Deceiver. Porsche Cayenne - update

My first encounter with the Porsche Cayenne SUV happened a couple of years ago, during tire testing. The car evoked mixed feelings then: on one hand, its driving characteristics were impeccable, but on the other, I kept glancing at the steering wheel, trying to understand if it was really a Porsche in front of me. I expected the same thrill that the 911 or Cayman S deliver, but I didn't find it. Now — the facelifted Cayenne on the roads of Spanish Jerez. Did I manage to find those very emotions?

From the front, the Cayenne Turbo features enlarged air intakes, horizontal strips of LED indicators, and ribs on the hood

"So, are there still any doubters of my success?" — the Cayenne seems to ask after the update, opening its mouth of air intakes even wider. What doubts could there be? Already in the second year of production, output volumes had to be increased by one and a half times — from 25 to 40 thousand cars per year. The demand is obvious. And in just four years, 150 thousand such SUVs have rolled off the assembly line. Success is visible to the naked eye, or rather — by the "face": now the Cayenne has narrowed its eyes, and silver "eyebrows" have appeared above the swivel headlights. The front bumper emphasizes kinship with the 911 model. Moreover, each version has its own physiognomy. Side air intakes with two horizontal crossbars and vertical parking lights — on the regular Cayenne with V6 or Cayenne S. But the wide grille with horizontal LED strips and longitudinal ribs on the hood are the distinguishing mark of the Cayenne Turbo. At the rear, changes are also noticeable: an enlarged spoiler, a diffuser in the bumper, and taillights with a cut corner. The shape of the rear lights is now repeated by the mirrors. Aerodynamics have improved: the drag coefficient has decreased from 0.39 to 0.35. But the interior of the off-road Porsche remains the same. The same leather luxury — and the same budget plastic on the selectors of climate control, air suspension, and transmission. It seems that the 650 million euros invested in the update went to something more important. What exactly?

The interior hasn't changed, but the list of "interior" options has been supplemented with combined upholstery of black and brown leather; a huge four-section sunroof with an area of 1.4 m² — for an extra charge

The instruments of the Turbo version — with two-color needles and a boost pressure gauge (on the right); the left Sport key switches the suspension, "automatic" and accelerator drive to sport mode, and the right one — only the shock absorbers

Two buttons have been added in the cabin: one controls the hydraulic drive of the trunk lid, the other, Sport, switches the air suspension, "automatic" and accelerator to sport mode. This is in addition to the previous ability to choose between three modes of electronic shock absorbers: Sport, Normal and Comfort. Another new feature is PDCC, Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control. These are hydraulic cylinders built into the cut anti-roll bars. A similar system called Dynamic Drive appeared back in 2001 on the BMW "seven", and now it is also equipped on the BMW X5 — a direct competitor of the Cayenne. The suppliers for both systems are common: iron and hydraulics are made by Sachs, electronics by Continental Teves.

From now on, all Cayenne engines have direct injection. And the eight-cylinder engines of the Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo versions (pictured) besides the increased displacement (from 4.5 to 4.8 liters) have acquired the proprietary "valve" system VarioCam — in the photo it can be identified by the "extra" cams of the "intake" camshaft

However, the settings of the systems differ. At Porsche, for example, the maximum pressure is higher — 180 atmospheres versus 160. In chassis tuning, Porsche engineers are perhaps unrivaled. The updated Cayenne S, which I took first, only confirmed this. The car drives fantastically! Active stabilizers completely suppress body roll at lateral accelerations up to 0.65 g. At high speed during lane changes, PDCC slightly tightens the front stabilizer, and in sharp turns — the rear one, helping the car screw into the corner and changing the balance of understeer/oversteer. Reactions are instantaneous. At the limit, the Cayenne only momentarily pushes with the front axle at the entrance, but immediately dives into the turn. And I no longer check the emblem (Porsche? Really Porsche?), but simply don't understand: how can such a large and heavy SUV navigate mountain serpentines like a light hot hatch?

In the folding rear seat — an armrest with a box; front seats are comfortable but not sporty

The Cayenne has fooled and charmed me! The PDCC hydraulic cylinders, which fight body roll, also noticeably improve ride smoothness. I compared the old and new versions on a mini test site. The difference is huge. The old SUV rolls more and enters corners more reluctantly. And the new suspension with PDCC and adaptive Sachs shock absorbers swallows speed bumps noticeably softer. If you press the wide Sport key on the center tunnel, the shock absorbers tighten, the "automatic" holds gears longer, and the accelerator becomes more responsive — on the Spanish serpentines, Valera Arutin from Autosport magazine and I were racing in this very mode. We were racing and enjoying the sound of the V8, which changes the exhaust tone with the Sport key pressed.

