Porsche Cayenne GTS Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Porsche Cayenne GTS
Prices: £55,250 – on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 332g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 6.1s / Max Speed 160mph [est]
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 12.5mpg / (extra urban) 25.9mpg / (combined) 18.7mpg
Safety: Twin front, window & side airbags, PTM, PASM, PDCC, ABS
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4786/1928/1699mm

THE S FACTOR

Our Rating: 7.9 / 10

Porsche has filled the yawning gap between its Cayenne S and Turbo models with this sharply focus GTS sporting variant. Jonathan Crouch checks it out…

Most people who buy a Porsche Cayenne luxury 4x4 buy the V8 S model. And most of them would really rather be spending £30,000 more and buying the 500bhp Turbo model. Now arguably, they don’t have to. The Cayenne GTS takes the 4.8-litre engine’s output to over 400bhp and offers the manual gearbox and sporty styling cues that will enable the car to really take the fight to German rivals.

Porsche is not accustomed to playing second fiddle when it comes to its German rivals. It simply has to have the fastest luxury 4x4 you can buy, a position filled by its £75,000 Cayenne Turbo. In the real world however, sales of fast luxury 4x4s sit in the £45,000-£55,000 bracket that Porsche also aim to dominate with their V8 Cayenne S. When that car was out-gunned by BMW’s latest 4.8i M Sport, Stuttgart had to take action. Hence the Cayenne GTS. With 405bhp, it has 20bhp more than the standard Cayenne V8 plus a 6-speed manual ‘box, active suspension management and some seriously sporting trim.

This is the first Cayenne to offer the electronically-controlled damping system, Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), with steel springs. This combination, which also lowers the Cayenne by 24mm, was previously reserved exclusively for Porsche sports cars. In order to further exploit its horsepower increase, the GTS comes as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox and a shorter axle final drive ratio than the Cayenne S (4.1:1 as opposed to 3.55:1). The Cayenne GTS can thus accelerate from 0-62mph in just 6.1 seconds, precisely 0.5 seconds quicker than the Cayenne S and a figure also identical to BMW’s 4.8i M Sport (which costs around the same).

Mindful that luxury 4x4 buyers don’t normally tend to want manual gearboxes, however sporty they feel they are, Porsche is also offering the option of a Tiptronic S six-speed automatic transmission on this car, in which guise it offers an average fuel consumption of 20.3mpg. The Cayenne GTS is fitted with Porsche Traction Management (PTM) permanent all-wheel drive and the adaptive PASM chassis as standard. Air suspension is available as an option, as is the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) active anti-roll system which enhances the handling and ride comfort further still.

The latest revised Cayenne has plenty of space inside, although if you really want a 4x4 capable of carrying a big family, you’d probably be better off looking at the kind of seven-seater option that a BMW X5 4.8i M Sport offers. The build quality of much of the switchgear has been improved and Porsche has also revised the materials used for the seating.

Styling is of course a subjective thing but everyone universally seems to agree that the changes wrought on the latest Cayenne have represented a big improvement, the latest model giving the car a front end look all of its own. Where the 997 series 911 has gone back to round headlamps, the Cayenne now gets more feline looking projector beam lights and a grille that’s less frog-like than before. This not only looks the part but also significantly improves cooling. The wheel arches are more clearly defined than before and every Cayenne model is fitted with a rear diffuser and a roof-mounted spoiler.

Build quality is of course faultless and pricey though this car is, you still feel like you could be in something more expensive. Some of this is due to the fact that the quality of much of the switchgear has been improved in recent times, as well as the fact that Porsche has also revised the materials used for the seating.

‘Value’ is of course a relative word when you’re spending around £55,000 on a luxury 4x4. This car costs around £8,000 more than a standard Cayenne S and at £54,350, is £1,000 more than its closest BMW X4 4.8i M Sport rival, which seems pretty good value when you consider that you’re getting another 50bhp. The price includes a Porsche Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), a sophisticated vehicle security package approved to Thatcham Category 5 standard, and a Porsche Driving Experience programme. 

The car should be instantly recognisable to Porsche enthusiasts: the front and rear share styling cues with the Cayenne Turbo, and the striking 14mm wheel-arch extensions offer plenty of space for the 21-inch al