Every enthusiast loves to build a fantasy garage. From vintage race cars to oddities to the state of the art, dreams of speed machines dance in our heads like sugar plum fairies, as we zone out from the monotony of checking emails. However, in a fantasy garage situation, what’ll be sitting on the driveway? Almost everyone needs a daily driver, so what if you need a daily driver that does just about everything? Something that can tow a fun car to the track on weekends, do the school run on weekday mornings, eat up miles of interstate for family reunions, wade through knee-high snow drifts, be a bubble of calm in gridlock, and still have the chops to make you want to tear down on-ramps? Well, if you have the means, you might just need a 2024 Porsche Cayenne S.
As is typical for Porsche, the new Cayenne’s offered in a bewildering array of models. From the entry-level six-cylinder trim to the nuclear-grade Turbo GT, there’s a Cayenne for just about everyone, but the S might just be the sweet spot for 2024. See, while you used to have to jump up to the GTS for an eight-cylinder rumble, now the S gets its thunder back. So, is this all the two-row SUV you could possibly need? Let’s find out.
[Full disclosure: Porsche Canada let me borrow this Cayenne S for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it with a full tank of premium fuel and reviewed it.]
About Face
The Porsche Cayenne gets a major refresh for 2024, so let’s talk about how it looks. Slimmer, Taycan-like headlights are the most obvious change up front, but the other big move that works well is the new grillework with its squared-off form and body-color vertical spears to break up the black slats. Is the new face relatively subtle? Sure, but Porsche’s always been about evolution.
Speaking of evolution, Porsche’s been clever around the back. By moving the license plate relief down into the bumper and bringing in more uniform height to the full-width taillight, the back of the new Cayenne looks less busy and does a better job of sectioning its visual mass than before. Add it all together and you get a look more resolved than that of the BMW X5 and more tasteful than that of the Audi Q8. It may have taken Porsche a few decades to perfect the styling on the Cayenne, but this is the brand’s best-looking SUV yet.
Step Inside
Pulling open the hefty driver’s door and sliding behind the wheel of the 2024 Porsche Cayenne S reveals an instinctive rightness, like sitting down in your favorite chair. Optional 18-way front seats promise a vast range of tuning which, combined with serious reach and rake of the steering column, meant that finding a perfect driving position is easy, and comfort is virtually guaranteed. It’s comfortable in the rear seat too, with supportive cushioning, oodles of space, and an almost disconcerting range of recline since bracing yourself for on-ramps likely isn’t a bad idea and that’s hard to do when you’ve got the backrest on full tilt. Oh, and then there’s the practicality. Sure, the Cayenne might not sport as capacious of a cargo hold as the one in a BMW X5, but I still fit a comically large IKEA chair in the back without folding the rear seats down, and I didn’t even have to awkwardly balance the detached cargo cover across the transmission tunnel.
Moving onto tech, I find myself surprisingly fond of the hoodless digital gauge cluster. Not only is it brilliantly configurable, you can actually see all five gauges in five-dial mode without two being hidden by the steering wheel. I’d call that well-executed, and it’s the same thing sort of deal with the responsive, intuitive new infotainment system featuring wireless Apple CarPlay. Sure, a physical home button would be nice, but having artfully knurled rocker switches for key climate control functions and a dedicated volume knob is plenty enough. Although the buttons for the heated and ventilated seats appear to be capacitive-touch, they actually require a physical press to activate, so I can’t complain much there, either. Porsche’s done its homework, as you’d expect in this echelon.
However, the most striking aspect of the infotainment package is what happened whenever I booted up this Cayenne S — a menu actually asked me what data I’d like to share with the cloud. In an age when worrying about your driving data being sold to insurance companies is a real thing, it’s nice of Porsche to address data transmission concerns upfront. Unfortunately, the optional passenger screen isn’t quite as thoughtful. It’s a flashy piece of kit, but it’s also so polarized that it’s hard to find a seating position where the front passenger can actually see the entire screen.
That’s not the only nit to pick. While build quality is, by and large, at the level you’d expect, it’s not quite perfect. Certainly, as a press car, this 2024 Porsche Cayenne S had seen some hard use, but I couldn’t help but notice a little creak from the grab handle on the driver’s door card. That’s something you interact with literally anytime you slide behind the wheel, so shouldn’t it be almost indestructible?
Oh, and before we exit the interior section of this road test, we have to address the elephant in the room that’s causing a bunch of Porsche owners to clutch their pearls — you no longer twist something to the left of the steering column to start the Cayenne, for the new model throws a simulated key in the bin and replaces that charming nod to antiquity with a button. I’ll admit, I had my reservations, but this might be the single best-feeling starter button in the whole automotive kingdom. It’s weighted like a serious bit of kit, as if it controlled missiles or spacecraft. Almost like it’s asking you “are you sure?” Well, with what lies under the hood, I very much am.
