Tested: 2024 Porsche Cayenne Makes a Solid Base

As the 9:30 a.m. Pilates class filtered out of the studio, nearly every fit and flexible practitioner gave the 2024 Porsche Cayenne at least a passing glance. The instructor asked to sit inside and commented on the pleasant leather and roomy back seat. Somewhere, a Porsche designer felt the warm glow of successfully reaching the desired audience. The Cayenne was created for exactly the demographic that can take a pricey midmorning exercise class and appreciate both a chiseled body and a firm yet flexible chassis.

If a car could work out, the Cayenne would definitely be first up to the barre and a regular on a Reformer. Ever since its introduction, the Porsche SUV has refined its muscles and improved its balance and performance. Even in entry-level trim, the Cayenne is fit and powerful with a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 making 348 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, a 13-hp and 36-lb-ft bump from 2023. It's easy to overlook the turbo V-6 in favor of the Cayenne's flashy plug-in hybrid and rumbly V-8 options, but the base six is plenty quick. It doesn't generate the off-the-line neck snap of the higher-horsepower models, but the V-6 still leaves hard enough to know you're going somewhere, and this Porsche gains momentum at a pace that makes easy work of merging, passing, or just bumping the accelerator for a momentary thrill. At the test track, our test car ticked 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and passed the quarter-mile marker in 13.4 seconds at 102 mph.

If you're willing to slow down long enough for spectators to get a good look, they'll find the Cayenne cuts a fine figure. Overall it keeps its bubbled profile and inflated-911 front end, but for 2024, this high-riding German gets a minor reworking of its exterior, with tweaks to the fender angles, a new hood, and smaller headlight housings around a double row of LED lights that resemble the horizontal pupils of a mountain goat. In the rear, Porsche tucked the license plate holder lower and widened the taillights across the hatch for a cleaner back view, which is good, since that's what any challengers to your rightful lane-space will see.

More noticeable changes are in the cabin, where a dashboard full of digital screens grabs attention like the billboards in Times Square. In all, you'll find a 12.6-inch digital gauge cluster visible through the steering wheel, a 12.3-inch central touchscreen, and an optional 10.9-inch shotgun screen capable of mirroring the infotainment or playing videos, only viewable by the front passenger. At nearly $1500, we'd skip that third display; let them stare down at their phone as nature intended.

Climate controls get a separate shiny panel—this car should really come with a branded chamois—and there's a phone charging pad in front of it and a small change cubby behind it before you get to the cupholders and padded center console. At this point, you might wonder where the shifter is, and you'll keep wondering until you accidentally brush against a dash-mounted nubbin jutting out behind the steering wheel. We can appreciate an efficient use of space, but a shifter is a control that really benefits from visibility. Ah, well—the owner will quickly learn the pattern, so it's really just a problem for the valet.

At startup, there are more glowing app tiles than the desktop of an unorganized MacBook, but the Cayenne's touchscreen interface is easy to use when it comes to connecting your phone or adjusting drive settings. Several car-setting and stereo controls are repeated on the steering wheel, where our car's $1110 Sport Chrono package adds a dial for zippier drive mode changes. It's worth a grand just to have the ability to engage Sport mode quickly and to avoid having to track down and disable the engine start/stop each time you get inside. Some manufacturers have perfected the art of a seamless cut and restart of the engine. Porsche is not one of them. Besides a noticeable shudder, the power steering takes a split second to return once the engine fires back up. It's annoying enough that we never stayed in Normal mode. Then again, why would you when Sport gives such a nice mix of response without tipping into tailbone-bruising stiffness from the adaptive dampers?