Ask any hard-core Porsche fanatic what the Porsche Cayenne SUV represents to them. They won't be able to get out a whole sentence without using the word "betrayal." How can you blame them? The Cayenne doesn't even pretend to be a sports car. The Cayenne has five doors — three more than any production Porsche built before it. The Cayenne has been offered with many different engines but none of them have horizontally opposed cylinders. Plus every one of those engines has been installed at the wrong end of the vehicle. In Europe you can get a Cayenne diesel. And, maybe even worse, a Cayenne hybrid has wormed its way into America. Purists want to know: Where's the Porsche in the Porsche Cayenne?
It turns out there actually is some Porsche in the Porsche Cayenne and most of it is under the driver's right foot.
Since its introduction back in 2003, the Porsche Cayenne has always been a thoroughly competent (and sometimes inspired) mix of SUV practicality and Porsche's engineering arrogance. It's never been particularly big, but it's no lightweight — as if Porsche increased its molecular density before bolting in every imaginable driving technology. It's always been available solely with all-wheel drive with engines ranging from adequate V6s to fire-breathing twin-turbocharged V8s making more than 500 horsepower. The Porsche Cayenne may weigh over 5,000 pounds, but it has never been slow.
Somehow the Porsche Cayenne avoids the ponderousness that usually accompanies a heavy vehicle with a tall ride height. Most of the credit must go to the Cayenne's fundamentally sound, four-wheel independent suspension. And then some praise can be laid onto the optional air suspension that enables an electronic brain to calibrate the Cayenne to any particular road, trail, meadow, riverbed or hockey rink. The Porsche Cayenne is tenacious in a way few vehicles can duplicate.
While it shares structural components with the Audi A7 and VW Touareg, it's not fair to dismiss the Porsche Cayenne as an over-decorated version of those trucklets. The Cayenne simply has an edge those others don't. And no matter if it's a Cayenne, Cayenne S or Cayenne Turbo, the Porsche Cayenne's first name is always Porsche.
