The road twists, turns and loops like spaghetti. We wait. And then wait some more. And a little more. Still nothing, no sloppy SUV looseness, no indication of 2.2 tonnes being flung around these Portuguese roads, not even a hint. Porsche says the roads around Faro, in southern Portugal, are some of the best if sporty driving is what you are looking for. And that’s exactly what we’re getting here — heaps and heaps of corners, some bunched together, some spread out, some tight and turning in on themselves, with others that are longer and more open. Tarmac Nirvana, in short, and the nonchalant manner in which the GTS is handling these twisters is deeply impressive. Even my otherwise-silent passenger pipes up. “It’s just unreal how well this car is handling all that weight,” he says. More revs on the V8.
Any drive of a new car starts at a measured pace. You need to feel how the car responds to your input, it’s easier to pick off areas of strength or weakness one at a time, rather than all together, and getting to understand the overall balance is essential; vital if you want to wring the most out of any car. Porsche’s new Cayenne GTS SUV has been specifically tuned to deliver the purest driving experience, but this is now bordering on the ludicrous. The GTS feels as composed and as unruffled as something that’s light and low-slung, something it certainly isn’t. Yes, yes, we know you’ve read all about these new-fangled SUVs that drive as well as cars, but this is beyond that, some way beyond. And, believe me, we are already shuffling along at an express rate, the direct-injection V8 bellowing blue murder.
And it’s not just any V8. This new GTS has the most responsive, most powerful naturally-aspirated V8 ever screwed down and hooked up under the bonnet of a Cayenne. And with shorter overall gearing and additional power, this 405bhp powerhouse packs muscle like little else. Ok, the Turbo, with its 500bhp twin-turbocharged V8, produces much more power, but for instant access to this power, this version of the V8 is it. Still, 2.2 tonnes is 2.2 tonnes.
Try lifting 0.2 tonnes, 200kg, to get the right perspective. An enormous lump of mass that, when multiplied by such massive acceleration, attains ominous levels of momentum. Momentum that you keep adding to or attempting to reverse as you pile on the throttle or chomp on the brakes, or fight against every time you need to steer into a corner. Porsche’s original Cayenne brought new levels of agility to the SUV brigade. Here was a truck that handled like a big car, but the roll at the rear from all that mass — the tippy, heavy feeling — was always there. BMW’s slightly lighter, more agile original X5 was a better drive, more composed and better balanced overall.
Then Porsche launched the face-lifted Cayenne and with that came Porsche’s PDCC or active anti-roll bars. These anti-roll bars deliver a sort of active suspension effect by adding resistance as the car begins to roll. As demonstrated, the system works incredibly well even on a race track, which is where I drove the Cayenne last year. And it’s this system that can stand up, smile and take credit for some of the good manners of this car. Even though we were nowhere near ruffling the car’s composure, the GTS was already a clear step ahead of the standard Cayenne S. To give more agility, the GTS has been lowered by a full inch, the steel springs are stiffer than on the Cayenne S and the front anti-roll bar is set stiffer as well. The wheels and tyres are a rapstar’s dream —21-inch rims are standard, which in itself must be some sort of record for sure. These wheels are slotted into some very chunky wheel-arches, accentuating the aggressiveness this car already portrays. The rubber on hand, super-sticky Michelin Latitude 295/35 rubber which, as I had sampled in China (Autocar India, August 2007), gives the Porsche SUV a clear dynamic edge. These tyres have a similar tread pattern to Michelin Pilot Sport tyres and that means they aren’t even distantly related to off-road rubber. In fact, I was afraid they would scream and flake off in fear when we took them only a little off-road.
Back behind the wheel, I’m getting more into the rhythm of things and I continue to up the pace. Trees close to the road, the verge and lines on the road all blur into a single high-speed stream of impressionist colour. And still, the Porsche feels like it is nowhere near being fully extended.