Duality
See, while almost every other manufacturer seems to be downsizing and electrifying, Porsche has yanked the old turbocharged V6 out of the Cayenne S and dropped in a 463-horsepower four-liter twin-turbocharged V8. Oooh yes, that gets the blood pumping. While zero-to-60 mph in a manufacturer-claimed 4.7 seconds is plenty quick, and a top speed of 170 mph is properly spicy stuff, the overarching character of this V8 is one of ease and abundance. See, 442 lb.-ft. of torque at a low 2,000 rpm has some serious benefits, in that the new Cayenne S never has to work hard. The eight-speed automatic transmission deftly swaps cogs early and often to keep engine speeds low, meaning that around town, you’re surfing a burbly wave of serenity.
Plenty of sound insulation combined with a structure more monolithic than Abe Lincoln’s monument make the roar of the city someone else’s concern. Relaxed two-chamber air springs and dampers glide over potholes and speed bumps, ensuring not a drop of your latte decants itself over even the most ravaged sections of tarmac. Add in soft secondary body motions over expansion joints, and the 2024 Porsche Cayenne S is as supple as you’d expect a six-figure luxury car to be.
However, twist the drive mode knob on the steering wheel, engage sport mode, and set the suspension to its most aggro mode, and everything changes. The calm, plush cruiser you’ve grown used to hunkers down and capitalizes the first letter in SUV. Body motions constrict like the laces on Marty McFly’s trainers, the steering weights up, the gearbox keeps the twin-turbocharged V8 on the boil, and the Cayenne S fills you with confidence you wouldn’t expect from a 4,874-pound family hauler. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like a Land Rover, it feels like a BMW 5 Series from a time before gratuitous abuse of ambient lighting, just with a higher hip point. Trail-brake it into a highway transfer ramp, then punch the throttle at the apex and let it eat, and you’ll wonder if anyone actually needs a midsize luxury sedan anymore, now that midsize luxury sedans weigh in the neighborhood of 4,100 pounds. The Porsche Cayenne S isn’t just competent, it’s engaging, but it doesn’t beat you up over it.
Value Is Relative
Alright, so the Porsche Cayenne S is practical, spacious, comfortable, surprisingly good in the corners, quick, nicely made, is reasonably upfront about data privacy, and can tow more than you’ll likely ever need to. As you’d probably expect, to get such a vast array of qualities in a single machine, you do pay dearly for it. Any of the bi-tone leather interiors sticker for $4,140, but you really ought to option one as it dramatically opens up the interior. Likewise, the Premium Plus package bundles a panoramic glass roof, matrix design headlights, a cromulent Bose sound system, four-zone climate control, heated rear seats, ventilated front seats, and adaptive cruise control together for $6,660. The $1,740 18-way adaptive seats are some of the best in the industry and worth every penny, and it’s the same deal with the $2,390 adaptive dampers, the $1,490 limited-slip rear differential, and the $1,280 rear-axle steering. In fact, if you optioned up a Cayenne S to nigh-on the level of my test car, you’d be looking at a price tag of $137,115 including freight. Mine was $149,770 in Canadian dollars, and any way you slice it, that’s not cheap.
However, one could plausibly argue that it is good value. The 2024 Porsche Cayenne S combines some of the best qualities of a midsize sports sedan and a midsize sports utility vehicle into one car, and when you look at it that way, it’s money well spent. Less expensive midsize luxury SUVs exist. More opulent midsize luxury SUVs exist. But nothing else quite has the same bandwidth as this. Welcome to the one-car solution in 2024. It’s not a sports sedan from Munich, it’s a family hauler from Stuttgart, and it’s very nearly perfect.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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It sounds wonderful. My gripe (as though I could afford even a 3 year depreciated one) is the packaging the good headlights w/ the stupid, undoubtedly noisy, glass roof. Not everything needs a moon/sun roof.
If i could find a nice used one in my area that isnt white or greyscale this will be my next car for its swiss army versatility. I will more then likely settle for a Macan since there are plenty around me and come in actual colors, unless by some miracle I can find a E450 wagon that like all the used Porsches isnt in white or grey
Not only is the price too damn high, but this vehicle sucks gasoline like it is going out of style. In this day and age our daily drivers should be more energy efficient – we are ruining the world already, let’s do our part by driving more efficient vehicles. I am not sure where the cost/benefit algorithm is for these types of cars, but anything with a sub-6 second 0-60 mph is probably good enough for a daily and you will get much better gas mileage than this sub-5 second beast.
Which Abe Lincoln monument is a monolith?
I guess fuel economy is for poors.
