Some facelifts consist of nothing more than a pointless visual re-jig, while other refreshed cars, like the 2024 Porsche Cayenne really are more than a prettier face. To be honest, we can only presume that it’s now prettier. Porsche hasn’t formally revealed the 2024 Cayenne, but it let some members of the media drive disguised cars in California. And while they weren’t able to see or photograph the cars without their camouflage to show us the front and rear light and bumper revisions, they were given a comprehensive rundown of some more important hardware upgrades heading the SUV’s way for the coming season.
And perhaps the weirdest of those is that
the mid-range Cayenne has actually upsized from a V6 to a V8, while most
automakers’ cars are going the other way. The S used to have a V8, but Porsche
ditched it five years ago for a 2.9-liter V6 that offered all of the eight’s
performance but none of the charm. That V6 has gone, replaced by what seems to
be a low-tune version of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 already used in the GTS,
Turbo, Turbo S E-Hybrid, and Turbo GT models. Where the old V6 S made 434 hp and 550 Nm the new V8 S is claimed to produce 469 hp and 600 Nm, numbers that would make it even more powerful than
the current 454 hp GTS, so expect that to get a boost, too. Car &
Driver reports that it answers all of the criticisms of the old S thanks to its
V8 soundtrack.
In fact, there are power upgrades across
the board, according to the same report. The entry-level Cayenne’s 3.0-liter V6
is boosted from 335 hp to 349 hp, and gains 11 percent more
torque in the process, while the Turbo GT range-topper receives an extra 20 hp, lifting total output to 651 hp. Autocar’s Grek Kable has some
bad news for power-hungry Europeans though. He reports that the Turbo GT will
no longer be offered for sale there because it doesn’t comply with Euro 6
emissions regulations.
But if there was one model that really needed
help, it was the E-Hybrid. A tiny 17-mile electric range and embarrassingly
slow on-board charger left it looking seriously uncompetitive, and while
enlarging the battery from 17.9 kWh to 25.9 kWh is unlikely to deliver
class-leading EV range, it should add at least 10 miles. And despite the extra
capacity it can be refilled more quickly thanks to a 11 kW on-board charger.
Chassis upgrades reportedly include
standard PASM dampers across the range, larger wheels for base cars (20s
instead of 19s), and new dual-chamber springs for cars with air-suspension
hardware. There’s also additional steering angle for the rear-axle steering
system and tweaks to the torque vectoring feature. But Porsche hasn’t spent all
its time improving the stuff beneath the skin. The interior also gets a welcome
update thanks to a curved digital gauge cluster, infotainment screen,
passenger-side display, and dash-mounted gearshift toggle lifted from the
all-electric Taycan. What it definitely doesn’t get is that car’s all-electric
drivetrain. Porsche’s Macan EV has been delayed until 2024 and we probably
won’t see a Cayenne EV for a couple of years after that.
We’ll get more comprehensive technical
details when Porsche drops full undisguised pictures of the 2024 Cayenne and
Cayenne Coupe sometime in the next few weeks, but on this evidence, it looks
like Porsche will deliver some meaningful improvements to an SUV that was
already its best selling vehicle in 2022.
