Porsche reveals Cayenne facelift 24 | 07 | 2014
THIS IS OUR first official sight of the updated Porsche Cayenne which will go on sale at Scottish dealerships from October, with prices starting at £49,902. The car will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show the same month.
Key to the facelift are subtle design tweaks both inside and outside, plus all models benefit from significant improvements in efficiency.
Styling improvements at the front of the car include a larger grille, a new bumper with additional blades within the air ducts for more efficient cooling of the intercoolers, redesigned front wings and a larger bonnet boasting subtle contouring.
In addition, the revised Cayenne now gets angular headlights, with standard Xenon main beams (LED with Porsche Dynamic Light System on the top-of-the-line Turbo), are fitted to the new Cayenne too.
Nip round to the rear of the car and there are revised tail-lights which, like the headlights, adopt a more angular shape. At last, the number plate recess and boot opening mechanism now also blend more elegantly into the tailgate, and Porsche's design team has also added a revised bumper with integrated tailpipes.
Inside the cabin, there's a new multi-function steering wheel with shift paddles, which comes as standard and is modelled on that used in the 918 Spyder. There's also a more contoured rear seat that now comes with optional ventilation.
From an efficiency perspective, the headline addition is a new coast function: and this is further supplemented by and improved version of the existing model’s stop/start system. Both functions have been integrated into the Cayenne's standard eight-speed automatic gearbox.
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Other innovations include active air flaps, which are located behind the grille and open or close depending on the cooling requirements for the engine. As a result, they're constantly adjusting the volume of air entering the engine bay and helping to reduce aerodynamic drag.
The star of the updated cayenne is the new S E-Hybrid, which replaces the S Hybrid. Running the same Audi-engineered 328bhp supercharged 3.0-litre V6 direct injection petrol engine as its predecessor, it's mated to a new electric motor that develops 94bhp.
As a result, in total Porsche’s third dedicated plug-in hybrid model — following the the 918 Spyder and Panamera S E-Hybrid — delivers a combined output of 410bhp at 5500rpm and 434lb/ft of torque between 1200 and 4000rpm. That's an improvement on the model it replaces of 35bhp and 7lb/ft.
While the S E-Hybrid's top speed has marginally increased to 151mph, Porsche claims it'll hit 62mph from standstill in 5.9secs.
Under its electric-only range of between 11 and 22 miles — depending in topography — Porsche quotes zero emissions. Top speed in electric mode is limited to 78mph.
And thanks to the adoption of plug-in technology, there have been big gains in both fuel economy and CO2 emissions. According to Porsche's figures, there's a massive 48.6mpg improvement in combined cycle fuel economy at 83.1mpg, with CO2 emissions dropping by 114g/km to 79g/km on the European test cycle.
And there have been technical improvements elsewhere across the range.
Porsche has replaced the naturally aspirated 4.8-litre V8 direct injection petrol engine in the Cayenne S with a new twin-turbocharged 3.6-litre V6 direct injection petrol unit lifted directly from the recently introduced Macan Turbo.
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Pumping out 414bhp at 6000rpm and 405lb/ft of torque, the new unit delivers an extra 20bhp and 37lb/ft. The result is a drop in the 0-62mph time by 0.5s to 5.4s, plus an increase in top speed to 161mph. Fuel economy has also improved by 2.8mpg to an official 29.7mpg, while average CO2 emissions are reduced by 22g/km at 223g/km.
The Cayenne Turbo gains a more powerful version of Porsche’s turbocharged 4.8-litre V8 direct injection petrol engine developing an added 20bhp at 512bhp and an extra 37lb/ft of torque at 553lb/ft.
This sees the Turbo's 0-62mph time fall by 0.3sec to an official 4.4sec, while top speed increases by 1mph to 174mph. In combination with the Cayenne’s new fuel saving technology, combined cycle fuel economy improves by 0.6mpg to 25.2mpg, providing the rapid SUV with a 29g/km improvement in average CO2 emissions at 261g/km.
Porsche has also increased the output of the 3.0-litre V6 common rail diesel engine in the Cayenne Diesel. It now produces an additional 16bhp and 12lb/ft with 262bhp at 4000rpm and 427lb/ft of torque between 1750 and 2500rpm. The subtle bump in reserves cuts 0.3sec from the 0-62mph time to 7.2sec, while top speed extends by 1mph to 137mph, and returns 42.8mpg at the pumps
The changes to the Cayenne S Diesel. are even milder. Its turbocharged 4.2-litre V8 common rail diesel engine gains 3bhp, taking its output up to 380bhp. Torque, however, remains the same as before, rising to a peak of 626lb ft between 2000 and 2750rpm.
The slight increase in power combines with the efficiency gains to the gearbox to reduce the 0-62mph time by 0.4sec to 5.3sec while retaining the previous model’s 157mph top speed. Fuel economy is up by 1.3mpg at 35.3mpg, resulting in a 9g/km reduction in CO2 emissions, at 209g/km.
Prices for the updated Cayenne range start at £49,902 for the entry-level Diesel, with the Diesel S starting at £61,474. The entry-level petrol is the £60,218 Cayenne S, while the Turbo (pictured) will set you back £93,763. The new Cayenne s E-Hybrid is priced from £61,474.
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Jim McGill