Wednesday, August 26, 2015

2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Review!








The late 90s saw the introduction of the Mercedes Benz ML W163, BMW followed in 2001 with the X5 and suddenly an SUV craze was upon us. Volkswagen Group partnered with Porsche to develop a shared platform to capitalize on this new market place and as a result the Touareg and Cayenne were born.

VW group spent huge money engineering the Touareg & Porsche Cayenne, it was of course to be Porsches first SUV as well as the first V8 engine the company had equipped a vehicle with since the 928. Many cars from the early 2000s were rattletrap shit-boxes, even the high end marques. The Cayenne and it's kinsman the Touareg were departures from this and in my opinion were superbly engineered and built.

The Cayenne even now 12-13 years after it's release (Country dependant) could pass as a 3-4 year old vehicle to the average Joe. Subtly menacing clean lines have kept the exterior instantly recognisable as Porsche, the interior is as high end as it gets. Is it possible to call a cold, Teutonic cabin luxurious? Whatever they did it works for me, It ranks as one of my favourite car interiors. Every luxury is discreetly afforded you without the ostentatiousness or show but with the durability to last a lifetime. I have yet to find a Cayenne interior that has not held up.

The vehicle cost huge money at the time and was initially released in various performance levels instead of trim lines, the norm for Porsche. It was the SUV for wealthy mothers with Botox brows, the car wealthy husbands bought their trophy wives whilst they drove a 911. Sadly now it is in the price point of pretenders who feign wealth. It is easy to tell an original owner from one of these show boaters by the addition of tacky modifications to the Cayenne, such as 22" wheels, blacked out taillights, so on and so forth. Fortunately many are still in the care of the original owners because they have lasted so well. Porsche even offered an optional 10 year bumper to bumper warranty on the Cayenne.

I have spent considerable time in Cayenne's over the years, notably a 2009 3.0 Diesel (please see photos) which I had the pleasure of taking all around the Italian countryside with very good friends. This review however is on the Turbo model and what a beast it is. The 4.5 V8 S model alone is phenomenal and the addition of the Turbo trim is overkill, but you would not want anything less. The power is staggering, the noise is so melodious that you will be constantly mashing the throttle and as a result be on a first name basis with your local petrol station employees or riding the bus with a suspended licence. The car is incredulously thirsty. As the adage goes, you have to pay, to play.

Performance figures for the Turbo Cayenne see it shoot to 100kph in around 5.5 seconds real world time, 5.0 if you spring for the ultra rare Turbo S. 440 Horses and 620 Newton-meters turn the Cayenne into a speeding slab of German steel. These figures were upped when the Cayenne received a facelift in 2007 to 490 Horses 700 Newton-meters, around 370 Kilowatts. The Turbo S figures were off the charts at 540 Horses 750 Newton-meters.

With all that performance you would think the vehicle to have zero practicality or daily driveability as 15 years ago these were Supercar figures. The fact is though that the Cayenne is ultra comfortable for daily family haulage and on top of that is actually exceptional off-road. Porsche ingeniously  equipped the Cayenne with a proper transfer case, unlike todays model. That is not to say that it would ever be a rock crawler, but it will get you through a muddy track or snowfall no problem at all. The air suspension can raise the car significantly in stages to suit the terrain. Porsche even had rally versions of this car, most notable the Transsyberia edition.

In summary, I love the first generation Cayenne. I love the Bose sound system, the incredible quality, the looks that refuse to date, the performance and capability, the interior that still looks current and generally everything about this SUV and how superior it was over every other offering at the time.

If you are considering one look for an unmolested original with plenty of receipts and logs, and enjoy in my opinion what is one hell of a deal.