The 2023 Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupe Reminded My Dad Why He Loves Porsche

“So, this is the new Cayenne?” my dad asked, skeptically, walking around the SUV in his driveway. I brought the new Cayenne GTS Coupe over because I wanted him to check it out, but more than that, I wanted to convince him that Porsche’s SUVs are every bit as appealing as its sports cars.

(Full disclosure: Porsche lent me a Cayenne Coupe for a week. While I lived with it I really wanted to see if it would win over my dad, who hasn’t been a fan of modern Porsche SUVs.) 

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My dad is a Porsche die-hard, a branded hat and glove wearer. He’s someone who cleans his cars with a cloth when he stops and goes to the Porsche Experience Center in Los Angeles for track time. After going through a number of phases that saw him own everything from a Mitsubishi Eclipse to a Mercedes-Benz 190E to a Ford Mustang GT, he came into Porsche ownership over 20 years ago, purchasing a first-generation Boxster on a whim.

At the time, the Boxster was cheap, and an easily accessible way to get into the Porsche brand. He also planned to tune it, and has since added mods like aftermarket headers. He still owns that Boxster to this day, and also welcomed a 996 Carrera into his fleet.

Dad’s third Porsche was less of a desire and more of a necessity. In the mid-2000s, when he needed space for the family, he bought a Cayenne S. And even then, he was on the fence about this SUV. Sure, the 4.5-liter V8 was a gem and the SUV handled well for what it was. But to owners like him, the Cayenne was the antithesis of what a Porsche was supposed to be, and that view hadn’t changed as the years went on. This made me curious to get his take on the current Cayenne – especially the Coupe.

“Wait, what’s going on back here?” he asked, moving to the back. “Are all Cayennes rounded off in the back like this now?” I spent the next few minutes explaining that there’s both a regular Cayenne and a Cayenne Coupe, even though the differences between the two are minor.

“So they call it a coupe because of its roofline, even though it’s clearly not a coupe?”

“It’s best not to think about it,” I said. “It looks good, drives well, and sounds even better.”