They’re clearly happy to have visitors around here. “Welcome to Skellefteå!” shout the orange letters on the side of the airport terminal, as we make the icy trudge from the Boeing 737 to the small, nondescript building. It’s the exclamation mark that piques my attention, almost as if it’s trying too hard to make us feel welcome and entice us to not turn around, get back in the aircraft and return from whence we came.
I’m not a huge fan of Arctic weather conditions, so the latter option isn’t entirely unpalatable. On the other hand, what awaits tomorrow is an appealing enough prospect to make even spending the night in an igloo worth putting up with. The reason I’m here is to sample the new Porsche Cayenne GTS and Turbo S – but unlike your run-of-the-mill automotive press launch, I’ll be doing so on snow and ice.
When the invitation to the media launch found its way to my inbox a few weeks earlier, the first thing I felt compelled to do was search online for Skellefteå (which the locals pronounce “Shell-ef-toe”, or close enough). Where was this place anyway? A few keystrokes later, I gleaned it was the southern outpost of Swedish Lapland, nestled on the Gulf of Bothnia, with the Arctic Circle 200 kilometres farther north.
I discovered the city had 32,775 inhabitants in 2010 and that, historically, the city’s main source of revenue came from mining, gold in particular – hence the nickname “Gold Town”. Ice hockey is also big around here, with Skellefteå AIK representing the city in the top Swedish division. Scanning the terrain around us, I’m not surprised – all I can see is thick layers of snow coating absolutely everything that’s not undercover.
Over dinner that evening, I quiz a couple of Porsche execs as to why they chose this far-flung destination to launch the high-performance variants of the Cayenne range. The gist of their answer is that it provides an ideal environment in which to showcase the all-weather pace and capabilities of the new GTS (priced at Dh372,100 in our market) and Turbo S (which costs a whopping Dh692,800).
However, even the best-laid plans can sometimes come unhinged – to a certain extent, so it proves the following day, with the spoiler being the weather. Not bad weather in the traditional sense, just (relatively speaking) warm conditions. Where it was minus 14°C the week before, today it’s a balmy 4°C, turning most of the soft, powdery snow into ultra-slippery slush and ice. It’s hardly the sort of terrain across which to unleash the full dynamic repertoire of Porsche’s most potent SUVs.
Not to be deterred, we collectively down a hearty breakfast and then hit the road. A fellow journo and I have chosen the less-powerful Cayenne GTS for the opening drive leg, which will take us to the Skellefteå Drive Centre, about 75km away from our overnight digs. When I say “less-powerful”, bear in mind the GTS is still a rapid device, as it’s capable of sprinting from 0 to 100kph in 5.2 seconds, on its way to a max of 262kph.
At the heart of the latest Cayenne GTS lies a 3.6L, twin-turbo, V6 engine, where the oldie had a naturally aspirated, 4.8L V8. But before you embark on a tirade about being short-changed to the tune of 1.2L and two cylinders, you should register the fact that the blown six-pot’s outputs of 434bhp and 600Nm comfortably eclipse the old V8’s figures of 414bhp and 515Nm. The new engine is also far more fuel-efficient and spews out lower emissions.
Any anoraks out there may be interested to learn the GTS can also lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife – a dipping, diving 20.8km circuit that the former Formula One champion Jackie Stewart nicknamed “The Green Hell” for its daunting nature – in 8 minutes and 13 seconds. To put that in perspective, it’s a match for the previous-generation BMW M5. But what makes this feat particularly impressive in the Cayenne GTS is that it tips the scales at a hefty 2.1 tonnes and stands almost 1.7 metres tall. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more dynamically capable full-size SUV. Only the BMW X6 would be remotely in the same league.
There will be no lap records today, though, as we slither away from the impromptu car park in front of the hotel. The roads couldn’t be more slippery if they had been coated in dishwashing liquid. No matter, though, because it still provides an opportunity to assess the GTS at the sort of speeds most typical owners are likely to pedal them at.
The current-generation Cayenne is now almost five years old – it launched in 2010 and received a facelift/overhaul towards the end of last year – but it has aged gracefully. Yes, the cabin now feels slightly dated – the centre console is a button/switch bonanza, whereas most rivals have now adopted much cleaner, less cluttered layouts – but it’s still a pleasant place to be. The leather/Alcantara seats are nicely sculpted to hug your torso, and our test car’s upholstery looks particularly good in black trim with contrasting red stitching and GTS lettering on the headrests.
