After monstering this long rally stage, the 420bhp Cayenne S and I drop back down onto a wider dual carriageway. I’m keen to see just how good this new ‘entry’ petrol motor is, and so I pull it hard at every opportunity I get. Very quickly, a couple of things become apparent – there’s bags and bags of pulling power here, a lot of which is due to the fact that it has a really strong midrange. The Cayenne gets shoved in the back by a wave of torque every time I flex my right foot, and the best bit is that the push keeps getting stronger and stronger. As a result, momentum is huge and the best way to keep this engine on the boil is to short shift and let the midrange do all the hard work. Of course, this turbo motor lacks the crispness and sharp responses of the naturally aspirated flat-six motor seen on Porsche’s sportscars, or even the V8 that was on the earlier car, but that’s only to be expected. And is there a better gearbox than ZF’s eight-speeder? Not really.
What the new Cayenne does exceptionally well is handle long fast corners. Despite the weight of the car wanting to go over to the outside, the Cayenne settles on its air suspension rather nicely. Initial bit of roll done, it feels balanced and composed, and then urges you to go quicker and quicker. And that famed Porsche precision remains, even with the car sliding and the tyres howling in protest.
Of the various driver modes, the new Sport Plus is the most aggressive. Still, it can be used over a good variety of well-paved roads. The introduction of Sport Plus has also widened the gap between the various modes and so ride comfort now is even better. The suspension does get a bit crashy over big sharp bumps, but otherwise ride is pretty acceptable even in Sport. Use Comfort, however, and the suspension becomes really supple, with the big heavy chassis smothering every difficult patch that comes along. The air suspension on this car also allows you to lift up the body so that there’s enough ground clearance to tackle rough trails. But don’t get too ambitious – remember, this is a road-biased SUV at the end of the day.