So, my neighbor has made the argument that the best one-car solution is actually a first-gen Cayenne Turbo, and I’m sort of inclined to agree provided someone is okay with an older car. It is plenty quick, handles great, does great in both the sun and the snow, can tow a decent amount, and can go off-road with more capability than one might expect. His Cayenne isn’t quite keeping up with me on the trails, since I have bigger off-road tires and lockers, but it certainly doesn’t embarrass itself.
Ironically, he bought the Cayenne after his 996 so he could keep the miles and wear and tear down on the sport car. Now he finds himself driving the Cayenne 95% of the time and told me his argument above as the reason he is considering selling the 996 that he never drives.
I’ve had the same thought that a gently used Cayenne is probably the only SUV I’d be happy to daily and do shenanigans with. At least the nearest European specialty shop is only 35 minutes away and the Porsche dealership is just 45 minutes south in Okemos… It’s tempting.
It’s too big.
how’s single life? if it doesn’t fit hockey bags, a couple twigs and at least one child seat it can get bent 😉
In fairness my partner and I have no kids or pets. Having said that we get tons of stuff in our Fits for 4 or 5k trips each year.
fits are awesome, when I don’t to have bring the fam and four legs I go as light as possible on two wheels.
Family member has a pre-facelift E-Hybrid and that might actually be the perfect single vehicle. Charges at home and doesn’t use a drop of gas all week but can go on longer 200+ mile trips without thinking about it. It’s really nice inside and easy on the eyes outside. And it can easily tow a car, which has happened before. If you’re not looking for a fun sports car and can afford it (I can’t lol), it may as well be perfect. Only nit I have to pick is that the regen braking feel is not great. But the modern iteration of the Cayenne is just so so good.
That’s a lotta’ poutine.
Cayenne is, in fact, always the answer.
But not always the best spice.
sometimes you need a little bhut jolokia* in the mix
*911 GT3 RS
It’s funny that this review comes up. This has been Cayenne Summer where I live. I don’t know what the local dealer(s) are doing, but I see Cayennes more than any other Porsche in my neck of the woods (and there are a lot of Porsches here) and I’m seeing them in a lot of places you wouldn’t expect to see them, and driven by people you wouldn’t expect to see driving them. Like there is a crazy regional lease deal or something.
There is nothing this does in the real world that a Mercedes E-class wagon won’t do better for half the price with twice the class.
You’re not towing anything with the E class.
I absolutely DO tow with *MY* E-class wagon (’14 S212 E350). Factory rating is 2100kg, which is entirely adequate for my suburban homeowner needs.
I have not once ever seen a Cayenne towing anything in the real world on the US side of the pond.
Maybe hit up a track day? I see quite a few living my dream (…towing a Porsche with a Porsche).
I like wagons, man, but towing a track car that’s bigger than a Donkervoort or something with one would be sketchy, even if it could technically juuuuust do it. The Cayenne hits that sweet spot for me of just big enough to be stable towing a car, but not a gargantuan pickup that’s irritating to live with.
That is a seriously edge case, and not what I would consider a real world use case. I am talking about the stuff that the typical suburban homeowner is going to do. AKA, bringing some mulch or some lumber home from Lowe’s.
And even then, a friend of mine tow dollied his Saab 9-3 convertible with his Saab 9-5 Aero wagon from OH to FL and back every year for a decade. No problems at all, as he took it slowish and easy. The most important component of towing is the squishy lump between your ears.
That’s the whole point of offering a towing package, though: towing stuff in meatspace. Most of the pickups I see here rarely make it to the Lowe’s parking lot, much less anywhere that isn’t a work parking lot or school drop-off zone. That doesn’t make the extra off-road or hauling kit worthless for the few who actually use it.
So, yeah — you can pick up mulch in an E-class, but our point was that there are still other things where a larger SUV has a bit more capability. If you don’t want to go slowish to deal with the big ol’ weight behind you, you don’t have to! That’s the beauty of having so many cars to pick from.
Again, if you need the capability, buy the capability. But 95% of the people who buy these things NEVER use the capability. And for the things they actually do with it, there are simply much better options. Because everything that makes something like a Cayenne better at off-road or towing makes it WORSE at lots of other things.
TANSTAAFL
I saw one towing a surprisingly large travel trailer this summer in an Oregon National Forest campground.
ONE – do you have any idea how many of these things I see on a daily basis living in an expensive part of Florida? Literally dozens.
You don’t count half the starting lineup of your daughter’s fancy private school soccer team?
I’d like to say going offroad a bit, but looking at the side profile, unless it has air suspension that can seriously jack it up, looks like the E-class wagon might even match it at that, or even beat it if the E-class owner doesn’t care about some minor damage.
It does have an air suspension and can be adjusted to give you 9,6 inch / 24cm ground clearance. Mercedes can’t match that, even the E-Series All-Terrain has 4 inch / 10cm less ground clearance and the basic model with air-matic is even lower.
Both people who offroad them will care.
