Porsche Cayenne Coupe 2019 Review - International

Graz in Austria is a big trip to see a new tailgate on a Porsche Cayenne. So it’s a good thing that there is more substance to match the style of the Porsche Cayenne Coupe in yodel country.

The back end of the sports car company’s SUV flagship is completely new, and nothing says it more than the flip-up rear spoiler that has been added to restore some high-speed stability -- and provide a tenuous visual link to road rockets like the wings-and-things Porsche 911 GT3.

But there is even more to the new Porsche Cayenne Coupe, which is expected to grow overall Cayenne sales in Australia while becoming the preferred purchase for around 20 per cent of the total customer bank.

“Only the hood and the front fenders are the same,” the head of body engineering for the newcomer, Andreas Schramm, reveals to carsales.

“Everything is new, from the body-in-white outwards. Even the windscreen is laid back.”

Buyers will be paying at least $10,000 extra for the new body over the standard SUV, but Porsche Cars Australia says (predictably) that there is more than enough extra standard equipment to compensate for the price hike.

The luxury boost includes a full-length panoramic sunroof, although buyers can choose instead to pay extra for a carbon fibre top for the first time outside the sports car line-up.

Pricing has already been announced. The bottom line is $128,400 for a plain-James Cayenne, rising through $166,600 for the Cayenne S to $254,000 for the Turbo Coupe.

The introduction of the world’s first luxury SUV coupe, the brutal BMW X6, was the answer to a question that no-one had asked.

But that was then, and coupes are now.

As more and more buyers look for something that’s at least remotely stylish in the big-box class, the key players have been forced to follow the X6 path, baiting shoppers and also preventing defections (the X5 was the test case and sparked the X6) by people looking for something shinier in a competitor’s showroom.

Audi and Benz now have SUV coupes, BMW has migrated anti-box designs through its range, and at the top of the pile is the all-edges Lamborghini Urus.

So it’s the turn of Porsche.

It has already been halfway down the path with the medium-sized Macan (but has sworn off a ‘full’ coupe midsizer), which is more rounded than most other five-seater SUVs, but the Cayenne is something else.

“The coupe-like SUV segment is growing, against all initial expectations, thanks in particular to the increasing range offered by competitors,” says Porsche’s Australian marketing boss, Toni Andreevski.

“The new offering will give Porsche the opportunity to both appeal to new customers and satisfy long-standing loyal owners yearning for a Porsche take on this new segment. It retains typical SUV qualities like a high seating position, flexible interior space, all-wheel drive and typical Porsche design, but is more focussed in its muscular design, sporty driving performance and emotion.

“For Australia, as usual, the Coupe comes equipped with a higher level of standard equipment on top of the global Coupe-specific features which set the Coupe apart from the regular Cayenne.”

The Porsche Cayenne Coupe was always part of the plan for the third-generation Cayenne. Development work was done in parallel, even if nothing was said at the time the boxy five-door hit Australia.

“The third generation was developed from scratch in the twin-track approach. The focus was placed on even more design and chassis dynamics,” says Porsche’s Cayenne spokesman, Wolfgang Putsches.

So the top hat shape shares a common theme and the two cars sit together as comfortably as non-identical twins. But the Coupe is wider, by 18 millimetres, in both the rear track and bodywork as it swells towards the rear hatch.

The biggest change is one you might not expect, and it's in the back. The seat has been dropped by a full 30 millimetres and the standard layout is a luxurious two-place package that puts a console-style break between the passengers.

Porsche has avoided the early mistake of the X6 by making a three-place bench available from the start. In contrast, BMW was forced to react to customer complaints.

The Coupe’s carrying capacity is almost identical to the SUV, “within a few litres” says Schramm, but only to the top of the luggage cover. Above that, the swept-down roof shape swallows some space.

The front of the cabin is the same as the SUV, it has the same luxury and safety systems, and the engine choices are familiar with a single-turbo V6 in the Cayenne, a twin-turbo V6 in the Cayenne S, and a twin-turbo V8 in the Cayenne Turbo.

A plug-in hybrid will be available, but not yet.

