2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe: A Fire-Breathing SUV with Fashion Sense

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Jessica Lynn WalkerCar and Driver

Here’s all you really need to know about the 2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe: With its 541-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, eight-speed automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive, the new fastback version of Porsche’s largest SUV is mechanically identical to the conventional Cayenne Turbo squareback, and the two vehicles feel exactly the same from behind the wheel. Same brutal acceleration, same impressive driving dynamics, same big fat grin on your face when you mat their accelerators.

With its 0.7-inch lower roofline and 0.7-inch wider rear fenders, the coupe looks a touch better than the SUV, which is the point. It also costs $2300 more at $131,450 to start, albeit $34,300 less than the top-dog 670-hp Turbo S E-Hybrid model that we’ve already driven. Opting for the Turbo Coupe over the regular Cayenne Turbo nets you four seats as standard (a three-across rear bench is optional), and you lose six cubic feet of cargo space, although the rear seat is 1.2 inches lower to compensate for the lower roofline. None of that will matter much once you see it in the metal, though. This fastback SUV makes its key rivals, the BMW X6 M and Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupe, look like they were designed in the dark.

Done. Now that we have out of the way, we’ve got a story for you.

We can hear the scream of the white Mazda FD’s rotary engine long before we pick up sight of the car. This guy is on it, winding out his Wankel and matching revs perfectly on downshifts. He can drive. When the third-generation Mazda RX-7 finally appears, it’s lowered on oversized wheels and tires and wears a rear spoiler bigger than a barn door. There’s always good car spotting on the mountainous Angeles Crest Highway in Southern California.

Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid Coupe: All the Things

Porsche Cayenne Coupe Is Still a Cayenne

At about 5100 pounds, the new Cayenne Turbo Coupe weighs about twice as much as the 25-year-old Mazda, but we decide to give chase anyway. The Porsche’s V-8 starts with a growl and idles like a small block with a lumpy cam. Our test car is equipped with all of the Cayenne Turbo’s optional performance stuff: rear-wheel steering, carbon-ceramic brakes, Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC). The Sport Chrono package is standard, along with a fixed panoramic glass sunroof.

Someone at Porsche also checked the boxes for the coupe-exclusive Lava Orange paint ($3150) and the Lightweight Sport package, which sounds like something you want but isn’t. It adds a Sport exhaust system, a heated Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel, retro-cool houndstooth-cloth seat inserts, a carbon-fiber roof, and 22-inch forged aluminum wheels. Porsche says it shaves about 40 pounds from the Turbo’s curb weight but admits there’s no actual performance advantage. The package’s price is a knee-buckler at $11,570. Plus, you lose the glass sunroof, which nicely brightens this SUV’s dark, black interior, and the 22-inch wheels and tires ding around-town ride comfort versus the standard 21s.

At $5580, the value of the Cayenne’s carbon-ceramic brakes that replace the standard tungsten-coated rotors is also questionable. But the other optional systems are worth the extra bread, especially Porsche’s PDCC active anti-roll bars, which help make the Cayenne Turbo Coupe ride significantly better than the flinty X6 M. The $3590 system, which manipulates the SUV’s anti-roll bars with electric motors, also eliminates most of the body roll in corners and improves the articulation of the Cayenne’s height-adjustable air springs when off-roading.

Chasing down the fast and furious Mazda, it’s easy to enjoy the Cayenne’s steering, which is heavy around town but feels right at higher speed. Its precision and linear response are what we expect from the crew at Weissach. The Cayenne shares the Volkswagen Group’s MLB Evo platform with the Audi Q8 and Lamborghini Urus, but its 114.0-inch wheelbase is by far the shortest of the three, which helps it change direction more quickly. It’s still nose heavy, but this tall SUV defies the laws of physics with near perfect balance, true playful chuckability in both slow and fast corners, and loads of grip. The harder you push the Cayenne Turbo Coupe the better it feels.

Porsche’s adaptive dampers tighten up significantly in the Sport and Sport+ driving modes. Mid-corner bumps are soaked up without upsetting your chosen line or the adhesion of its Pirelli P Zero summer tires. Rear wheels with a more aggressive offset widened the coupe’s rear track 0.7 inch over the regular Cayenne, and the big, sticky tires sized 285/40R-22 in front and 315/35R-22 at the rear make the most of the engine’s output. Straightaways are quickly shortened with the V-8’s explosive pull as the transmission clicks off tightly spaced gears.

The last Cayenne Turbo we tested hit 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 12.0 seconds at 115 mph. It also stopped from 70 mph in 150 feet and pulled a full 1.00 g on the skidpad. The Coupe’s body sculpting didn’t add any weight, so it should return similar test results. In a straight line, the Turbo Coupe should trail the heavier yet more powerful Turbo S E-Hybrid variant by a mere two or three tenths of a second.

After a few miles, we not only have the RX-7 in our sights, but it’s clear the Cayenne Turbo Coupe is more athletic and rewarding to drive than the BMW X6 M or the GLE63 S Coupe. It’s undoubtedly just as quick in the hills, if not quicker, than its fastback peers, both of which boast at least 600 horsepower. And it’s by far the prettiest of the three from all angles.

Running down the Mazda was fun, and the RX-7’s screaming rotary still sounds great, but filling its mirrors with $158,460 worth of orange SUV isn’t as satisfying as we had hoped. In truth, it hasn’t really been a fair fight. The Cayenne Turbo Coupe is so easy to drive quickly, it’s almost cheating. Plus, it looks best from the back. We’ll blast around the Mazda on the next straight so its driver can see for himself?

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