An Even Sportier SUV

Say hello to the Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupé

Imagine the enthusiasm at Porsche with the news that SUVs now need to be even sportier. Seventeen years since the relatively late-to-the-party arrival of its first SUV, together with its smaller Macan sibling, Porsche’s raised ride height family represented 68% of the brand’s 2019 annual sales.

So successful has the Cayenne proven that it currently outsells all the other Volkswagen Group products with which it shares its MLBevo platform, including the Touareg and Audi Q7. Touted by BMW with its

X6, an intriguing niche within the large

SUV segment has seen the concept of a swept-back roofline complementing these family-carrying packages. While admittedly compromising ultimate levels of versatility, this new profile nevertheless introduces a sense of poise and presence aimed at a buyer keen to stand out on the school run.

For a brand like Porsche that prides itself in driving dynamics and, indeed, poise, the news that its SUVs needed to be more lowslung and charismatic would have been met with knowing smiles.

Introduced in 2018, a Coupé body style is now offered across the breadth of the now third-generation Cayenne range – including the alluring GTS derivative.

MIDDLE GROUND

Positioned between the Cayenne S and mighty 404 kW Turbo model, the

GTS badge has quickly established itself within a modern Porsche portfolio as the derivative offering buyers a compelling blend of everyday usability with upgraded performance potential – both aesthetically and below the skin.

Distinguishable via its standard Sport Design package, both the Cayenne and Cayenne Coupé GTS models gain darkened 21-inch RS Spyder alloy wheels that complement tinted head- and tail lamp clusters, black window surrounds and badging, as well as black exhaust tailpipes.

The Coupé sits both lower and wider on the road than its traditional SUV-based sibling. A 20 mm lower roofline ends in a tailgate bookended by a fixed spoiler up top and active wing that stretches the breadth of a rear haunch 18 mm wider than on the SUV. Riding on PASM (Porsche active suspension management)-assisted steel springs as standard, the GTS sits 20 mm lower to the ground than the S derivative.

Fitted with a panoramic sunroof as standard, the GTS-appropriate upgrades continue inside with a healthy helping of Alcantara featured on such surfaces as the standard sports seats, headlining, console and door trims. Offset with brushed aluminium highlights and included within

a suitably upmarket and impressively wellassembled interior, the GTS feels purposebuilt to attack the road ahead.

RETURN OF THE V8

Where the previous-generation

Cayenne GTS employed a turbocharged V6 powertrain, the combination of customer demand and ever-evolving technologies aimed at efficiency has seen the welcome return of a V8 engine to this package. With its bi-turbocharger plumbing nestled neatly within the vee of the block, the new GTS models deliver 338 kW and 620 N.m of torque available between 1 800 and

4 500 r/min to all four wheels via an eightspeed automatic transmission.

Complemented by a standard sport exhaust system, a welcome bark and

subsequent purposeful burble greets a turn of the ignition key before the volume of corresponding howls pops and crackles increases with the regulation of the throttle pedal.

Able to cruise with only four cylinders engaged, the Cayenne GTS Coupé is nevertheless able to blast (with the optional Sport Chrono package fitted) from standstill to 100 km/h in just 4,5-seconds.

MODERN-DAY GT

Boasting such performance potential, and long before the road ahead clears to allow any form of low flying, the first surprise in the modern Coupé GTS comes with just how well this model dispatches with the everyday hustle and bustle of town driving. Ride quality even with low-profile rubber fitted is exceptional, while the cabin, despite a calculated thinning of sound deadening towards the rear (allowing for more of the car’s bespoke exhaust note to filter in), offers class-leading levels stealth and shelter from the outside world.

Ever aware of your appropriately raised driving position compared with a traditional coupé, it remains a marvel of modern engineering what most of the high-end brands playing within this performance SUV field are able to achieve when it comes to weight management. While straight-line performance can usually be summarised as the relationship between engine displacement and the corresponding package’s ability to transfer massive amounts of torque to the road, a manufacturer like Porsche prides itself in how well these usually two-tonne family transports negotiate a bend in the road.

Fitted with torque vectoring control as standard, the appeal of Cayenne GTS Coupé being driven at full tilt is its ability – despite its relative mass – to hunt the apex of a turn, before maintaining gravitydefying levels of body control and then hunkering down on its broad haunches and powering towards the horizon.

Both outstandingly capable packages, the appeal of the Cayenne Coupé above its traditional SUV sibling is not merely its distinct, more purposeful shape, but also its arguably broader breadth of ability when it comes to pressing on.