2024 Porsche Cayenne S review

Downsizing is getting big.

How many performance-oriented cars can you think of that have swapped a big multi-cylinder engine for something smaller, maybe boosted with forced induction or hybrid assistance?

The mighty 6.2-litre AMG V8 became a turbo 5.5, then a turbo 4.0, and has now morphed into a two-litre four with a bit of battery assistance. The Lamborghini Huracan's gorgeous V10 is being traded for a V8, while the Ferrari 296 GTB ditched its V8 for a hybrid V6.

Porsche pre-dated all of this when it booted the flat-sixes for its Boxster and Cayman models in favour of turbocharged flat-fours. Problem being, while the fours were nowhere near as bad as the gnashing teeth of Porschephiles would have you believe, the hardcore wanted their six-pots back.

And Porsche clearly listens to its customers. It once deleted the manual gearbox option from the 911 GT3 and then brought it back when the punters went berserk. And now, in another volte-face, the Cayenne S is back with a V8. Here's to glorious and shameless U-turns.

18

JUMP AHEAD

• How much is it and what do you get?
• How do rivals compare on value?
• What's the Porsche Cayenne like inside?
• What is it like to drive?
• How is it on fuel?
• How safe is it?
• How long is the warranty and what are the running costs like?
• Would you recommend it?
• Specifications

How much is it and what do you get?

There's no way of sugaring this particular pill, so I'll get straight to it. The Porsche Cayenne S is $181,300 before on-road costs. Or $190,000 if you prefer the coupe body.

It's quite some financial commitment but, unlike the $140K base Cayenne with its charisma-vacuum 3.0-litre V6, the S variant feels like a proper Porsche. It's one of those cars that anybody who travels 100m up a road in one will get what it's all about.

That's not to say it's one-dimensional. It just has a level of instant authenticity to it, which I freely admit is a bit of an odd thing to say about a two-tonne-plus SUV.

Of course, the bent-eight under the bonnet is the big draw. How could it not be when it develops 349kW and 600Nm? The thing is, if you look at that output in the cold light of day, what you are in fact buying is the weediest twin-turbo V8 petrol engine available in Australia.

18

That's absolutely true: the next least powerful is the 373kW Audi SQ7's V8 with twin huffers. To furnish you with some measure of perspective, a base Mustang GT with no turbochargers whatsoever generates 347kW.

While you attempt to figure out how Porsche has built such a feeble engine, console yourself with the fact that it actually doesn't matter. The Cayenne S is plenty fast enough for most and it sounds wholly unruly. That'll clinch the deal. It's also very nicely appointed.

That's because Porsche has rather wisely decided to bump up the level of standard kit in these facelifted Cayennes.

As such, the S benefits not only from the revised Taycan-style fascia but also gets equipment highlights like ventilated seats, matrix LED headlights, a wireless phone charger, a surround-view parking camera, a head-up display, adaptive damping and adaptive power steering.

18

Should you wish, you can even specify a third 10.9-inch screen for the front passenger.

You won't be able to see it from the driver's seat due to a special film, but for $2860, your passenger will be able to co-drive without futzing with the centre panel.

Part-leather trim is standard, along with a fabric headlining and a 14-way powered driver's seat. The standard 20-inch alloy wheels can look rather underdone, but 21s start at a hefty $5130 extra. At least they don't cruel the ride quality too badly.

Our test car was fitted with Vesuvius Grey 21-inch Spyder design alloys at $7630, paired with $5000 worth of Crayon grey paintwork. Fancy an exclusive paint-to-sample colour? That'll be $20,340. there's a palette of eight no-cost paint finishes including some low-key metallics.

⬆️ Back to top

18

How do rivals compare on value?

This Cayenne's closest comparable rival in terms of price and capability is probably the BMW X5 M60i, which retails for $178,900 excluding on-road costs and also sports a turbo V8 petrol engine. Which cranks out 390kW and 750Nm (+41kW and +150Nm over the Cayenne).

