We had the Cayenne at Harris Hill Road today. And yes, I took it out on track (of
course, how could I not?). In short, the vehicle is well balanced, has good feedback, and is reasonable on track. It's clearly not a sports car, but it also definitely earns the Porsche name. I had the vehicle in "Sport" mode, with the suspension at "Sport" stiffness (the middle setting) and the stability/traction control off. So, the beast...
The engine: 240 hp, 406 lb-ft torque, ~4500 rpm redline. The torque pulls it out of corners well, but it's not fast. The lack of top end compared with a petrol engine is noticeable, but it doesn't really harm the fun (at least not on this track, but this isn't a power track anyway).
Transmission: 8 speed automatic (torque converter). It's from Japan, I believe an Aisin transmission. I started with it in Sport/automatic, but street driving had trained it to be rather conservative, so I switched over to manual mode rather quickly. Porsche has finally switched to using a proper set of paddles on the steering wheels - down paddle on the left, up paddle on the right, moving with the wheel (since hands are nearly always at 9 & 3 when performance driving). I've driven a few different paddle shift cars, and any delay in this transmission is no more than others, so it felt intuitive. It stayed locked up well and I had what I wanted on demand. It's no PDK, but it's not your father's automatic, either. I'm happy with it. An added note on the transmission: It learned while in manual mode. As I pulled into the pit, I moved it back to automatic, keeping the Sport setting. Now, it was shifting at high RPM, staying in low gears. It'd be interesting to see how it'd do in automatic mode after a learning period.
Tires: It's on Michelin Latitude Tour HP - All season light truck tire. These have little grip, have even less grip if they get moderately hot, and make a good deal of noise when pushed. Feedback from them is... Perhaps ok-ish? They're not very communicative, but they're not numb, either. A reasonable middle ground, and appropriate for their intended use. The tires overheated, which is what brought me off the track. I don't feel right complaining about the tires on a vehicle bought to tow, but these tires are not up to track use.
Brakes: I can't tell you much about 'em. The tires were the limiting factor - there was some feedback from the brakes, but it's hard to get more than the tires want to give. The brake rotors did not get hot. It's certainly has plenty of braking available, and I wouldn't be concerned about the brakes, even with much better tires.
Suspension: This car has PASM with Air Suspension, an upgrade from the traditional steel suspension that is standard on the diesel. I ran it on the "Sport" setting, which is the middle stiffness. It absorbed the bumps on H2R fantastically - I forgot they were there. The vehicle had some body roll, but not a huge amount. It was just enough roll to communicate, not enough to bother passengers. I'm quite pleased with this suspension. As an added note: This vehicle does not have
PDCC nor
PTV - they're not available on the diesel - but in theory both should improve handling.
Handling balance/tuning: Well done, Porsche. In a steady state turn, it's neutral. Not understeer, not oversteer, just... steer. With a little weight transfer to the front, the thing rotated - just the right amount of slip from the rear. More weight transfer to the front meant more rotation. And when it was time to straighten out, rolling on the throttle caused the front to slip (understeer), just as expected and wanted. It may be a big SUV tow vehicle, but the handling balance is spot on.
Overall: The Cayenne isn't a thriller on the track, nor is it the joy of a Miata. But it's reasonably fun. It's also easy to drive on track. By that, I don't mean it's easy to maintain control (though it is). I mean it's low effort. Driving a car like a GT3, an M3, or a prepped Miata on track, you work hard, you sweat, you wear down and tire out. Driving the Cayenne on track was not tiring at all. It felt like the car and I could do that all day, if only the tires would have held up. I came off track grinning - what more can I say?