Porsche Cayenne Review (2011-2017)

Oh, how car enthusiasts scoffed when Porsche launched the first-generation Cayenne in 2002. A Porsche SUV? Whatever next? And not so pretty, either. But the last laugh was Porsche’s, as the Cayenne quickly became the company’s best-selling model.

For the second-generation Cayenne, which arrived in UK showrooms in 2011, Porsche refined the formula. The car’s looks were sharpened up, its interior became as smart as that of any luxury car, its driving dynamics were honed to be even more exciting and at the same time more refined, and while the Cayenne remained four-wheel drive, Porsche removed some of the heavyweight off-road hardware found on the previous generation, reasoning that only a small handful of customers were ever likely to use that capability.

The second-generation Cayenne remained largely unchanged over its lifetime, although Porsche gave it a mid-life nip-and-tuck in 2014. This ran to some subtle visual and mechanical tweaks, with the biggest change being the Cayenne S model’s adoption of a down-sized turbocharged 3.6-litre V6 in place of the old 4.8-litre V8. Then in 2017, an all-new third-generation model arrived.

When the Cayenne came along it transformed the idea of what a family-friendly Porsche could be. Normally fans of the brand had to abandon their 911 or Cayman when kids came along and look to another manufacturer, but with Cayenne they could stay loyal to their favourite firm. It attracted a lot of new customers as well, and it’s not hard to see why.

For starters, for an SUV the high-riding Cayenne is an eye-catcher and there’s a cachet about the Porsche badge that sets it slightly above a Range Rover Sport or BMW X5. The interior design is special, too, and from the driver’s seat it’s akin to being on the flight deck of an aircraft.

Some criticise the Cayenne for having too many buttons and switches while rivals have a touchscreen to visually clean up the cabin, but the effect is to convince you that you’re in command of something sophisticated, and that you’ve bought a lot of kit for your money. Moreover, once you know where everything is, it’s easy to find the function you want without taking your eyes off the road.

Not only are the Cayenne ’s front seats comfortable, those in the rear are, too, with plenty of headroom, ample room across for three adults, and sufficient kneeroom for sub-six-footers. The rear seats also slide fore and aft, and can recline, further enhancing comfort. There’s also plenty of handy storage dotted about the cabin, with a deep lidded cubby between the front seats, large door bins and enough cup holders to keep even the thirstiest occupants happy.

Adding to the car’s versatility is a huge boot, which at 670 litres is bigger than almost all rivals can muster. Fold the 60/40 split/fold rear seat and you not only get a totally flat load area, but the carrying capacity increases to a cavernous 1,728 litres. Better still, a powered tailgate makes it easier to load up when your hands are full, plus there’s some useful underfloor storage.

Finally, if you fancy pulling a trailer or caravan, then the Cayenne is well up to the task thanks to an impressive braked towing limit of 3,500kg.

The Cayenne has some cracking engines, both petrol and diesel. Propping up the range is the standard Cayenne, housing a 3.6-litre V6 petrol unit with 296bhp, over which sits the Cayenne S powered by a 395bhp 4.8-litre V8 (later replaced by a twin-turbo 3.6-litre V6 with 410bhp). There's a turbocharged version of that same engine giving 493bhp in the Cayenne Turbo and 540bhp in the Turbo S. Also petrol-powered is the GTS, which initially packed a 414bhp 4.8 V8, but this engine was later swapped for a 435bhp twin-turbo V6.

There's also a choice of turbocharged diesel engines, a 240bhp 3.0-litre V6 in the Cayenne Diesel, and a 4.1-litre V8 developing 380bhp in the S Diesel. There are also two hybrid models, which add an electric motor to a petrol engine: the supercharged petrol-electric 3.0 V6 Hybrid, and its 2014 (and far superior) replacement, the plug-in SE-Hybrid.

Even the entry-level petrol and diesel versions have a turn of speed that’ll scare the odd hot hatch driver, while the Turbo models can easily humble bona fide sports and supercars. Basically, whichever engine you choose you’ll be getting authentic Porsche performance, with the V8 models having the added attraction of a bellowing exhaust note when worked hard.

All Cayennes are quiet, easy-going cruisers – both on the motorway and around town – and models fitted with the optional air springs get a particularly supple ride. The high-set driving position and well-weighted controls also mean the big Porsche feels surprisingly wieldy on narrow city streets, while standard parking sensors make it easier to slot into a space than you’d think.

Yet where the Cayenne stands head and shoulders above its rivals is on a twisting back road. Despite its large exterior dimensions and hefty weight, the Porsche handles with the agility and poise of a car around half the size. The steering is quick and weighty and there’s bags of grip, allowing you to throw the Porsche around with almost the same abandon as you would a hot hatch. Put simply, no SUV (apart from the brand’s smaller Macan) is as quick and satisfying to drive as the Cayenne.

