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Pros
- Awesome handling
- Great power when you floor it
- Futuristic interior
- Sleek and sporty exterior
Cons
- Exterior styling is a bit bland and lacks distinction
- Smallish trunk
- Hard to drive with your wife and baby in the back and your wife complaining you’re going too fast
I’ve test driven quite a few SUVs for CarReview.com over the past few years, including two high performance premium luxury models – the BMW X6 M and the Land Rover Ranger Rover Sport Supercharged. So, needless to say, when offered the chance to take the new 2011 Porsche Cayenne S out for a spin, I was super excited. I mean, who wouldn’t be when you get to drive the ultimate sport utility vehicle? The question on my mind was not whether this Cayenne S was going to be a true “sport” utility vehicle, but whether it would make a good family vehicle. Or, in Porsche marketing parlance, the Ultimate Familying Machine.
Driving Impressions
The first thing I did after jumping in the Cayenne S is engage the Sport mode, which raises the shift points and drops the suspension into sport setting at the push of a button on the center console. The 4.8 liter normally-aspirated V8 is powerful, with 400 hp and peak torque of 369 lb.-ft., which is available from 3500 rpm to 5000 rpm. All that math tells me the Cayenne S is damn fast off the line. My finger also flirted with the traction control button, but I decided to leave it engaged for now since the usual winter downpour was just getting started in Northern California, which proved to be a good idea.
The Cayenne S grips the road incredibly well for a vehicle this size and high off the ground. It even holds the road really well compared to cars. Sports cars. I’ve driven a friend’s 997 and I was able to strafe the spiral on ramp to a local freeway at about the same speed in the Cayenne S (50!), and felt just as confident.
The steering is super tight on the Cayenne S, with the nicely weighted steering signature of Porsche sports cars. Road manners were equally impressive at highway speeds and even in the sport setting the suspension was extremely smooth. I even took it on some gravel roads next to the bay in Palo Alto and the Cayenne felt right at home. The ride was comfortable enough for a sleeping baby. The large internally vented disc brakes (14.17/1.42 inches) performed very well when slowing down frequently on local expressways, as the cops were out in full force near the end of the month.
There was one frustrating thing about driving the Cayenne S with my wife and baby on board, and it was that I couldn’t push it nearly hard enough to explore its limits. Every time I accelerated a little too quickly, the wife complained. “Yes, hon, I know the baby’s onboard. And no, hon, I don’t want him to throw up back there on the fine and supportive leather seats.”
Styling
The second-generation Cayenne looks much more sophisticated than the first-generation, which had looked a little awkward, as if Porsche designers tried to stretch a Carrera over the VW Touareg. The 2011 Cayenne is a hair longer and a little wider than the original, but it looks way sleeker on the outside and appears to be more aerodynamic (although the drag efficiency stays about the same).
The front end presents a huge improvement over the first-generation Cayenne and a slight improvement over the face-lifted first-gen. The headlight units are flatter and more triangular, which fit a vehicle of this size and height better than the 911-style headlights on the original. The designers also did a nice job of dividing up the thick face of the Cayenne with thinner grille openings, but a thicker bar across the bottom.
The profile on the 2011 Cayenne is also sleeker, with a streamlined greenhouse and slanted hatchback that’s less truck-like. The blacked out B pillar also looks much better than the chrome ones on the previous generation Cayenne. The longer and wider chassis gives the 2011 Cayenne a more confident stance and the 20 inch Cayenne Sport Design II wheels provide the Cayenne S with a mean road presence. Overall, the result is a much sportier looking Cayenne than the original ever was.
I would add one caveat to the generally good and sensible styling on the second gen Cayenne. The overall design is a bit bland. The first generation Cayenne was not beautiful, but at least it was very distinctive. The second generation Cayenne seems to play it too safe, and does not scream “I drive a Porsche, byotch!” to passersby. The rear fenders should be much more prominent, like those on a Carrera. I found myself constantly worried in the Safeway parking lot that people around me didn’t know that I just parked a Porsche. Which is kind of important since I just spent $94k on this thing. Well, I didn’t, but if you did, you’d want people to know that.
Interior Comfort and Ergonomics
Our tester had 14-way power seats, the middle of the range option. It’s better than the stock 8-way power seats, since it has lumbar support, seat cushion length and steering column electronic adjustments. These were really comfortable seats. They hugged. The top-of-the-line seats have 18-way controls. Eighteen. What else can you electronically control in a chair, you ask? Well, start with the side contours on the seat cushions and end with side bolsters on the backrest. Oh, and now the Cayenne will remember your steering wheel column settings with a memory setting.
Porsche managed to break down every single functionality one could ever want into an infinite combination of options and premium packages. This goes way beyond the seats, of course. The Cayenne S Tiptronic starts with a base MSRP of $64,400 but can end up costing you over six figures. Our tester has a dizzying array of options and MSRPs for $93,385.
To humor myself, I went on Porsche’s website to try and configure a Cayenne S Tiptronic with the same exact options that came on the tester but I failed to do so after half an hour. That’s thirty minutes of my life I’ll never get back. But I digress. As I was saying, the seats are very supportive and I loved the extensible seat cushion.
Our tester came with a simple 3-spoke Sport steering wheel with paddle shifters (these were solid and felt really nice). It lacks the steering wheel controls for radio, PCM (Porsche Communication Management system), etc., but it’s very clean. Except that it has a total of four levers sticking out from the steering column. You have the basic turn signal lever and the windshield wiper controls, but you also have one for cruise control and one more for the vehicle information display system in the gauge cluster. The said gauge cluster is a bit busy, too. Information overload comes to mind when you stare down too long, but luckily, you’re driving a Porsche. You’re too busy driving and having a blast instead of checking how fast you’re going.
Value
I am tempted to simply skip this section. If you’re considering purchasing a premium luxury SUV that behaves like a sports car and does laps faster than a regular Carrera, you’re probably not super concerned with the value that you’re getting. But my editor is probably reading this, so here goes. A similarly equipped Range Rover Sport HSE LUX with 25 fewer horses will save you over twenty grand. Too stodgy and not sporty enough for you? Well, you can try the BMW X6 xDrive50i with a 400 hp twin turbo V8 and similar options for ten grand less. But you don’t get the German prancing horse in front of the Württemberg coat of arms. And you don’t get the Porsche handling. And you certainly don’t get the Porsche brand cache.
Keeping the Family Together
The Cayenne S met and exceeded my expectations on several fronts. The performance is worthy of the Porsche name, and the ride and handling is simply superb. The interior is comfortable and futuristic, and the exterior styling is a big improvement over the first generation. It also underwhelmed on a couple fronts. The exterior design should be more daring and distinctive as a Porsche. The $94k tester also didn’t come with a back-up camera or steering wheel-mounted controls, nor did it have adaptive cruise control. Those options cost even more.
As for the question I set out to answer, is the Porsche Cayenne S Tiptronic the Ultimate Familying Machine? My conclusion is no. While it is fully capable of carrying around a mother and a baby in style with just enough room in the trunk for a stroller and a pack-n-play, there is simply too much performance here for you to drive with the type of prudence and balance that your wife expects while riding with you. It is simply cruel, cruel torture to be at the wheel of this powerful beast and having to hold back on the accelerator. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy.
| Build | Interior | Performance | Handling | Styling | Value | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5/A- |
