Porsche Cayenne (2023 - ) review

No Cayenne is cheap to buy but some are a lot cheaper to run than others, mainly down to whether you stick to your guns with a conventional petrol engine or go for one of the impressive hybrid models. While of less importance for private owners if you’re running a Cayenne as a company car it’s, literally, a saving of hundreds a month, meaning the near £10,000 price difference between a base model and the E-Hybrid pretty much pays for itself in Benefit In Kind savings. That will probably be of more significance in running cost terms than the potential savings in fuel from the extended electric-only range at your disposal but, if you choose to plug in every night on cheaper off-peak electricity, you could potentially do the school run or commute without the petrol engine firing up at all.

Premium brands tend to do badly on reliability tables for the fact their cars are more complicated and, when things do go wrong, they cost a lot more to repair. Fair to say customers spending a lot on a car have high expectations for quality, and customer service. If either fail to come up to scratch it’s only reasonable they’ll make a fuss, then. If there’s a plus side it’s that this generation of Cayenne, although updated here, has been on sale long enough for any obvious faults to have been addressed.

Updated safety systems bring with them the inevitable increase in warning bongs and chimes, and while Porsche is better than most at making things like lane-keeping as unobtrusive as possible we couldn’t find any quick shortcuts for turning off speed limit warnings as BMW and some others offer. Tech-wise Porsche says it has upgraded all the existing safety systems, meaning the various sensors, radars and cameras now have a broader operating range. Matrix LED headlights are now standard as well, with upgraded High Definition ones as an option. Two levels of adaptive cruise control are also cost upgrades, the fancier of which includes what Porsche calls InnoDrive and uses information from the navigation to accurately regulate speed, road position and more. Worth pointing out that after a complimentary initial subscription period you then need to pay to unlock all of the connected features supporting this. You can also specify automated lane changing, though in our experience such systems are hardly worth the bother given you still have to check the mirrors and indicate to make them work. And by the time you’ve done that you may as well complete the manoeuvre yourself…

The Cayenne has never been a beauty but it is a practical car and, although a bit flashy to be used and abused as a family hack, has the space and adaptability to be used as such. The all-black interior of our base-spec test car was a bit gloomy but probably better for hiding the dirt and grime that comes with carrying the kids than some of the fancier upholstery options. Driver and front-seat passenger meanwhile get plenty of space and comfortable, any-which-way adjustable seats with increasing levels of power adjustability, heating and ventilation according to how much you spend. Accommodation in the back is generous as well, with loads of head- and legroom and a split rear seat you can slide back and forth to prioritise cabin or boot space as needed. Not that you’ll likely need to free up any more as there’s plenty of space for your stuff back there. As ever the central rear seat is a bit lumpier than the outboard ones and there is a bit of a hump in the floor but it’s a viable five-seater. Our test car came with the standard suspension, which now has sophisticated adjustable damping (branded PASM) and noticeable differences in how wafty or sporty it feels according to which mode you choose. In keeping with Porsche’s sporty image it’s always on the firmer side, though physics dictate it will never quite corner like a 911 or Panamera. More expensive models get a very clever air suspension system with a broader spectrum between refinement and sportiness but we haven’t tried it yet on this updated Cayenne.

While the general layout doesn’t seem to have changed that much at a glance the updated Cayenne has had a thorough tech makeover, inspired in part by more recent models like the Taycan. You’ll see this in the shape of the bigger digital instrument cluster now emerging from the top of the dashboard and the smoother integration of the central screen, the gear selector moving from the traditional spot between the seats to behind the steering wheel to free up more storage space. Drivers not on speaking terms with their front seat passenger can also pay for an additional screen for them to stream their own content, operate the infotainment or otherwise switch off from those around them, a clever filter meaning the driver can’t see or be distracted by whatever they’re doing. Credit due, Porsche’s tech is both slick and easy to use and one of the better systems in the market. On top of the aforementioned Matrix LED headlights standard equipment now includes 20-inch wheels, front and rear parking sensors and reversing camera and a wireless phone charging tray among many other features. Porsche being Porsche this is only the start, though, and there are many and various (usually expensive) ways to upgrade your Cayenne ranging from the tasteful to the tacky. We’ll file having the 22-inch Exclusive Design Sport wheel option colour-matched to the body paintwork as the latter, especially in some of the more lairy options now available.

All things relative but our test car as pictured was about as basic as you can get in a Cayenne, the 3.0-litre petrol engine carried over from before but with a significant power boost into the bargain. Smooth and refined when you want it to be it asserts itself with a meaningful purr as you demand more. Even with less than half the power of the range-topping Turbo E-Hybrid it never felt lacking in performance and perfectly capable of delivering the kind of cross-country pace you’d expect of a car with a Porsche badge on the nose. A slick gearbox that’s just as satisfying to leave to its own devices as it is shift yourself via the paddles is another nice feature, though if we’ve chosen manual shifts we’d prefer it not have kept defaulting back to automatic. We’ve not tried any of the other engines as yet but, suffice to say, with or without electrification things get progressively more powerful and faster as you work your way up, the Cayenne S swapping out its previous V6 engine for a bigger V8 in an unusual reversal of the wider trend for engine downsizing. In for a penny, and if you want a faster Cayenne you may as well have it with a nice, burbly exhaust sound as well!