Let me tell you what it’s like. There may be 405bhp on tap, but that’s only half the story. Chop that up between 2.2 tonnes and there’s only around half to go around; approximately 184bhp per tonne. In spite of this, the GTS driven with your foot to the floor has the ability to hit a hundred from rest in 6.5 seconds and top off at 251kph. So, V8 spinning hard, light and accurate gearbox flicked to the next gear at close to 6500rpm, the GTS assaults the pavement. Straight-line stability is fingertip-good, even at speeds as high as 160kph-plus, and the Porsche squats on the tarmac like a fat-bottomed, gumball-tyred toad. And the faster you go, the lower it gets, Porsche’s PASM active dampers dropping even the steel-sprung car down once at 125 and then at 210kph. Approach a tight corner in any modern SUV and you do check your speed. Not in this one. It has so much grip, pitches forward so little as you hit the brakes and rolls so minutely as you turn into the corner, that you soon start to disregard all that weight that is being flung around from back to front and side to side.
Get smoothly (but hard) on the brakes as the corner approaches and the GTS drops its pace like it’s been driven into an invisible net. The six-piston, aluminium monobloc calipers and massive 300mm-plus discs deliver super bite and bleed speed in a composed, relatively pitch-free manner, the nose only dropping slightly. Turn-in is actually not that sharp, but the Porsche is eager all the same. What is incredible is the balance and the poise this car displays and the GTS distributes its weight evenly between all four large contact patches. The steering delivers a decent amount of feel, keeping you in the know about grip at the front wheels and the rear as well. And with the torque split 62 percent in favour of the rear wheels, it’s great fun shoveling the power into the rear as you crab out of corners. Porsche says it has actually built in some body roll at the rear to improve feel. Seems to have worked like a treat. This car drives so beautifully, you’re soon transported to that zone, driving on instinct, perception and feel, rather than measured, deliberate inputs. It’s at this point that you are fooled into thinking that you are driving a well-sorted, V8-powered GT car with a stiff suspension and strong brakes. Certainly not an SUV! And that’s the ultimate victory for Porsche. This is easily the best driving SUV in the world, one that Porsche claims will go up against even fast estate cars. And why not?
Porsche has also provided its adjustable dampers on the coil-sprung GTS and not just the air suspension-equipped car, so ride in ‘Comfort’ mode is acceptable rather than pile-threatening. The 35-section tyres, however, aren’t the most ride-friendly and there is some ‘thump-thump’. The low profile also means you will have to be a little careful on most Indian roads, which actually defeats the purpose of having an SUV in certain circumstances. Even though you can lift the car by a foot-and-something, it’s best to limit off-roading to dusty village paths. Then, there’s the fact that this V8 uses direct injection and a very high compression ratio of 12.5:1, meaning even our ‘premium’ 97-octane petrol will only just be good enough; anything near 91 is less than ideal. It also goes without saying that this car comes with an unwritten warning for some serious thirst from the big V8.
There aren’t many changes to the interiors either, save for some cosmetics. Rear seat comfort is good, but space could be better. The warthog-like nose is an acquired taste, however – one I haven’t acquired yet. A few plusses here, a couple of minuses there; nothing serious enough to put you off, provided you find the Rs 82.4-lakh price-tag acceptable. What this car does have — and by the spadeful — is an appeal so strong, you are always itching to take it out for a drive. Real Porsche DNA, wouldn’t you say?
Factfile:- Porsche Cayenne gts
Price Rs 82.4 lakh (est.)
Length 4795m
Width 1957mm
Height 1675mm
Wheelbase 2855mm
Turn circle dia NA
Kerb weight 2225kg
Engine 8-cyls in vee, 4806cc
Installation Front, longitudinal, all-wheel drive
Power 405bhp
Torque 51.0kgm
Gearbox 6-speed manual
Front suspension Spring struts
Rear suspension Multi-link setup
Fuel tank 100 litres
Brakes (F/R) Ventilated discs
Tyre size 295/35 R21
Boot 540-1749 litres
No comments:
Post a Comment