Cayenne range expands

The first generation Porsche Cayenne was an awkward looking thing, its ‘911 meets Volkswagen Touareg’ styling never really working from any angle.



Thankfully the new model, which was unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, hasn’t inherited the unfortunate appearance of its predecessor.



Now Porsche is offering two entry level variants, both powered by six cylinder engines. The first, simply called Cayenne, has a 3.6 litre petrol V6 that produces 296 bhp (220 kW / 300 PS). Costing £41,404 in the UK, it comes with a six-speed manual gearbox, will accelerate from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 7.5 seconds and reach a maximum of 143 mph (230 km/h).

For an extra £1,760 the eight-speed Tiptronic S automatic gearbox can be specified. While this slightly increases the 0-62 mph time to 7.8 seconds, it slashes in-gear acceleration: 50-75 mph (80-120 km/h) takes just 5.4 seconds, compared to 9.6 seconds for the manual car. Another benefit of the auto ’box is marginally reduced fuel consumption, with a combined figure of 28.5 mpg (9.9 l/100km) versus 25.2 mpg (11.2 l/100km). Carbon dioxide emissions are also improved, decreasing from 263 g/km to 236 g/km.



But anyone who’s really bothered about economy and emissions will probably go for the second addition to the line-up, the £44,178 Cayenne Diesel. Now, there will probably be some people who still think a 3.0 litre V6 diesel in a Porsche is an anathema, but it’s essential if the Cayenne is to sell in any volume in Europe.

With 236 bhp (176 kW / 240 PS), the Diesel is unsurprisingly less powerful than its petrol equivalent. However, it boasts 550 Nm of torque and comes equipped with Tiptronic S as standard (a manual option isn’t available). Consequently, performance manages to be similar to the petrol version, yet it will achieve a combined 38.2 mpg (7.4 l/100km) while producing 195 g/km of CO2.



It seems clear that Porsche had one particular rival in their sights when engineering the Cayenne Diesel: the BMW X5 xDrive30d, which costs £43,980 with SE spec or £48,315 in M Sport guise. Either that, or it’s an incredible coincidence how closely matched it is to the X5. They both use the same amount of fuel and emit the same levels of CO2. Their 0-62 mph (100 km/h) times are similar, the X5 recording 7.6 seconds compared to the 7.8 seconds of the Cayenne, while the Porsche will do 135 mph (218 km/h) against the 130 mph (209 km/h) of the BMW.



Setting aside the threat posed by the X5, the elephant in the room for the Cayenne Diesel is the new Volkswagen Touareg. This recently-launched close relation of the Porsche shares its engine and transmission, and acceleration, top speed, fuel consumption and emissions are all exactly the same. With prices for the Touareg starting from £38,255, it‘ll be up to prospective buyers to decide how much the badge, image and better dynamics of the Cayenne are worth.