New Car: 2011 Porsche Cayenne

Porsche's Cayenne has been a great success for the sports-car maker, but the company, as you know, also has received a lot of flak for building the big SUV. Enthusiasts complained that it deviated, ahem, massively from the core brand values of light weight and world-class handling, while many politically correct folks didn’t give a damn about sacrilege; they just thought the thing was too big, too powerful, too thirsty. Now Porsche tries to soothe both groups of critics, while—and this is most important—keeping the Cayenne's existing customer base happy.

The styling department deserves kudos for fooling most observers into thinking the second-generation 2011 Cayenne, debuting at the Geneva auto show, is smaller than its predecessor. The perception was so strong that some thought this was the mysterious “Baby Cayenne,” a.k.a. “Roxster,” when spy pictures surfaced. In reality, however, the Cayenne is 1.9 inches longer than its predecessor and continues to share much of its structure with the Volkswagen Touareg, the latest version of which was just revealed. The Porsche’s wheelbase has grown by 1.6 inches, but it remains a five-seater.

While it has grown in size, mainly to enhance rear-seat space, the Cayenne’s weight has come down by as much as 400 pounds, Porsche claims. Much of that is due to a new and somewhat downgraded all-wheel-drive system. But hey, did you really ever take your Cayenne Turbo up the Rubicon? We didn't think so, but it’s good to know the new Porsche is still plenty capable.

The redesigned interior reflects the changes to the exterior. The cabin is more airy, and the center console looks slim and draws styling cues from the Panamera four-door sedan, housing as it does a shift lever flanked by plenty of buttons. The infotainment screen up front is operated via touch screen, while, in back, the rear seat has over six inches of fore and aft travel.

Like the latest Touareg, the Cayenne has vastly improved in the looks department. It looks muscular and far more harmonious than the previous model. Like before, the regular and the Turbo models are remarkably different with their distinct front grille and lighting strips.

With a full-hybrid powertrain, the Cayenne S hybrid—which we sampled in prototype form early last year—marks a Porsche first. A 47-hp electric motor works in conjunction with an Audi-sourced 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 for a combined output of 380 hp and 427 lb-ft of torque. Accelerating up to 40 mph or so can be achieved under electric power alone, and the gasoline engine can be decoupled from the drivetrain when cruising at speeds up to 97 mph. Porsche calls this driving condition "sailing.” (The Cayenne hybrid’s natural competitor is, of course, the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid, but the Bimmer scoffs at greenies by focusing on ultimate performance, offering a combined 480 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque.) Porsche doesn’t mention any EPA fuel-economy numbers yet, but says the Cayenne lineup as a whole trumps the outgoing models’ mileage by as much as 23 percent on the Euro cycle.

Thanks to: Car and Driver