2021 Porsche Cayenne

Porsche owes its current standing to the SUV. From the first year of the midsize, two-row Cayenne in 2003, it has been Porsche’s top seller in Porsche’s biggest market, the U.S., until the more compact Macan SUV took over in 2016. Currently two of every three Porsche sales are SUVs. Sorry, Porsche old guard. 

In the third year of its third generation, the 2021 Porsche Cayenne stands at the pinnacle of premium midsize SUVs that handle like sports cars. There are more than a dozen upscale midsize competitors, but when it comes to performance SUVs it’s Cayenne versus the BMW X5, with Mercedes-Benz GLE and Audi Q7 in the hunt, in that order. The Genesis GV80 is the best all-around SUV for most buyers, but the cachet of Genesis is still catching up to reality. Only a Cayenne leaves passersby wondering if they’re seeing a $200,000 not $75,000 model. A loaded GV80 has trouble topping Cayenne’s base price. Vehicles such as Lexus RX (the premium midsize best-seller), Lincoln Nautilus and Cadillac Escalade live in a different world where performance is not paramount. 

The Cayenne (194 inches long) is a delightful car to drive and to ride in. The seats are supportive and there’s good legroom in the back. The interior trim looks spectacular, more so by adding premium seats, leathers and headliners. Want the dash and door panels in leather? That’ll be $2,590. Add $1,380 for grab handles done similarly. 

A better investment than more leather is the performance and technology packages. Some packages provide the driver assists Honda and Toyota make standard on $20,000 cars. The Premium Package ($6,470 on the base Cayenne, about $4,000 on higher trims), adds a panoramic roof, heated front seats, auto-dimming mirrors, Bose surround sound, lane departure warning, ambient lighting, 14-way power seats and comfort access, which gives the ability to unlocks the doors and start the ignition with the key in pocket or bag. 

The Cayenne’s Assistance Package ($6,250) has surround-view cameras, a head-up display, night vision and InnoDrive, which is predictive adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assistance with lane centering. For vacations and long weekend trips, you want this. With a destination programmed into navigation, InnoDrive will slow the car approaching a turn or traffic circle and adjust the speed of Cayenne hybrids to improve economy. 

The air suspension ($4,170) adjusts ride height four inches, to a maximum height of 9.6 inches, and allows water fording up to 20.6 inches deep. It also cushions the ride in highway driving. It’s required for the off-roading package. 

For 2021, there are nearly a dozen Cayenne trim lines, or model variants—a lot for a vehicle that in the past decade has sold 10,000 to 20,000 units a year in the U.S. Each Cayenne has a coupe counterpart with swoopier rear lines (aptly named the Cayenne Coupe) that costs $2,500 to $4,300 more. Every Cayenne comes with all-wheel-drive, an eight-speed automatic transmission and a V6 or V8 turbocharged engine.  

The base Cayenne has a 335-horsepower, 3.0-liter V6 engine, a 5.9-second zero-to-60 and a top speed of 152 mph that Porsche calls a “top track speed.” The Cayenne E-Hybrid pairs the same V6 engine with a 134-horsepower electric motor for 455 combined horsepower, 17 miles of battery-only range and 21 mpg EPA combined fuel economy, 1 mpg better than the non-hybrid. The Cayenne S has a twin-turbo V6 with 434 horsepower. 

Cayenne GTS, the trim line tested by Forbes Wheels and priced at $122,060 with 13 options, has a twin-turbo V8, 453 horsepower and a 4.5-second 0-60 mph time. Its base price is $108,650, including the mandatory $1,350 shipping fee. The most noteworthy option was the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control ($3,590) that reduces body roll in brisk cornering and instability on rough roads. The GTS orients more toward handling than the raw speed of higher-end Porsches.

The Cayenne GTS also has a soft, black dashboard facing that allowed not a single reflection to bounce off the windshield and distract the driver. Other than the glossy, 12.3-inch center stack display and console plate and buttons, most of the cockpit’s styling was understated with no reflections.

Cayenne Turbo has a 4.0-liter V8, twin turbochargers, 541 horsepower and a 3.9-second zero-to-60 time. Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid adds the 134-horsepower electric motor for a combined 670 horsepower and a 3.6-second sprint to 60 mph. 

For 2022, Porsche will add a range-topping Cayenne Turbo GT, with 631 horsepower and 3.1 seconds zero-to-60 time. Price will be $180,800. Also for 2022, the base Cayenne price will increase 2%, or $1,500, to $70,350, including shipping. 

While Porsches are complex cars, they’re also reliable. The 2021 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study ranks the Porsche brand behind only Lexus on three-year reliability. 

Porsche Cayenne sales are no doubt helped by Porsche-loyalist shoppers who shopped the compact Porsche Macan and found it’s even more short on space than the Cayenne, so they’re forced to move up the model line. The compact BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC in comparison don’t lose as many people to X5 and GLE. Still, for buyers with means to afford a Porsche, the Cayenne will be a highly satisfying acquisition.