Beijing show: Porsche goes again with Cayenne GTS

PORSCHE’S most tarmac-focused Cayenne, the 4.8-litre V8 GTS, is set to return to Australian showrooms in September, just five months after the latest hunkered-down sports-luxury SUV variant of Porsche’s top-selling SUV range makes its global public debut at this month’s Beijing motor show.

Like the first-generation Cayenne GTS that arrived on the scene in 2007 but went out of production in 2010 with the new-model change, the new GTS is aimed squarely at the road rather than off-road, sitting on a lowered, firmer chassis and road-gripping tyre and wheel package.

As before, Porsche Cars Australia expects the GTS to be an instant hit with buyers, becoming the best-selling petrol Cayenne model, provided the factory can meet demand.

Becoming the sixth Cayenne variant to go on sale in Australia since the second generation made its local debut in July 2010, the GTS again slides into the range between the naturally aspirated 4.8-litre V8 Cayenne S and range-topping Cayenne Turbo, splitting the difference in both price and power.

At $164,900 (plus on-road costs), the Cayenne GTS is $13,600 dearer than the Cayenne S and $83,700 cheaper than the Cayenne Turbo.

Power wise, the GTS’s upgraded 309kW naturally aspirated V8 has 15kW more grunt than the Cayenne S’s 294kW engine, but 59kW less than the blown Turbo’s premium powerplant.

The latest GTS is also 11kW more powerful than the first-generation GTS. This time, the GTS can hit 100km/h from standstill in 5.7 seconds – a full 0.8 seconds quicker than the original in its automatic guise. Top speed is said to be 261km/h – 10km/h faster than the first GTS.

The optional manual transmission has been dropped, with Porsche’s eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission going it alone.

This new-generation transmission and the addition of idle-stop fuel-saving technology help to reduce the GTS thirst. European fuel consumption is rated at 10.7 litres per 100km, 0.2L/100km more than the Cayenne S but considerably better than the previous GTS, which scored 13.9L/100km at launch.

As before, the appeal of the Cayenne is its road manners, pitching it against the rival AMG and M-enhanced luxury SUVs from Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

The GTS is lowered 24mm compared with the standard Cayenne S, and again employs Porsche’s active suspension management system.

Porsche says this suspension is more tautly tuned than the standard set-up, endowing the GTS with “thrilling driving dynamics”.

The GTS gets the Cayenne Turbo’s sportier front-end treatment, along with door frames and trims in high-gloss black, prominent side skirts and wider wheel arches to suit the wider wheels, and twin-deck roof spoiler.

Inside, the sporty interior design includes a combination of leather and Alcantara surfaces on the front sports seats, which also have eight-way adjustment.

“The new Cayenne GTS doesn’t just fill the gap between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo but also differentiates itself clearly from the other models with its own unique character,” Porsche says.

The Cayenne is Porsche’s top-selling model, accounting for more than half of all sales.

This year, Porsche Australia has sold 188 Cayennes out of its total sales of 303 units. However, sales of both Cayenne and Porsche are down in the first three months, by 9.2 per cent cent and 17.4 per cent respectively.

The GTS will be unveiled at 2012 Auto China which opens in Beiling on April 23.

Porsche Cayenne GTS pricing (plus ORCs)
GTS (a)	$164,900