Jerez de la Frontera, home of sherry and the scene of Michael Schumacher’s ignominious clash with Jacques Villeneuve back in 1997. Now this Spanish provincial city, also famous for its own particular styles of bullfighting and flamenco dancing, has notched up another claim to fame. It’s the place where Porsche finally demonstrated conclusively to the international press that the new Cayenne is the world’s best on-off-roader by far…
The Jerez launch, with its no-holds-barred driving experience, was something the company simply had to do in view of the expectations raised by a series of pre-launches – at the plant unveiling in Leipzig, the Paris Show and Auto Africa – that had allowed itchy-palmed journos to look and to touch, but not to drive. And this final hands-on, dynamic phase of the Cayenneintroduction didn’t disappoint. The Weissach design and development teams have applied typically Porsche standards to the task, and come up with a world-beater.
The design objectives seem impossibly contradictory: a vehicle that performs, rides and handles like a thoroughbred sportscar on road, provides comfortable accommodation for five passengers and their baggage, and matches the best SUVs off the beaten track. But Porsche has done it, and CEO Wendelin Wiedeking’s dream of increasing the company’s total annual vehicle production from the current 54 000 to 80 000 units looks certain to be realised. That, in turn, will give Porsche the critical mass to tackle further projects while remaining the world’s smallest independent volume car manufacturer.
Controversially styled, the Cayenne’s bodywork prompted negative reactions from many when the first pictures were unveiled earlier this year. But, as I said after seeing the new offering at the Leipzig plant opening, Porsche’s SUV looks good in the metal, particularly when it’s moving and the light is playing on its smoothly sculpted bonnet and flanks. Since then, hands-on familiarity has made it look better still, as if an appreciation of the vehicle’s capabilities has added a kind of inner beauty to the initial superficial perceptions.
Slightly lower than a BMW X5 but marginally longer and wider, and considerably more compact than a Range Rover, the Cayenne has a Cd of 0,39, fairly impressive for a sport-utility. The steel shell is ultra stiff. “Our body is a lot more rigid than the next best, which is the BMW X5,” attests project manager Egon Verse.
The BMW comes up often in conversations with Porsche technicians, and it’s obvious they have a lot of respect for the Munich offering. But they are confident the Cayenne is better, both on and off-road. The Cayenne launch fleet – stored in a converted sherry bordega across the road from our hotel – is made up of equal numbers of the normally-aspirated S model, and the dramatically powerful Turbo. Both feature an all-new 4 511 cm3 alloy V8, with the company’s VarioCam inlet camshaft adjustment system. The base model’s power unit has peak outputs of 250 kW at 6 000 r/min and 420 N.m between 2 500 and 5 500 r/min, enough to propel it from rest to 100 km/h in a brisk 7,2 seconds and on to a top speed of 242 km/h. In the Turbo version, outputs are boosted to 331 kW at 6 000 and 620 N.m between 2 250 and 4 750 r/min.
The zero to 100 sprint claim is 5,6 seconds, and top speed is quoted at 266 km/h. To cope with the torque of the two V8 power units, a stronger six-speed Tiptronic autobox is offered as standard on both Cayenne S and Turbo versions. A six-speed manual, to be introduced for the next model year, will be available only on the Cayenne S.
The autobox, the first six-speeder on offer in a 4×4, offers high and low ranges, and transmits torque to the four wheels through Porsche’s electronically-controlled PTM (Porsche traction management) system. In normal mode, the set-up feeds 62 per cent of the engine torque to the rear and 38 to the front – unlike VW’s sister SUV, the Touareg, which features a 50:50 split. “We needed to provide sportier handling,” explains Verse.
An electronically controlled multi-plate clutch then varies the split according to driving conditions, feeding up to 100 per cent to either front or rear. PTM also incorporates an electronically controlled longitudinal differential lock, and a rear-axle diff-lock is optional. PTM interfaces with PSM (Porsche stability management), which includes features such as ABS, ASR and ABD (automatic brake differential), as well as the drivetrain.
Selecting the 2,7:1 low range automatically readies all the systems for extreme off-road work: PTM activates a special off-road control map for the differential locks, while PSM switches to the traction-oriented modes of the ABS and ABD systems. In the Turbo, the pneumatic suspension system automatically selects the appropriate ride level and disconnects the anti-roll bars to allow greater travel.
