUV?
Why not both?
(upbeat rock music) (engine revving)
So we're here in LA to drive
the heavily refreshed 2024 Porsche Cayenne.
Unfortunately, we could only really grab one version of it.
So this is the Cayenne S,
specifically in the coupe body style.
All versions except for the Cayenne Turbo GT
are available in either coupe or SUV.
And while the sales mix is about
70/30 SUV to coupe according to Porsche,
I did really wanna drive the S version,
tell you why in a second,
but that meant grabbing the coupe.
Styling wise, you get some redesign front styling,
new headlight designs, these are the HG Matrix headlights,
wider grill openings, but still very much a Cayenne look.
There's an updated hood design.
Porsche says it's meant to evoke the increased
power that you see across the lineup.
Porsche actually says that pretty much all
of the sheet metal on the exterior is new,
but you can't really tell and that's what I like about it.
It was already a handsome SUV to begin
with and they haven't really messed with a good thing.
These are the 22-inch optional RS Spider wheels.
20-inch wheels are standard.
There are also some 21's available as well.
You come along the side,
not much has really changed here
from a visual perspective.
This is the coupe,
so you do get the sloping roof line down to the back,
and then the rear styling has been updated as well
with some new lighting elements
and an integrated license plate holder.
I actually do wanna say,
coupe SUVs aren't really my favorite.
I would prefer the SUV version even in the Cayenne,
but here, I actually like the way it looks.
It's not nearly as offensive to me
as what you might see from a BMW or Audi.
But overall, very good looking SUV from the outside.
(upbeat R&B music)
Besides the under the skin updates,
the cabin of the Cayenne gets the most significant upgrades,
basically mimicking the Taycan's interior.
So you get a nice curve, 12.6-inch digital instrument panel.
It's very configurable.
Graphics are clear, very easy to use.
No problems with glare,
no problems with my polarized sunglasses.
The other big upgrade is the 12.3-inch touchscreen display.
It works great.
It does take a little bit to start
up once you turn the car on,
but once it's on, it is very responsive.
You can make all sorts
of adjustments to pretty much everything
in the same way that you can get whatever options you want
basically on a Porsche.
You can configure everything within your Cayenne.
Porsche also for this model year,
is adding an optional passenger display.
The passenger would have the ability to
control certain functions and see them.
You do get some nice physical controls
for various climate functions,
but some of these are also haptic and it's one
of the few annoyances I have about the interior.
This is just one large movable panel.
So you hit that and the whole thing moves,
you hit that and the whole thing moves,
you hit the ventilated seat and that moves,
you hit the heated seat and that moves.
And also,
you can have heated and ventilated seats at once
for some reason.
This functions as a volume knob, which is nice.
I would prefer physical tuning control as well.
But everything feels nice,
with the exception of this panel.
It feels a little bit cheap,
not really up to the price tag of this car,
but it's a small complaint, and honestly, it looks cool.
I'm just glad Porsche hasn't fallen too far
into confusing technology for luxury.
But the reason this exists is
because Porsche has moved the gear selector
up to here like in the Taycan.
And I do wish it were a bit of a different design.
It just doesn't feel very substantial.
But, you know,
it gets the job done and it frees up space
that Porsche has used to its
advantage rather than just existing and being weird.
To the left of the steering wheel
where traditionally you would turn the key
and start the Porsche,
now it is push button start,
but it is still to the left because
that's just how they insist on doing it.
Overall, materials feel great.
Even the multitude of handles that both the driver
and front passenger get have a nice feel to them.
There's very little in the way of hard plastic.
Everything feels great.
Everything feels like it was put together well.
Overall, the cockpit is very comfortable,
if a little bit tight.
I had, you know, some knee issues,
but we are trying to emulate a sports car feel.
This is a Porsche after all.
Not nearly as constricted is the backseat,
which we should go check out.
So in the back of the Cayenne S Coupe, plenty of room.
I have a ton of leg room back here,
even behind where I would be sitting as a driver.
My knees may be a little bit high, but nothing too bad.
This would be perfectly comfortable for long distance trips.
I can also stick my feet under this front seat,
which helps with the leg room.
You get a nice bit of creature comforts,
like vents in the B pillars
as well as in the center console.
Lots of adjustments available as well.
And two USB-C charge ports down there.
The biggest flaw, well, there's two big flaws here.
One is this large transmission tunnel that's gonna really
cut into foot room if you have three passengers in the back,
and the other part, and this isn't really unexpected,
but the coupe roof line is eating into headroom.
I still have a good amount,
but if I strain a little bit
or if I were a little bit taller,
it might be something of a problem.
The more straight SUV roof line would be helpful
for a little bit extra headroom,
but it feels very nice and open.
You also get this nice panoramic glass roof,
which also probably eats
into some of that headroom, especially up here.
But overall, very comfortable back here.
Not a lot of change compared to previous generations,
but Porsche didn't mess with a good thing.
If you've gotta seat more than two people,
they're not gonna complain.
One of the other nice things
about the Cayenne S is just how lovely it sounds.
(engine revving)
Loving the twin turbo V8 in this S model.
468 horsepower, 442 pounds-feet of torque.
That's up 34 horsepower
and 37 pounds-feet from the previous Cayenne S,
which it's also up two cylinders.
The previous model was a V6.
We're back to a V8 here.
Porsche says with all the goodies,
including the Sport Chrono package,
you'll get from zero to 60 in the S model in 4.4 seconds.
I am inclined to believe them.
This thing is just, it's not rocket ship quick,
but it is very, very quick for a 5,000-pound SUV.