As is the norm with contemporary Porsches, the driver is faced with five clustered dials – the tachometer gets pride of place in the centre, naturally – and a beautifully crafted steering wheel with a trio of brushed aluminium spokes.
The GTS also scores some other tasty goodies over lesser Cayennes, including a delectable set of blacked-out 20-inch RS Spyder wheels, larger air intakes at the front and Turbo-style headlights and LED fog lights. In addition, all exterior trim (including the badges and tailpipes) is painted gloss-black to give the vehicle a sporty, stealthy look. For my money, it looks far better than the almost-twice-as-costly Turbo S.
A 45-minute journey through farmland and pine forests eventually brings us to Skellefteå Drive Centre, where we are briefed on the main exercises for today – the core elements comprising a tight handling course, a drift circle and straight-line sprint from standstill to 100kph, and then back down to rest.
We start off with the handling course and it’s clear a paltry 100hp would have been sufficient today as the surface of the course is akin to a skating rink. Even though the Porsche support crew has fitted the vehicles with spiked tyres, grip levels are so low that merely keeping the car pointing in the right direction requires a silken touch on the steering, brakes and throttle – and that’s at not far above jogging speed.
We then move on to the drift circle, where the objective is to keep the car moving in a nice circular drift, which proves far easier said than done today. A week ago, with snow rather than ice under-wheel, it may have been simpler, but on this day it demands a level of touch and precision that none of us are able to muster.
Given that none of these exercises are teaching me a great deal about the vehicle, I manage to commandeer the keys to a GTS and take off for a real-world test loop on the roads through the countryside surrounding the Skellefteå Drive Centre. This proves far more enlightening, as there’s discernibly more grip on offer, providing the opportunity to at least partially open the taps in the GTS and begin to explore the vehicle’s chassis dynamics.
First impressions are positive. The twin-turbo V6 serves up masses of grunt from low engine speeds (peak torque of 600Nm is there for the taking from just 1,600rpm) and it emits a pleasing exhaust note, too – not as sonorous as its predecessor’s V8, but decently menacing nonetheless. What’s particularly impressive is how sure-footed the GTS feels, even in these adverse conditions. I’ll have to wait until driving it back in the UAE to fully exploit the big SUV’s full cornering potential. I imagine it will be immense, as reflected by the GTS’s Nürburgring lap time.
Having got a decent feel for the GTS, I hop into the full-fat Turbo S, which is as potent and expensive as a Cayenne gets. Punching out 561bhp and a towering 800Nm from its 4.8L, twin-turbo V8, it leaps to 100kph in 4.1 seconds and tops out at a supercar-threatening 284kph. What’s more, it laps the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a searing 7 minutes and 59 seconds. These are staggering stats, when you take into account that this is a 2.2-tonne behemoth.
Befitting its flagship status, the Turbo S comes loaded with all the fruit imaginable, including self-levelling air suspension and Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB, in Porsche-speak). Also standard is a raft of chassis-management systems – Porsche Traction Management, Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, Porsche Torque Vectoring and so on. Without getting into a lengthy discourse containing technobabble, suffice to say these are all designed to help keep the vehicle on the straight and narrow.
It only takes a couple of kilometres to discern the Turbo S’s immense clout, but truth be told, it’s hard to see why the range-topper commands such an eye-watering premium over the GTS I’d stepped out of 20 minutes earlier. Yes, the Turbo S is the faster vehicle – although not in the icy conditions of today, where the lighter, more agile GTS is more in its element – and it comes stuffed with a far greater quota of bells, whistles and luxury features. But even taking this into account, I imagine the only takers for this variant will be buyers who have bank balances with at least seven digits – or monthly salaries with six.
If it was me doing the spending, I’d be looking seriously at the Cayenne GTS. It stacks up as a practical full-size SUV with greater sporting capabilities than any other sub-Dh400,000 rival. Only a BMW X6M (which costs far more) would show it a clean set of tailpipes.
Right, job done, it’s time for me to thaw out. Just as well that our hotel in Skellefteå has thoughtfully provided each room with a private sauna.
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