PORSCHE CAYENNE GTS

Porsche has market-researched it to death, but we expect that only two kinds of people will buy the Cayenne GTS: those who will love it and those who will come to hate it. It's the grip- and agility-rich Cayenne that the Porsche faithful will love, or it will be resold within months by people who simply wanted to be seen in the best Cayenne there is but were ultimately unable to live with the tradeoffs Porsche made to get it there.

It's faster, even though the torque is unchanged (369 lb-ft at 3500). Porsche shortened the final-drive ratio 15 percent for faster acceleration. And it wanted faster acceleration because the GTS's real advantages are much more difficult to sum up in a sound bite.

So the big unit will punch from 0 to 62 mph in 6.5 seconds, which is nothing like what the twin-turbo Porsche Cayenne can muster but is 0.5 second faster than the Cayenne S. It will run out to 156 mph and gets there willingly.With 405 hp, it's only slightly more powerful than a Cayenne S. Porsche squeezed another 300 rpm and 20 hp out of the naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V8 by pushing the peak power up to 6500 rpm. The key to that was bigger throttle bodies (up in internal diameter by 0.24 inch).

But the crux of the GTS is not its engine or its acceleration. Torn between giggling at the Cayenne's enormous profits and being stung by criticism that its chassis' lack of 911-esque purity meant it didn't deserve to wear the badge, Porsche finally let the engineers loose on a path to counter the negativity. They lowered it, slapped enormous 21-inchers on it and tied the whole thing down with the stiffest and most sophisticated suspension yet seen on a Cayenne. Which means more grip and agility. Porsche has lowered the truck by 0.94 inch; it drops itself another 0.35 inch at the lowest setting you can manually select and then sinks another 0.20 inch at speeds beyond 130 mph. It also sits on 295/35 R-21 Michelins (with tacked-on 0.55-inch plastic wheel arches to contain them), and the thing sticks to the road like peanut butter in a dry mouth.

The trouble comes when you're not pushing anymore, because the GTS's abilities are all there for the taking, all the time. Regardless of Porsche giving you three damper settings, you can't avoid its too-hard suspension. Over low-amplitude, high-frequency bumps, on patchwork roads or even around town, ride quality is uncomfortable, bordering on awful. It's not vertically uncomfortable, though. Oddly, it disturbs your equilibrium with lateral head-toss (as the engineers call it) where conventional Porsches are supple. Even on smooth winding roads, the systems used to flatten the body become jerky on the neck and the torso. The systems are working for your grip, not your comfort, and there's always 4906 pounds to control.

By all means, though, try a Cayenne GTS. It's a jet, and, in corners, it works. Just be absolutely certain you know what you're getting into. BASE PRICE: $69,300

© Source: autoweek
We need your comments below >>