Cayenne is lot more versatile. It can tow full 3500kg, which is nice with big trailer or hefty caravan. It has more ground clearance, so it’s better on rough roads and with high snow, and because I live in Finland, that is actually real world scenario for me. I have a VW Touareg and I’ve had many awd wagons before, BMW 5-series and VW Passat Alltrack to name a few. None of those are quite as “jack of all trades” type of vehicles, as the Touareg (and therefore, Cayenne) is. High seating position is another extra perk, easier entry with my bad back
It’s a Porsche that can tow a Porsche!
THAT’S WHY I NEED IT.
This is the way.
I’m from Maine, I know snow and rough roads. I have never needed any more than a standard car with winter tires. 3500kg isn’t enough more towing, IMHO. At that point, a much cheaper pickup truck will do that even better on this side of the pond.
Yeah, but the whole point of this article was to promote that fact that the Cayenne is a vehicle for all your needs. Also owning a cheap truck for towing isn’t “one car solution”. Yes, you don’t “need” anything more than bread and water to stay alive, but great steak will taste better. Same thing with Cayenne. Is it possible to drive through the winter with 2wd econobox? Of course. Is it more pleasurable with cayenne? No doubt. Also, ground clearance is not just for offroading, but making your life easier when driving those bad roads. I see lots of low cars weaving around rough parts of the road, when I can just easily drive the straight line.
It will be WAY better at not making V6 noises…
Adaptive cruise control is a priced option.
At this stage of tech, for a vehicle of this magnitude and price to have a priced option for something available AS STANDARD on all models of Toyota Corolla in the same model year is not borderline insulting, it is a giant two handed one finger salute right in the customers face.
…Yeah, the Porsche system is better etc, etc. but I would kind of expect that on a car that had paint options that cost as much as a base Corolla
As someone who HATES adaptive cruise control, I love the fact its still an option.
Adaptive cruise should still be standard. With a menu item to disable it. You shouldn’t be paying up the ass for 100 lines of code the company already put in every car.
Here here.
It’s long been the German way. Compared to days of yore, the standard equipment today is amazing. <shrug>
” Something that can tow a fun car to the track on weekends, do the school run on weekday mornings, eat up miles of interstate for family reunions, wade through knee-high snow drifts, be a bubble of calm in gridlock, and still have the chops to make you want to tear down on-ramps? ”
You just described a late 60’s/early 70’s Ford LTD/Mercury Park Lane with a 429 and a spare set of snow tires.
Perfect! And everything that makes a vehicle better offroad makes it worse for towing.
I get the appeal of a one car solution, I really do, but it’s asking an awful lot when I could buy both a Tahoe and a Corvette for the price.
I wonder who the person that can drop $140,000 on an SUV but doesn’t have room to specialize their vehicles is.
Someone who lives in a city like LA, Manhattan or Tokyo and only has one parking space.
At that point you won’t be doing most of the things that this car can supposedly do.
What it really does is shout that you can afford one.
You’d be amazed at what mundane scenarios City-Dwellers get up to from time to time.
Right? I live in an urban area and use a lot of my GX’s capability–be it the trips to the mountain (in both summer and winter) using the extra seating, and hauling crap. Yet me and my wife both prefer the E91 for the vast majority of driving.
The 2-3 who actually need the capability should acquire it. The rest are posers, and using vehicles that probably aren’t really all that suitable for their environment in order to have abilities that they will never, ever use.
My old neighborhood was full of wealthy folks in high-rise condos, and Cayennes/Macans were pretty popular around there. I could see how it would make sense if you had the cash for a six-figure car but your living situation didn’t allow for more than one car.
Or someone who wants a swiss-army knife of a car and doesn’t want to deal with the headache of multi-car ownership. I have two small kids so a rear seat with car-seats is a must. As much as I find myself wanting a secondary “fun” car with two seats and only 2 doors, I realize that I need to be ready for parent duty 24/7 and this is where a fun SUV like this becomes very useful.
Wait till the carpools start. Having the ability to pop in a few more kids in a 3rd row because a pretty sweet “nice to have”.
Bingo. That was the reason for giving up a manual sedan for a CUV. More is sometimes more.
Loads of people out there who don’t have the space, don’t want to be bothered with multiple cars or who just don’t care about the extra performance. Our Q7 was an absolute blast in the NC mountains after driving us up there. With AWD, a tuned SC V6, slightly lowered air suspension, adaptive dampers and rear wheel steering it was way more fun than it should have been in the twisties, and with 295’s all around it has way more grip than I’m willing to exploit on a public road. And that’s a 7 year old Audi. Which, while they share a “platform”, is certainly not a brand new Porsche. There is a ton of value in having one car to do it all and the Cayenne sales figures prove it. Hell, unless you need a Tahoe for the extra space/BOF stuff and a Corvette for track days, buying two cars when one can do everything you need and make you happy is gluttonous.