The Cayenne doesn’t have trim levels as such. The standard specification changes depending on what engine is under the bonnet, and then there are myriad options, including an advanced air suspension system (PASM), a dynamic chassis control package (PDCC), and even power upgrades for the already rather potent Turbo models.

When looking for a used Cayenne, study the specification differences between cars carefully to ensure you get the equipment that best suits your needs. All versions came with leather, dual-zone climate control, cruise control, parking sensors, electrically adjustable front seats and satnav.

While the Cayenne was never tested by EuroNCAP, its solid construction, multiple airbags and standard stability control means it should be a safe choice. What’s more, features such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring were available as options and are well worth looking for on any potential purchase.

Your first cost should be before you even buy your Cayenne. Porsche’s big SUV suffers from a few major problems and many small-but-irritating ones, so £245 or so spent with an independent Porsche specialist on a pre-purchase checkover could be considered an investment rather than a cost. By this stage in the Cayenne’s life, the good specialists will have seen pretty much everything that’s likely to go wrong with one, and that knowledge may spare you from massive bills later on.

This version of the Cayenne is sufficiently old now that all examples will be outside of Porsche’s three-year warranty, and while over recent years Porsche's dealer network has been trying to attract owners of older models with modest-priced servicing schemes, a good independent specialist is still likely to cause less financial pain. If you want to check out how Porsche’s servicing prices compare, a specialist will charge around £245 for a minor service on a diesel Cayenne, £365 for an interim service, and £625 for a major: for petrol it runs £275, £385 and £625, respectively.

It’s hard to drive a Cayenne without, erm, enthusiasm, and it can be heavy on tyres and brakes. Prices for 18-inch diameter tyres – and we’re assuming that with a car of this performance you will want to look at premium brands – are in the region of £150 a corner. Meanwhile a set of front brake pads and discs cost about £370, but you need to add the cost of fitting on top of that unless you’re a confident home mechanic.

A 3.0-litre V6 diesel Cayenne mk2 might tempt you with the prospect of up to 41mpg, but the petrol models will do very well to get mid-20s mpg. Used in anger, a Turbo may be knocking around in the teens, and some owners report that around town, you’re looking at 14mpg.

In terms of Vehicle Excise Duty, a pre-April 2017 S E-Hybrid will avoid paying anything, but if it’s registered after then the government demands £465 annually. Depending on the model of Cayenne you’re buying, the spread runs from £295 to a maximum of £580. It’s an expensive, thirsty and comparatively dirty car, and this is the price you pay. As for insurance, you’re looking at groups 40-50.

In general terms the Cayenne is fairly reliable and there are plenty of owners who report that, thanks to regular servicing, their car has reached 150,000 miles or more with very few problems. But that doesn’t mean the Cayenne is trouble-free.

Apparently trivial is the fact that on early examples, the seals around the tail-lamp assemblies can perish and let in water, leading to condensation and mould. However, a pair of replacement tail lights is around £1,600. Compared with that, rattly lids on the glovebox and cubby boxes sound trivial, although they can be very annoying.

More seriously - and a problem that Porsche was forced to acknowledge in the US but not in Europe - the turbocharged V8 petrol engines suffered from poorly aligned camshaft bolts that resulted in rough running. In extreme cases these Variocam camshaft bolts could shear off and potentially cause the destruction of the engine, so if the engine isn’t purring, you might consider walking away.

High pressure fuel pumps on diesel engines can give cause for concern, and we’ve seen one report of a complete failure, resulting in a repair quote for more than the £19,000 car was worth. The Porsche online community is looking into whether this was a one-off or a precursor of troubles for older diesel engines.

More commonplace are issues with the transfer case of the four-wheel-drive system. Porsche says that the lubricant inside it is good for the life of the vehicle, but the experience of owners and independent specialists is that the oil needs replacing on a frequent basis; you’ll be alerted to the need for a change if the car starts lurching in second or third gear. A less-than-smooth gear change on pre-facelift models may also be indicative of wear to the parts of the valves controlling the automatic gearbox.

As with all modern diesels used mainly around town, diesel particulate filters (DPFs) may fail to get hot enough to ‘regenerate’, meaning that the fuel supposed to help with the ‘burn’ drips down into the engine sump, diluting the oil and causing the oil level to rise, sometimes catastrophically for the engine. So enquire how the car has been used and when the DPF was last inspected.

And test all the electrical items; the Cayenne suffers from electrical gremlins, so make sure everything works.