So it’s no surprise that the overall weight of the Coupe is virtually the same, “within a few grams” according to Schramm.

Lots of coupes have less drag and offer better speed than equivalent sedans or wagons, but not this one. It’s too big for wind-tunnel success, although Porsche has done its best including the rear wing.

“The aero is almost the same. What you gain with the shape you lose with the extra width,” says Schramm.

“Also, the coupe is always more like a wing, too. So you have to regain the downforce. And this costs drag.”

The new look starts with a windscreen pushed back by around two degrees, which mean lots of work for the body crew.

“We had to re-make the front doors, because of the shape of the roof. And all the glass is new,” he says.

The car is 21 millimetres longer overall while the roof is shorter by 20 and, if a buyer takes it in carbon-fibre (a first for the Cayenne), it takes 21kg and also gives a (very slight) improvement (lowering) to the centre of gravity.

The glass in the hatch is flatter and Porsche has moved the rear number plate into the bumper in a move it claims “lowers the visual optics” of the tail.

So the car is longer, lower and wider. A familiar approach when adding style.

The adaptive rear wing is worth a mention, because it has something new. Apart from retracting down to sit flush with the rear hatch, there is also a halfway ‘cleaning’ position before it goes all the way up. That’s because Porsche was worried that the fully-up position, which lifts it 135 millimetres above the body at more than 90 km/h, might cause a gouge hazard for shorter people and children

The price premium over the standard SUV version for the Porsche Cayenne Coupe starts at circa $11,000, drops slightly to $10,000 for the Cayenne S, then jumps to around $13,000 on the Turbo.

but...

Globally, added standard equipment over the SUV includes the Sports Chrono package and sunroof, but Australian buyers get even more.

Australian-delivered Porsche Cayenne Coupes are equipped standard with speed-sensitive power steering, 20-inch alloys and Porsche Active Stability Management on the Cayenne, while moving up brings metallic paint, 21-inch alloys, BOSE surround sound, lane change assist, adaptive air suspension, surround-view cameras and, eventually, 22-inch alloys on the Turbo.

Optional equipment includes a sports exhaust on the Turbo, and a lightweight sports package that includes a carbon diffuser with carbon and alcantara (fake suede) in the cabin.

The roads in Austria are twisty and super-smooth, with snow-capped peaks on the horizon.

So conditions are ideal for a fun run but not much of a pointer for Australia. There is barely a ripple in the bitumen and no sign of the coarse-chip covering which resonates so badly though so many car cabins Down Under.

Even the Turbo Coupe, running on 23-inch alloys, sits calmly and is nailed to the road in corners. With 404Nm and 770Nm it really punches out of turns, but there is zero change of testing the claimed top speed of 286km/h.

Porsche has also equipped all of the preview cars with air suspension, which many buyers in the $100,000-plus bracket will happily take as an extra cost option but can easily mask any shortcomings in the car.

So it’s good, but there is no way to know exactly how good.

Generally the performance of the Porsche Cayenne Coupe mirrors the SUV, although the basic V6 engine sounds and feels a little coarse in a car which promises more style and grace.

If the extra 18 millimetres in the rear makes any different to the handling, I could not feel it.

Porsche also set drive loops that avoided freeways (and definitely no chance for unlimited German autobahn running) so it was hard to assess the way the car will feel at boring Aussie 110km/h speeds. A quick sneak onto a short piece of freeway showed the car is nicely quiet, as expected.

The impact of the new Porsche becomes obvious in less than five seconds at the engine of my final sprint in the Cayenne Coupe Turbo.

That’s how long it takes to eyeball a Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe in some quick downhill esses and clock it against the Cayenne.

The Benz looks big and bloated. Like someone has over-inflated a kids’ jumping castle. It looks, being honest, try-hard and ponderous.

In contrast, the Porsche Cayenne Coupe is wafting along and looking good.

Not great, not nearly as ‘look at me’ as a Lamborghini Urus, but smoother and noticeably more stylish than the five-door SUV.

Is that enough?

For some it will be much more than enough.

*Fuel and CO2 figures for SUV model