It's not quite so cut and dried if you have your eye on an AMG product. While the GLE 53 might undercut the Cayenne S at $172,624 (before on-road costs), it's not as powerful (320kW/520Nm) and only sports an inline six. If you prefer your AMGs with a bit more about them, the 450kW GLE 63 S is $240K, which takes it out of the hitting zone of this particular Cayenne model.

The bargain choice – if you can indeed position it that way – in this sector is the 405kW/700Nm Jaguar F-Pace SVR, which packs a supercharged V8 and a stack of attitude, if not quite levelling with the Porsche's handling abilities.

⬆️ Back to top

18

What's the Porsche Cayenne like inside?

The Cayenne S is well-appointed but needs some options ticking to make the interior feel truly special.

The 'Porsche Driver Experience' features a curved digital instrument cluster, a redesigned centre console and a 911-style gear selector that's now mounted on the dash just behind your left knuckle. The engine start button sits to the right of the steering wheel.

There's a sea of piano black on the centre console, which houses features such as the heated seats and, when these haptic feedback controls are pressed, the whole panel flexes in a way that's not immediately reassuring.

18

You get used to it, but the first time it happens you wonder if something's come unclipped in the dash. No, they all do that. Likewise, on our test car, the footrest would slide up and down by a few millimetres which was moderately irritating.

The main display is multi-configurable, with a wall-to-wall map if required and there's also a considerable amount of customisation that can be applied to the bright and clear head-up display. There are physical buttons for the air-con which means you won't have to go digging in the main screen to change the temperature.

The air-con system has become very clever indeed, with a GPS-linked function. This means that as soon as you enter a tunnel, the Cayenne will recognise it from the nav and instantly switch the air conditioning to recirculate so you're not sucking fumes into the cabin.

18

It also actively monitors particulate content in the air and switches on recirc if air quality drops.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are booted up via a QR code on the centre screen, and an 'In-Car Video' functionality can play videos on either the centre or the optional passenger display. The standard stereo is a 10-speaker Sound Package Plus affair, but if you want to spend a bit more there's a 14-speaker, 710W Bose surround sound system with an additional subwoofer or a cracking 21-speaker, 1455W Burmester 3D setup. You're going to need $9630 for that fit-out though.

The boot measures a generous 772 litres and you can extend that to 1708 litres by dropping the back seats.

⬆️ Back to top

18

What is it like to drive?

As soon as you key the V8 into life, it's clear that the E3 Cayenne S had really missed this engine.

Yes, the old 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 that had been fitted to the third-gen Cayenne S since 2018 was a decent unit but it lacked a bit of hair on its chest. While 324kW and 549Nm were nothing to be sniffed at, the current Cayenne S is now more powerful than the outgoing GTS. And it isn't bashful about letting you know, announcing itself with an extrovert bark.

The 4.0-litre V8 is a familiar unit to Porsche cognoscenti, but dig a little deeper and it's clear that this one is a different flavour. The twin-scroll compressor has been exchanged for a single-scroll item.

While this sounds like cost-cutting, it delivers higher exhaust gas temperatures that improve fuel economy, as does the elevated 350 bar fuel rail pressure. New electronically controlled wastegates improve engine response and a two-stage variable valve lift system is able to better refine power and torque delivery.

18

Porsche reckons this one will get to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds and a faintly academic (on these shores at least) 10km/h has been added to the top end, lifting that to 273km/h.

The weight is listed at 2160kg (unladen DIN), which makes this one quite a hefty beast. You wouldn't know it from the way it steps off the line, thanks to the sweet-shifting eight-speed automatic, although the Nexen tyres fitted to our test car were a bit of an unexpected choice, occasionally troubling the traction control system on damp roads.

For all its increase in swept capacity over the old six-pot, it's perhaps a little counterintuitive to realise that the V8 requires a few more revs on the board to make its peak power and torque numbers compared to the V6. Nevertheless, it's a charismatic engine at any point on the rev counter.

