Heritage
Naturally when Porsche brought out its first SUV, the Cayenne, in 2003, the usual cynics sneered at the apparent corporate sell-out conducted by the makers of the 911, for bringing a large, heavy car to market which put practicality before sportscar performance. Since then, sales of the Cayenne (in standard, S, S e-Hybrid, Turbo, Turbo S, Diesel, GTS), have outstripped the rest of the Porsche clan put together, and every luxury performance-based manufacturer has brought out an SUV, or announced plans to, with the exception of McLaren (watch this space).
The Cayenne is now in its third iteration, with the smaller Macan SUV sitting below it in the range. The derivatives have been pared back to the Cayenne, Cayenne S, E-Hybrid and Turbo. All engines are turbocharged, a three-litre V6 sitting in everything but the Turbo, which gets a V8. We tested the Cayenne S version.