Used 2015 Porsche Cayenne

Wearing the Porsche badge on its liftgate means the 2015 Cayenne SUV has to live up to the legendary performance expected of every Porsche. With rapid acceleration, impressive steering and braking plus enough luxury to please the most demanding connoisseur, the Cayenne for 2015 is the perfect blend of family wagon and gut-punching performer. Available in a number of trims ranging from quick to potent, the Cayenne can tow up to 7,716 pounds and still leave most sports cars in its dust. The Land Rover Range Rover Sport may be better off road, while the BMW X5 and Mercedes M-Class offer comparable features at a lower price, but none of these competitors has an equal to the new S E-Hybrid, the world’s first plug-in luxury hybrid SUV.

The 2015 Porsche Cayenne SUV is the most likable version to date. It’s second to none in the areas of acceleration, handling and that tactile interface between driver and machine so perfected by the masters at Porsche. The Cayenne Turbo S can vault to 60 mph in a scant 3.8 seconds, while the newest member of the Cayenne family, the S E-Hybrid, makes that same run in just 5.4 seconds yet returns an estimated 47 mpge in hybrid electric mode. With the loss of the base model goes the manual-transmission option, but the 8-speed Tiptronic automatic never disappoints. But if you are looking for the perfect blend of power, economy and price, we think the obvious choice is the Cayenne Diesel. Copious torque and near 30 mpg on the highway (we saw better numbers in our real-world testing) make this the most livable of the Cayenne quadruplets.

Inside the 2015 Porsche Cayenne are sumptuous, finely stitched leather and overlays of wood and metal. The look strongly recalls the up-market Porsche Panamera sedan. Rear-seat passengers enjoy a sliding and reclining seat and a pair of LCD screens in the front headrests. Like all of Porsche’s current offerings, the Cayenne’s cockpit is filled with buttons, knobs and switches, and while that might sound complex, most of us still find operating conventional controls far less distracting than sifting through multiple on-screen menus.

An abundance of muscular curves and a forward-leaning rear window convey the Cayenne’s purpose of speed. Big brake calipers peeking through the wheel spokes also relay this Porsche’s sporting ambitions. Black calipers denote the Diesel model, silver the Cayenne S and Cayenne S E-Hybrid, and red the high-performance Turbo models. The high-end ceramic brake option (standard on Turbo S) sports a yellow-painted setup. Up front, we like the larger trapezoidal grille of the Turbo models and the four exhaust outlets at the rear.

PORSCHE TORQUE VECTORING PLUS
The Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) system improves cornering by sending more power to the outside rear wheel when rounding turns, thus helping the Cayenne better obey input from the steering wheel. This feature and Active Suspension and Dynamic Chassis Control help the Cayenne respond like a lithe sports car.

CERAMIC COMPOSITE BRAKES
Nine grand may seem like a lot of money for better stopping power, less fade and longer rotor life, but it’s really the bright yellow rotors that signal to the world you have the smarts and the cash to spring for the best brakes money can buy.

Porsche’s Cayenne SUV for 2015 comes in five trim levels: Diesel, S, S E-Hybrid, Turbo and Turbo S. The Cayenne Diesel includes all-wheel drive (AWD), water-repellent front side windows, a height-adjustable power liftgate, rain-sensing windshield wipers and a 10-speaker audio system with a 7-inch touch screen. For improved fuel economy, all Cayennes include a start/stop function that automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop, then restarts it when the brake pedal is released. Safety comes in the form of six airbags, a full suite of electronic stability aids, and complimentary roadside assistance through the duration of the warranty.

Anyone who wishes to take the Cayenne’s already impressive handling capability to another level should opt for Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control. This real-time roll-control system adjusts sway-bar loading in response to conditions and selected drive mode. If your tastes run to exceptional sound quality, you can choose the 1,000-watt, 16-speaker Burmester audio system option. In-vehicle connectivity, formerly a Porsche weakness, is well covered in the 2015 Cayenne via the Aha Radio smartphone application, which offers a variety of customizable news, music and social networking services.

Five engine choices are available in the 2015 Porsche Cayenne SUV, each representing a distinct trim but all equipped with AWD and an 8-speed automatic transmission. The Cayenne Diesel has a highly efficient, torque-rich turbocharged V6. Moving up to the Cayenne S brings a 420-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6. The Cayenne S E-Hybrid employs a 333-horsepower supercharged 3.0-liter V6 with a synchronous electric motor adding another 95 horsepower to the total. At the top of the line are the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Turbo S delivering a whopping 520 and 570 horsepower, respectively, from a twin-turbocharged 4.8-liter V8.

3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V6 (Cayenne S)
420 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm
406 lb-ft of torque @ 1,350-4,500 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 17/24 mpg

3.0-liter turbocharged diesel V6 (Cayenne Diesel)
240 horsepower @ 3,500-4,000 rpm
406 lb-ft of torque @ 1,750-2,500 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 20/29 mpg

3.0-liter supercharged V6 + electric motor (Cayenne S E-Hybrid)
416 horsepower @ 5,500 rpm (net system horsepower)
435 lb-ft of torque @ 1,250-4,000 rpm (net system torque)
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 22 mpg (combined), 47 mpge in pure electric mode

4.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 (Cayenne Turbo)
520 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm
553 lb-ft of torque @ 2,250-4,000 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 14/21 mpg

4.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 (Cayenne Turbo S)
570 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm
590 lb-ft of torque @ 2,250-4,400 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: NA