Well, perhaps not so much these days. Am I alone in thinking that the Cayenne is now accepted as a pukka Porsche? Perhaps - but the new GTS might convince the doubters. Ditching the old GTS's V8 engine, the new model gets a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 petrol unit with 440hp and 600Nm of torque. Good enough to spring to 100km/h in just 5.1 seconds (if you've got the optional Sport Chrono pack fitted) while the lower suspension (by 24mm, or 20mm if you tick the box for air suspension) should give a sharper drive even than that of the standard Cayenne. Big bold GTS lettering and a chunky airdam donated by the Cayenne Turbo complete the beefy look, and you can even have a black one with black lettering if you really think a massive, fast, Porsche SUV can actually be stealthy.
The cabin is pretty striking too - everything is draped in Alcantara and there are big bucket seats that electrically adjust in eight ways, with GTS stitched into the headrests. It won't be cheap - Porsche Centre in Dublin has confirmed the price at €132,514.
Anything else?
Well, if you want to save money on your Cayenne purchase, you could go for the newly-introduced base conventional petrol model (from Feb of next year) that uses a non-turbo 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine. The 0-100km/h sprint takes 7.7 seconds and standard equipment includes an eight-speed automatic gearbox with stop-start and coasting functions, bi-Xenon main headlights with four-point LED daytime driving lights, a multi-function sports steering wheel with gearchange paddle and an automatic boot lid. It's priced at €87,227 so the Cayenne S-E Hybrid (€81,042) is still the cheapest model in the line-up.
Video player loading.
Video unavailable. Watch on YouTube
If there is anything about this story we have not covered, you can avail of our expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.









