Even in the land of the high-powered SUV the new Porsche Cayenne Turbo S raised a few eyebrows when its vital stats were announced at the Detroit Auto Show this week. It's the range-topper, set to take on the likes of the BMW X5 M and the new Mercedes-AMG GLE 63.
Exterior
Marking out the Turbo S from the regular Turbo model are unique 21-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights including Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus (PDLS Plus) and a few other visual tweaks here and there. The yellow brake callipers reveal that Porsche Composite Ceramic Brakes (PCCB) are fitted as standard. Up front they're 420mm brake discs and, for the first time, ten-piston calipers. The rear brakes have 370mm discs and four-piston calipers.
Interior
Inside there's a full leather interior with embossing of the Porsche logo on all the headrests. Carbon accents are standard too, and a new black/crème interior colour scheme makes its debut in this Cayenne.
Mechanicals
Really, if you're seriously considering this car, then this is the only section of this article you're interested in. Under the bonnet is a 4.8-litre bi-turbo V8 engine, producing 570hp and 800Nm of torque. Porsche claims better response from the turbochargers than before, as they are now housed within the exhaust manifolds. A scarcely believable 0-100km/h time of 4.1 seconds is quoted by Porsche, while the Cayenne Turbo S tops out at 176mph.
Along with the massive brakes, Porsche fits this Cayenne with plenty of control systems to help it defy the laws of physics on the road. Chief amongst these is Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC), which actively manages body roll, pitch and dive. There's also Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) to give the Cayenne a more agile feeling, plus full-time four-wheel drive with a rear axle bias.
Anything else?
Porsche claims that the Cayenne Turbo S is the fastest SUV to lap the Nürburgring, with a time of 7:59:74 minutes.
Further reading