The suspension also reflects the necessity of combining sportscar handling with off-road ability. “There’s no way we could have opted for a strut system,” Verse points out. So springing is by double-track control arms at the front and multi-track control arms at the rear. The pneumatic suspension with self-levelling and adjustable ride height is standard on the Turbo, and offered as an option on the S. It allows six different ride height levels. In normal trim, ground clearance is 217 mm. At faster speeds (above 210 km/h) the vehicle squats down to 179 mm. And, when driving off-road, the clearance can be raised to 243 mm (off-road level), or (at speeds below 30 km/h) to 273 mm (extra-high).
The system also incorporates PASM (Porsche active suspension management), an electronically operated variable damper system that employs five accelerometers to monitor body movement. When the measured motion exceeds certain limits (depending on driving conditions), PASM stabilises the vehicle by acting on the individual dampers. The set-up also allows the driver to select Comfort, Normal or Sport settings.
Selecting the 2,7:1 low range automatically readies all the systems for extreme off-road work: PTM activates a special off-road control map for the differential locks, while PSM switches to the traction-oriented modes of the ABS and ABD systems. In the Turbo, the pneumatic suspension system automatically selects the appropriate ride level and disconnects the anti-roll bars to allow greater travel.
The suspension also reflects the necessity of combining sportscar handling with off-road ability. “There’s no way we could have opted for a strut system,” Verse points out. So springing is by double-track control arms at the front and multi-track control arms at the rear. The pneumatic suspension with self-levelling and adjustable ride height is standard on the Turbo, and offered as an option on the S. It allows six different ride height levels. In normal trim, ground clearance is 217 mm. At faster speeds (above 210 km/h) the vehicle squats down to 179 mm. And, when driving off-road, the clearance can be raised to 243 mm (off-road level), or (at speeds below 30 km/h) to 273 mm (extra-high).
The system also incorporates PASM (Porsche active suspension management), an electronically operated variable damper system that employs five accelerometers to monitor body movement. When the measured motion exceeds certain limits (depending on driving conditions), PASM stabilises the vehicle by acting on the individual dampers. The set-up also allows the driver to select Comfort, Normal or Sport settings.
Sadly, several days of rain have turned the off-road track at the Circuito into a bog, and we’re waved on, with a promise of a chance later in the day, once things have dried out a little. So it’s on to the next part of the route, which takes us inland towards the town of Arcos, across roads with a variety of surfaces and bends designed to demonstrate the sporty characteristics of the Cayenne. The Turbo simply blasts out of the tight corners, the V8’s civilised note changing to a purposeful growl as the revs approach the 6 500 r/min red zone. If you flick the shifter across the gate to manual mode, using either the lever or steering-mounted buttons to make the shifts, you can hold each gear right to the cut-out, 200 revs further up the scale…
Booting it through faster sweeps, the Cayenne sits four-square and controllable, and there’s no sense at all of the higher centre of gravity. That’s only felt in very tight corners, where one is aware of some roll, and some intervention by the stability control in extremis. Even in Normal mode, ride is on the firm side. But you can select Comfort, achieving a more cosseting feel, while sacrificing some on-limit sharpness.
It’s drizzling quite hard and some sections of the route are slippery. On one such stretch, a truck approaches, hogging the centre of the road, and I’m forced to move to the very edge of the shoulderless road surface, the right-hand wheels jarring on the cat’s eyes that mark its extremity. The tyres slither for an instant, but the car’s electronic systems pull me straight, turning what could have been a “moment” into a simple twitch.
Looking for photographic locations, we head into a tiny hilltop town called Villamartin. In the narrow, crowded streets, the Cayenne’s 1 928 mm width has me holding my breath on occasion, but the parking sensors and kerb-climbing ability pull us through. For the return trip, I’m allocated a Cayenne S fitted with the optional air suspension package. On-road feel is identical to the Turbo’s and, while the accelerative shove doesn’t have quite the same kick-in-the-back quality, it’s hefty enough to blast with ease past the crowds of Seats and Citro‘ns that fill the route back to Jerez.
Back at the Circuito, there’s another vehicle switch, to a standard Cayenne S without the fancy underpinnings, to experience a much-shortened, but still tough, off-road course. The road-going Bridgestones and Yokohamas fitted to the vehicles used on the road section are replaced by Pirelli Scorpions, testimony to the fact that, while the vehicle can cope with both performance extremes, the right rubber for the application is essential…
Off-road, the stiffness of the bodyshell, and good approach (32 deg) and departure (27 deg) angles, allow the Cayenne to traverse huge dips and humps with ease. Stopped on a mound with one of the wheels in the air, the Cayenne’s doors all open as easily as they do when parked in a city street.
Good torque characteristics, low range and PTM work together to overcome any reasonable obstacle. Also impressive is the hill descent aspect of the PTM system, which “walks” the vehicle down steep, bumpy inclines at speeds suited to the conditions, comple