And befitting the Porsche reputation,
feels very, very sporty.
Being a sporty SUV isn't always what you're looking for.
I think most shoppers would value utility,
things like passenger room, cargo room,
towing capability, but this is a Porsche.
So it had damn well better be fun to drive.
And this thing is a blast.
The steering is great, very communicative.
High speed cornering is really, really good,
like sports car good.
The body control is excellent.
This has the optional air suspension,
so that's been upgraded as well
with some new dual valve technology.
Porsche says the biggest difference you'll experience is
that the feel difference between the various driving modes.
So as you go from normal, to sport, to sport plus,
there's just greater differentiation there.
And I can't drive a previous generation back
to back to see how well that holds up,
but I can tell you that going
from normal, to sport, to sport plus drastically changes
the feel within this car just noticeably.
Normal is very comfortable.
Still a firm riding SUV for sure,
especially because this version has 22-inch wheels.
You're definitely gonna feel those bumps no
matter the drive mode you're in,
but it's very, very well controlled.
I keep saying very, very.
It's because I enjoy this car so much.
Porsche says they've re-tuned the rear axle steering
for better handling abilities, and it's great.
We've taken it on some twisties.
I actually had to take some Dramamine
because I was making myself a little bit nauseous going
around the curves as quickly as we could in this.
There's still some body roll,
but body control is excellent for an SUV of this size.
The transmission is really the star of the show here.
468 horsepower is more than enough
for pretty much everyone,
but it's not just that it has it,
it's that it can really, really deliver it.
This transmission is brilliant about shifting,
especially multi-gear kick downs.
We're in seventh right now in normal mode,
so not even in aggressive driving mode.
We're just in normal.
We've gone up to eighth now.
We're cruising along at 60 miles an hour
and I'm going to just step on the gas
and we have gone down to third and we are going.
So I didn't find the delay
in accelerator response objectionable.
You're driving, you hit the gas, you go.
That's fine.
If you do find that objectionable for whatever reason,
there is the sport response feature
here in the drive mode selector,
changes things up in terms of throttle response
and transmission response.
And you hit the gas and you go.
There's practically zero delay.
It does only last for 20 seconds, so use it judiciously.
But it doesn't seem like there's too much of a cool
down unless you probably keep using it all the time.
Braking is very impressive.
Per Porsche,
all of the models we had the chance to test today
have the ceramic composite breaks, which are optional.
I'm gonna go ahead and say probably not necessary
unless you plan on taking your Cayenne on the track,
which outside of the Turbo GT,
I'm not sure why you would.
But lots of stopping power.
The pedal feel is a little hard to modulate sometimes.
Lots of initial bite,
difficult necessarily getting to a nice, smooth, easy stop.
In sportier driving situation, very welcome, very good,
but for around town driving, not so sure it's necessary.
The standard steel brakes have also been upgraded
for this model year,
so you do get a little bit extra stopping power
compared to the previous Cayenne.
But, again,
if you want the ceramic composite breaks, go for it.
They will happily sell them to you.
I'm not sure you need 'em.
Visibility overall is not the best.
I imagine the Cayenne SUV body style would be a bit better.
Forward visibility likely isn't going to change
from body style to body style,
but one bonus is you do get a nice little window
behind the A pillar because
these are door-mounted side mirrors,
which helps with forward visibility,
especially at stop signs,
but the rake windscreen impacts forward visibility a bit.
And then, again, we're in a coupe body style,
which means that the rear windscreen is on the smaller side.
I can see just fine and the headrests
are actually surprisingly not really blocking much,
but wouldn't mind more.
It's not, say, Tesla Model Y bad out the back,
but it could be better.
I wish I could tell you about fuel economy.
I'm gonna say this is probably not great,
but unfortunately, as of this moment,
the EPA has not released official numbers
and neither has Porsche.
It says those will come closer
to the on sale date for the 2024 Cayenne.
Ordering is available now.
The configurator is open if you wanna go nuts
and just build your dream Porsche SUV,
but as far as fuel economy,
especially with the new plug-in hybrid
with its much larger battery pack,
we still have to wait to see what that means
in terms of things like MPG, or in the case of the plugin,
all electric range or MPG equivalent.
This would be a great road trip vehicle.
And then, you know,
the handling is as good as you can get
from a 5,000-pound SUV, I would say.
The steering is incredibly communicative as well.
Just a blast to drive, which I gotta be honest,
I wasn't expecting.
I'm not the biggest fan of sporty SUVs,
but it really works here, and honestly,
with the Porsche badging and the reputation,
it had better work.
And also with the pricing.
This version, the Cayenne S Coupe,
starts at over $103,000, including destination.
And we don't have a price sheet available to
us at the moment, but given all the options,
I would not be surprised to find out that this
was tens of thousands of dollars more.
And that is also sort of the beauty and the pain
of buying a Porsche is you get so many different
customization options that the end result can be
so much more expensive than when you started configuring it.
I don't know if you're like me and you spend hours sometimes
with Porsche configurators just trying to get
that car just how you want it and then finding
out that not only did you not have the money to
afford what you started with, you've added tens, if not,
hundreds of thousands of options depending on the car.
But driving experience-wise,
I didn't expect Porsche to really let me down.
They have not.
This is about as good as it gets.
The updated Cayenne is a blast to drive,
at least in S guise.
And despite some little quirks,
the interior is very nice overall and a welcome upgrade.
We'll have to wait a little bit longer
for things like fuel economy,
especially for the upgraded plug-in hybrid version,
but you can find my full first drive review
and all of our future content about the Cayenne on cars.com.