There are so many options available that affect the way the Cayenne S negotiates a road that it feels apposite to issue a slight caveat. A car fitted with rear-axle steering, torque vectoring, dynamic chassis control, plus the Sport Chrono pack and ceramic composite brakes, may well feel a very different beast to a more vanilla configuration, so it's worth bearing that in mind when reading reviews.

18

I could manage without all of those options bar the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control system, which features active roll bars and really does improve the body control of the Cayenne through corners.

With PDCC it corners flat and hard, while still giving just enough feedback that it doesn't feel mute or spooky near the limit. The electrically-assisted steering is decent and feels a little more natural without the optional fitment of rear-steer.

The Cayenne S is fitted with steel springs as standard, but these are backed up by two-valve dampers which enable the car to individually tailor compression and rebound rates on the fly. Air springs can also be optioned, which feature a two-chamber airbag.

Porsche has also worked at increasing the difference in response between the Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus drive modes. After exhaustive testing, we left the car in Sport almost all the time. Sport Plus felt a bit too edgy on typical country roads, while Comfort took the edge off the throttle response a bit too keenly.

⬆️ Back to top

18

How is it on fuel?

While the Cayenne S is clearly not going to be for anyone who keeps a spreadsheet on their fuel spend, it's not as catastrophic on the juice as you might expect.

On a mixed route that involved suburban driving and enthusiastic open hill routes, the Cayenne S averaged 12.4 litres per 100km. That's an exact match for the WLTP manufacturer claim, which surprised us.

The idle-stop system is impeccably smooth on the Cayenne thanks to its 48-volt electrics, which means that you won't feel tempted to switch it off in city traffic.

A 90-litre fuel tank gives the Cayenne S a decent touring range, with a full measure of 98 RON giving you more than 800km between fills if you're circumspect with the loud pedal.

⬆️ Back to top

18

How safe is it?

The Cayenne may well have undergone “one of the most extensive product upgrades in the history of Porsche” but that product upgrade was clearly not significant enough to warrant retesting by EuroNCAP, so the Cayenne carries over its five-star safety rating from the previous model.

There's a space-saver tyre under the boot floor as well as a fairly comprehensive tool kit, so you're unlikely to be left stranded by a puncture.

Safety equipment includes a full complement of airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, hill descent control, stability control, multi-collision braking and trailer stability management.

18

That's on top of all-wheel traction control, and a hefty set of brakes. The front brakes feature six-piston front calipers while there are four-pot items at the back, clamping down on 410mm and 358mm discs respectively.

The Nexen tyres measure 255/55ZR20 up front and 295/40ZR20 out back.

Should you want to purchase some additional peace of mind, Porsche will relieve you of $1560 for active lane keeping with intersection assist, $4800 for night vision cameras and $4740 for the amazing 32,000-pixel high-definition matrix LED lights.

⬆️ Back to top

18

How long is the warranty and what are the running costs like?

The warranty for all Cayenne models is three years with unlimited kilometres.

While three years might seem a bit mean given that much of the new car market has moved to five-year warranties, there's still a bit of lag at the top end of town. The likes of Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, and Maserati all offer a similar three-year deal.

Main service intervals are at 15,000km or 12 months, there's a three-year paint warranty and a 12-year anti-rust warranty.

⬆️ Back to top

18

Would you recommend it?

Despite the nagging annoyance that the engine is a little underdone against some of its rivals, it's such a beautiful powerplant to use that you'll get over the fact that Porsche has shortchanged it of absolute power and torque a little.

So convincing is the overall package that the S instantly becomes the pick of the Cayenne range. It manages its compromises smartly.

It goes, stops and steers about as well as you could ask for a high-riding vehicle weighing more than two tonnes. Of course, we could back and forth at length about whether this represents the right direction for vehicle design, but there's no real contention about this Porsche's execution.

18

Yes, you can buy faster cars.

Heck, you could buy a Chinese EV for sixty grand that would leave the Porsche in its wake off the line, but if we're looking at broadly similar rivals, I'd happily trade a few kilowatts to get the handling and poise of the Porsche.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that, all things considered, this might just be the most impressive sporting SUV at any price.

⬆️ Back to top

⬆️ Back to top