Porsche Cayenne Turbo: Part 4 of the Super SUV Showdown
After gunning the Lamborghini Urus, the Bentley Bentayga and the Mercedes-AMG G 63, it was time for the Porsche Cayenne Turbo in the fourth and final part of our Super SUV showdown. A couple of months back, I bombed up and down our favourite driving road in the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and declared it to be faster than a sports car. Declared it on Twitter, Instagram, on the cover of this magazine. Faster than a sports car I insisted to Aninda who’d driven the Urus a few days before this shoot. “But the Urus has 100bhp more”, protested our assistant editor, only to be met by my V12-engined bulldozer-cum-steamroller.
Super SUV showdown part one - Lamborghini Urus
“Nothing can be faster than the Porsche Cayenne Turbo”
I hollered over the increasingly desperate pleas of mercy from passengers strapped in the Turbo experiencing roller-coaster-level Gs. The speed the Porsche Cayenne Turbo carries through corners, the utter disdain it throws at lumpy broken roads, once you experience it, you just cannot imagine anything going any quicker. It is performance that makes me, a shameless Porschephile, smile. Heck, I have such a soft corner for the brand that I even went to work for the company thinking that would be the best job in the world (spoiler alert, no). Its motorsport roots and engineering brilliance I absolutely adore. Everything they make is awesome to drive – maybe not to look at – but awesome to drive. And their engineering is next level. The Lamborghini Urus Aninda’s talking about? The Bentley Bentayga? All run the MLB-Evo platform that was developed by Porsche. Porsche is the centre of excellence of the mighty Volkswagen Group. And since they, effectively, own the Group they can do what they want, down to ruining their own cousin’s Le Mans party and, soon, Formula E party.
Super SUV showdown part two - Bentley Bentayga
Does the Porsche Cayenne Turbo beat them all?
Aninda, though, is a smart guy. He seeded the idea of this story, made sure many of my hairs turned white sorting out the logistics. (Toughest part of my job? Getting all the cars together at the same place, same day, same time – and yet we missed the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT by 48 hours). And at the end of the day had me admitting that the Urus is quicker. Not only because it has 100 more horses but because it is tied down tighter. Which scrubs the Cayenne Turbo from my dream garage. Except, no.
Unless you’re the kind who wears red pants that end above your ankles are you seriously going to drive to work in an Urus everyday? How wealthy are you for the Bentayga to be your daily driver? And please, don’t even try; the G ain’t for the daily grind. Nope. You want a Super SUV to use daily you buy a Cayenne Turbo. Porsche even do great interiors these days. And it is the cheapest in this lot, or more appropriately the best value. Compared to the others it is positively understated. You can leave it parked by the side of the road and not worry about it getting destroyed. You can be driven to work comfortably. It has a badge that you’ll carry on your t-shirt. And when the fancy takes you it will hunker down and rocket up expressways and mountain roads at a pace that’s stupidly stratospheric.
Super SUV showdown part three - Mercedes-AMG G 63
It may not have the delicacy and playfulness of a 911 or 718 but fact is, with roads in India being horridly inconsistent, the Cayenne Turbo will be faster by virtue of not having to slow down for anything. It won’t scrape over anything and won’t be bullied by anything. With a mere 542bhp you may dispute it carrying the Super SUV tag but there’s no doubt about one fact. On the roads we drive on every day, the Cayenne Turbo is faster than a sports car.
Click for all parts of the Super SUV showdown - Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga, Mercedes-AMG G 63