For an extra charge, the trunk lid is equipped with a hydraulic drive, activated by a button on the driver's door, key fob, or at the end of the lid (pictured); the retractable rear-view camera is practical!

The engine sounds gorgeous! Traction is excellent, though not explosive. Both "eights" — in the Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo — received direct injection and a displacement increased from 4.5 to 4.8 liters. Plus the proprietary VarioCam system, which changes not only valve timing but also the lift of the intake valves. Result: the power of the naturally aspirated V8 has grown to 385 hp (by 45 hp), and the turbocharged one — to 500 hp (by 50 hp). The updated Cayenne Turbo is now even faster than the previous top version Turbo S: acceleration to 100 km/h — 5.1 s versus 5.2 s, and top speed — 275 km/h versus 270. The Cayenne Turbo is a real hurricane. During acceleration, the pressure gauge needle on the dashboard goes off scale for a second: maximum boost pressure — 1.8 atm. Acceleration is powerful, with a barely noticeable hesitation of the six-speed "automatic", but without surges or kickdowns. A crazy trolleybus! And on the mountain road, something terrible happened — I got motion sickness. Behind the wheel. During tests of fast cars, this happens, but usually a lump comes to the throat when you sit on the right. And the Cayenne Turbo makes even the driver sick — such are the excesses of longitudinal and especially lateral accelerations.

Layout diagram of the PDCC system components in the car. Depending on the road situation, from 0.5 to 4 kW is spent on its operation

And so, to catch your breath, you brake, step outside to get some air — legs are wobbly, head is buzzing… And the Cayenne stands nearby and squints.

What a ladies' man!

At the same time, it's a full-fledged SUV. The powertrain hasn't changed — with an asymmetric center differential distributing torque in a 38:62 ratio. You pull the "transmission" lever towards you — the low range is activated, and the active stabilizers "loosen", giving maximum suspension travel. Pressing again — the "center" is locked. And for an extra charge, a rear locking differential is also available. It remains to raise the air suspension to maximum (from the "standard" 215 to 271 mm) — and off you go.

The huge, connecting-rod-like link of the front stabilizer — isn't it a beauty? It connects the stabilizer directly to the air suspension strut

In full combat readiness, we easily climbed an earthen mound left by an excavator and returned to the asphalt. Still, it's pointless to venture into serious off-road on "highway" tires. Especially since our Cayenne Turbo stood on Michelin Latitude Sport tires of maximum size 295/35 R21 — this latest development of French tire makers was created specifically for the Cayenne.

And in conclusion, I tried the most "modest" Cayenne — it's just a Cayenne with the base V6. The new all-Volkswagen "six", which debuted last year on the Passat, has a cylinder block with an increased bank angle of 15° — instead of the previous 10.6°. This allowed raising the displacement from 3.2 to 3.6 liters. Power increased by 40 hp — to 290 hp. By the way, under the hood of the updated Touareg, the same unit produces 10 hp less.

The 290-horsepower Cayenne pulls well! "In the base", naturally aspirated SUVs are equipped with a six-speed "manual". And, honestly, behind the wheel of the "manual" Cayenne, I almost experienced the same delight as in the "nine-eleven". I almost caught the spirit of Porsche.

But everything was spoiled by the mediocre gearshift mechanism — vague, with "cottony" efforts. And the clutch pedal turned out to be indistinct and too long-travel. Oh, if only there were a precise "manual" like in the Porsche 911. That would be a crazy car! An off-road sports car, not a sporty SUV — closer and closer to a "real" Porsche.

However, time heals — after a couple of generations, no one will remember the "illegitimacy" of the Cayenne model among the "true" Porsches. Especially if there is more and more Porsche spirit in them each time. And I have no doubt that this will be the case.

Off-road, the Cayenne is fully armed: air suspension that raises ground clearance, low-range gearing, locking of the center (and, on request, rear) differential. In the rear bumper, you can see a diffuser working in tandem with the transverse "can" of the exhaust system

---

Donatus Neudeck and his trained brakes

We were already acquainted with the head of Porsche's "brake" department, Donatus Neudeck, and this time we managed to talk to him again: Neudeck did not miss the opportunity to talk about his new creation — the most powerful front brakes of the Turbo Cayenne, whose aluminum calipers cover almost a third of the disc. The special feature of the turbo brakes is the maximum pad area with minimal dimensions: rigid monoblock six-piston calipers fit inside standard 18-inch wheels. According to Neudeck, such brakes are about 10% more thermally stable than previous ones, mainly due to reduced specific pressure in the disc-pad pair. Indeed, on a mountain serpentine, the braking efficiency remained consistently excellent.

