Porsche Cayenne Turbo E3 generation previewed

KUALA LUMPUR: The Porsche Cayenne E3 generation was launched in the Malaysian market back in July but is only offered in two trim levels - Cayenne and the Cayenne S. However, at the moment, SDAP (Sime Darby Auto Performance) has previewed the better and more powerful version of the car, the Cayenne Turbo.

At the heart, this new Porsche Cayenne Turbo has a 0.8-litre smaller engine compared to the previous E2 generation. However, the new 4.0-litre V8 engine with two turbochargers makes a good 550 PS of power and 770 Nm of torque. The power is sent down to all the wheels via a Tiptronic 8-speed automatic gearbox.

This engine is good enough to power the car to 100 kmph from a standstill in just 4.1 seconds, which makes it around a second faster than the Cayenne S and more than two seconds faster than the base model. It can hit a top speed of 286 kmph, around 20 kmph more than the S.

There are some amazing tech bits available, like the three-chamber adaptive air suspension along with PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control) and PAA (Porsche Active Aerodynamics). Aesthetically, it even looks more imposing and sportier than the other variants, thanks to the rugged front inlets. Even the four exhaust tips at the rear are angular now and not the rounded ones as seen on the Cayenne S.

As of now, this is just a preview for the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and not the launch. At the moment, the base model of Cayenne is priced at RM 745,000 while the price of the Cayenne S starts from RM 890,000. Hence, the Turbo variant is expected to be a bit more expensive than that.