What's this about?
Alongside the 911 Targa 4 GTS in Detroit is another Porsche making its world debut, the Cayenne Turbo S. Its job is to see off the likes of the BMW X5 M and Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 Coupé thingy on hot laps of the Nürburgring it would seem.
But it's a hulking big SUV...
True, but the reworked bi-turbo V8 puts out 570hp at 6,000rpm and 800Nm of torque, so it's no slouch, posting a 0-62mph time of just 4.1 seconds, on its way to what must be a little unnerving 176mph.
Yikes.
Indeed. Thankfully, Porsche has thrown its lexicon of acronyms at the chassis to ensure it doesn't spear off the M25 at high speed and obliterate Kent. So it comes with PCCB carbon ceramic brakes, PDCC chassis control and even PTV Plus torque vectoring in a bid to make it feel like the sports car it's really trying to emulate.
Does it look like a sports car?
Not really, no. It's differentiated from the 'normal' Cayenne Turbo inside and out in a fairly subtle manner, though of course the standard equipment count is upped. Then again, so it should be for a starting price of a little over £118,000.
And what about that Ring time?
Porsche claims the Cayenne Turbo S can lap in 7 minutes 59.74 seconds.
Shane O' Donoghue - 13 Jan 2015
