Porsche Cayenne S 2006 Review

This one, says Porsche, is for the particularly "power and performance-conscious" SUV connoisseur.

It is also about bragging rights, engineering a 2.3-tonne all-wheel-drive wagon to leap from 0 to 100km/h in just over five seconds and on to a 270km/h top speed. (Some may claim an indicated 281 km/h but never took the photo.)

With 383kW (521 horsepower in the old money) and a dune-shifting 720Nm of torque this Cayenne Turbo S (discreetly badged and sitting on 20-inch wheels, tyres rated to 300km/h) is a move by the German makers to blunt some new competition in this high-minded, high-speed segment. There's the supercharged Range Rover Sport, a hot-rodded Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT plus a 6.3-litre V8 Mercedes-Benz M Class wagon just down the track. And then there's an all-new Audi Q7 wagon now chasing a slice of the luxury SUV market.

It is hard to match the all-wheel-drive Porsche's prodigious outputs. This is the most powerful of all

production Porsches after the Carrera GT with performance numbers to match some 911 coupes. This looks like the fastest, baddest SUV to date.

It moves fast. Australia was allocated 20 machines to July this year at better than $241,000 each, close on $34,000 over the Turbo Cayenne. Get in line, all that first mob are close to sold; others will follow.

So the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S is strutting its stuff through the sands of Arabia to show that climbing, diving, slewing through these ancient sands can be a very quick, quite comfortable experience in a powerhouse machine.

Perhaps the Cayenne's bulk and centre of gravity mean the four-door wagon, packed with all today's safety and luxuries, is no match for a 911 (or a Cayman or a Boxster) when the tarmac turns tight and twisting. Perhaps some sceptics still question Porsche's move to launch in late 2002 a four-wheel-drive wagon. (At 40,000 in a good year the Cayenne sells twice Porsche's predictions and allows for extra cash to develop the likes of the Cayman and the four-door Panamera due in 2009.) It has not, say the Porsche bosses, diluted the brand. There remain few to touch the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S as the nose rises under acceleration at 150km/h, the wagon sitting firm and steady on an indifferent piece of bitumen road and transmission dropping from sixth back to fifth to get on with business. There remain few with the aural delights as that twin turbocharged V8 rises, always singing, to the occasion.

And there remain very few vehicles which could offer these delights off road in the rolling sands outside Dubai. This is not a genuine, rock-spewing, take-no-prisoners four-wheel-drive wagon.

It will go a long way in the rough but its real raison d'tre is in the slippy, sloppy stuff — mud and gravel roads, snow or sand to be tackled with surety and speed.

Spend this amount of money on an SUV machine and it needs to be special, very special. And so with an open throttle, Michelins down to 14psi, body lifted to 157mm, stability management controls switched off plus a little driver apprehension, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S is tackling sand dune after sand dune in the Arabian desert.

Roaring to the top, turning, easy over the lip. Back on the power, power, power. And up those shifting orange sands and off the throttle as the big wagon crests the top, ease down the sharper side.

This needs concentration until it's learnt — on the power early to get those turbochargers spinning and the wheels moving. Be wary of full lock on the steering wheel.

There is more to this business of charging (and conquering) sand dunes than brute force. For this is also the business of discrete power distribution. In normal driving, the Cayenne gives the rear wheels 62 per cent of power, 38 per cent for the front. Then Porsche's Traction Management redistributes the business according to needs and an array of sensors; up to 100 per cent of drive can be sent to either end if needed.

As with most modern systems this is all quite seamless, whether charging sand dunes or hurtling down a long desert highway.

There are six ride heights with the Turbo S running air suspension as standard, useful for raising the body off road or allowing the body to hunker down at high speeds. The chassis is essentially the same as for the Turbo but this one has upgraded tie rods and dampers on the front axle.

The extra power arrives courtesy of modified intercoolers for the Porsche's two turbochargers.

These bigger heat exchangers are all aluminium; the extra performance allowed engineers to turn the turbocharger pressure up to 1.9 bar. And Porsche claims this extra power and torque does not affect fuel consumption over a "normal" Cayenne Turbo with combined consumption of 15.7 litres per 100km. Premium please.

The other changes here are the bigger brakes — 380mm front, 358mm rear — with new cooling ducts. The rest is as before.

The Porsche Cayenne has a distinctive style, unloved by some and well-accepted by others. It has a tonne of luxury and safety, myriad buttons (maybe a few too many) on the centre console for stereo and navigation and the like.

Leather is standard, the seats comfortable at 200km/h and, aside from a little wind flutter around the mirrors, the cabin quiet.

For all the power this is a subtle (albeit expensive) flagship SUV, just don't take it on without a machine that is as quick and comfortable and as sure of itself.