Interestingly, what is wrong with huge calipers with two floating brackets, like on Mercedes-Benz AMG cars?

— They are too heavy, — Neudeck explained. — And they cannot be made entirely aluminum due to rigidity requirements.

And why doesn't Porsche use automatic brake drying, bringing the pads closer in the rain, as BMW engineers first started doing?

The "coverage area" of the Turbo Cayenne pads is almost a third of the disc	In the front bumper, there are air intakes for cooling the brakes. On the suspension arm, there is a spoiler that directs air flows to the center of the disc

— That's all nonsense, — Neudeck replied without batting an eye. — To properly dry the disc, braking must be quite prolonged, and that would affect fuel consumption. No one will go for that. To dry the pads, we try to direct rainwater along with air — through the disc. For this, special air intakes appeared in the bumper of the updated Cayenne, and small spoilers on the front suspension arms.

Will ceramic brakes appear on the Cayenne?

— We plan to offer "ceramics" for all Porsche models, — says Neudeck. — But its use on an SUV is still difficult due to the problem of abrasive wear. After all, dirt and sand quickly disable "ceramics." Once we solve the problem, the Cayenne will have "ceramics" too.

---

What's the price?

In Russia, the updated Cayenne will appear at the end of February — from 57,850 euros for the base Cayenne, 72,800 euros for the Cayenne S, and 122,850 euros for the Turbo modification. For comparison, a new BMW X5 with a 4.8 engine (355 hp) will cost at least 115 thousand euros.

First, I figured out what is essentially the passport of this beast. We have three versions of the Porsche Cayenne, and all of them are five-door station wagons for five seats. The length of the base and S versions is 4798 mm, the Turbo is three millimeters less (4795 mm), the width is 1928 mm everywhere, but the height varies: 1699 mm for the naturally aspirated versions and 1694 mm for the Turbo. The wheelbase is the same — 2855 mm.

The ground clearance of the base and S versions is 218 mm, but for the Turbo it is regulated by air suspension in the range from 215 to 271 mm. The trunk in all cases holds from 540 to 1770 liters. The curb weight increases from 2160 kg for the initial version to 2355 kg for the top one, and the gross weight — from 2945 to 3080 kg.

The engines are only gasoline, with direct injection. The base version is a V6 with a volume of 3.6 liters (3598 cm³), producing 290 hp at 6200 rpm and 385 Nm at 3000 rpm. The compression ratio is 12.3:1. Next comes a V8 of 4.8 liters (4806 cm³) in two variants: the naturally aspirated Cayenne S with 385 hp and 500 Nm (compression ratio 12.5:1) and the biturbo Cayenne Turbo, where power reaches 500 hp at 6000 rpm, and torque — 700 Nm at 4500 rpm. The Turbo has a lower compression ratio — 10.5:1.

The gearboxes are six-speed: manual or Tiptronic S automatic for the initial versions, and only automatic for the Turbo. Drive is permanent all-wheel drive. The suspension of the younger versions is spring (front on transverse arms, rear multi-link), and the Turbo has air suspension. Brakes are disc ventilated everywhere. Tires — 235/65 R17 for the base version and 255/55 R18 for S and Turbo.

The dynamics are impressive: the base version accelerates to 100 km/h in 8.1 seconds (with automatic — in 8.5), top speed — 227 km/h. The Cayenne S does it in 6.6 seconds (with automatic — 6.8), and its limit is 252 km/h (with automatic — 250). The Turbo accelerates in 5.1 seconds and reaches 275 km/h.

Fuel consumption, of course, is not for the faint of heart. The base Cayenne in the city consumes 18.5 liters per 100 km (with automatic — 18.3), outside the city — 9.8 (with automatic — 9.9), in the combined cycle — 12.9. Cayenne S: 22.1 liters in the city (with automatic — 20.2), 10.8 outside the city (10.1 with automatic), 14.9 in the combined cycle. Turbo: 22.5 in the city, 10.5 outside the city, and 14.9 in the combined. The tank is 100 liters, fuel — only AI-98.

In general, the numbers speak for themselves: this is a heavy, powerful, and voracious beast, which, however, remains a Porsche.