If you’re not growing tired of reading about luxury SUVs based on the Cayenne’s MLB-Evo Volkswagen Group platform, you probably haven’t been paying enough attention to the pages of Autocar recently. We can only apologise for the monotony.
The third-generation Cayenne does at least provide a bit of respite by becoming the first SUV of its particular family to adopt the short-wheelbase version of that platform. As such, it’s 100mm shorter between the axles than an Audi Q7 and Q8 and a Bentley Bentayga (shorter still than a Lamborghini Urus).
Among its immediate relations, only the Urus has a lower roofline and, at manufacturer’s claimed kerb weight figures at least, only the Urus is lighter. Our test car tipped the scales at 2307kg full of fuel and with plenty of options on board, making Porsche’s 2250kg kerb weight claim entirely believable.
The car is constructed out of a body-in-white made chiefly of aluminium, with more of the stuff accounting for its bonnet, tailgate, doors, roof and front wings. It sits on aluminium-rich multi-link suspension configurations at both axles, the Turbo using wider axle tracks than its sibling models. And whereas lesser Cayennes get steel coil suspension and passive dampers as standard and three-chamber height-adjustable air suspension and PASM adaptive dampers as an option, the Turbo gets the trick air springs as standard.
