Review of the new Porsche Cayenne Diesel

The Cayenne luxury SUV has long been Porsche's best selling model and in many ways, this second generation version is the most impressive thing it makes, especially in the Diesel form we look at here. Making a car of this kind handle something like a sportscar is hard enough but doing so in an eco-friendly manner is even tougher. Have the Germans managed it? Well hi-tech features promise much for drivers while a hybrid version and efficiency improvements across the range claim to keep the green lobby at bay. On the face of things, it's a job well done.

Whatever your views on Porsche's Cayenne SUV, you can hardly deny the impact it's made, both on its brand and on the luxury 4x4 market. Launched in 2003 to controversy amongst Porsche diehards who thought the company should stick to sportscars, it used a Volkswagen Touareg platform finessed with Porsche know-how to at last extend ownership of this famous marque to people with families. And sales were impressive, despite issues with build quality, high running costs and general ugliness that were only partly addressed by the revised model launched in 2007 with its V6 diesel option. But that success was never going to continue in a harsher economic climate ever more eco-driven and less tolerant of SUV excess. Hence this second generation version that's lighter, sharper, smarter and best of all greener than before.

Here's a car with a much tougher brief on its hands than the original version ever had, carrying expectations that in many ways are rather unfair. After all, no one expects a comparable top Range Rover or Mercedes SUV to be a sports saloon as well as both 4x4 and luxury limousine. No one cares very much if such rivals are somewhat pricey to run. Yet this Cayenne is expected to offer everything its competitors provide at the same time as slashing their running costs and handling like the fastest four-door. Porsche though were undaunted. Less weight and even sharper technology promise a 2.3-tonne supercar. And both hybrid and diesel powertrains claim to be able to deliver it all with running costs you simply wouldn't think possible from a car of this kind. Sounds intriguing. Let's check it out.

"This was the car that opened up Porsche ownership to a whole new group of people.."

Prior to the arrival of the original Cayenne and before it BMW's X5, the only thing that was green about large plush 4x4s was the colour they turned their passengers when hustled along twisty country roads. Having proved it didn't have to be like that, both brands were then faced with the unenviable task of going the next step and finally making a 2.3-tonne SUV handle exactly like a luxury sports saloon. And it's Porsche who've got closest and now set the benchmark in this respect. Drive a powerful Cayenne on a racetrack and it'll steer like a proper sportscar, with an active anti-roll system to make it corner like one too. All that weight has to tell somewhere of course - and you certainly feel it under braking - but by and large, like it or not, this car represents an astonishing engineering achievement.

We tried the 240bhp Diesel version that most customers will choose, able to make sixty from rest in 7.8s on the way to over 135mph. It's all controlled transmission-wise via an 8-speed Tiptronic S autogearbox which you can fiddle with via steering wheel-mounted rocker switches.

Whichever version you choose, if you're anything like me, one of the things you'll like most about it is the way it'll makes you feel before you've even gone anywhere. Porsche proved with their five-door Panamera that to create a sportscar cockpit, you don't necessarily need a sportscar. And so it is here. The driving position's just as good as a 911 - which is saying something. No, scratch that, it's better because of course you can see so much more thanks to this wonderful elevated driving position. Driving a rival model is almost bus-like by comparison.

Now that Porsche are owned by the Volkswagen group, it would have been rather pointess for them to have reinvented a 4x4 platform for this car to run on, so as before, this Cayenne rides on Volkswagen Touareg underpinnings. And since that car is slightly lighter and bigger these days, this means we're looking at something more efficient (thanks to a 180kg weight saving - more of that in Cost of Ownership) and larger, 48mm longer to be exact. You don't feel the extra size when you're driving the car - which is nice when you're trying to thread it through city streets - but you do when sat on the back seat, thanks mainly to the increase in wheelbase length.

Three adults can now sit easily across the back seat - though two would as usual be more comfortable - thanks to two things. First that the centre transmission tunnel is usefully low. And second that the rear seat can slide backwards by up to 160mm to prioritise legroom if you're not using all the boot capacity. As you'd expect, this seat can also recline (into three different positions) as well as split and fold (electrically if you pay extra, though even that system doesn't leave you with a completely level surface when everything's folded flat). Still, once you've dropped the seats, the 670-litre luggage bay's capacity is upped to a useful 1780-litres. Even so, Porsche still don't offer the option of a couple of extra fold-out seats to create in this model the ultimate 7-seater driver's car: that'll be a pity for larger well-heeled families.

At around £45,000, the Cayenne Diesel is exactly the same kind of money that you'd pay for an entry-level BMW X5 Xdrive 3.0d or a Mercedes ML350CDI and it's around £3,000 less than a comparable Range Rover Sport. Standard kit includes leather trim, climate control, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, powered front seats, a 7" touch screen display system and 18" alloy wheels. However, you'll need to allow plenty extra to tick the boxes for options you'll probably want like metallic paint and satellite navigation, plus dynamic aids like PTV Plus torque vectoring, air suspension, PASM active damping and PDCC dynamic chassis control.

The use of lightweight materials, particularly in the all-wheel-drive transmission, has cut the weight of the Cayenne compared to its predecessor, despite today's car being larger. The S Tronic gearbox is designed with a wider spread of ratios to reduce strain on the engine and Auto Start Stop is standard to save fuel at the lights or in traffic. As to the figures, well, I can't really see the point of buying the entry-level 3.6 petrol over this diesel. It isn't much cheaper, it's no faster and it's a lot less economic to run.

Choosing between diesel and Hybrid Cayenne power though, might be more difficult. On the face of things, the Hybrid has a good case. The way you can travel impressive distances either on the motorway or at low urban speeds on silent electric power-only is hugely impressive. The Hybrid offers 140bhp more than this diesel variant, yet gets within 4mpg of the diesel's 38mpg combined fuel figure, while actually slightly bettering its 195g/km CO2 reading. The problem is you pay £14,000 for all the extra Hybrid technology and ultimately, it only gets you to sixty 1.3s faster: your call.

This was the car that opened up Porsche ownership to a whole new group of people. They're not sportscar purists but they love the idea of sportscar technology being applied to make a real luxury 4x4 appeal to real drivers. It took the German brand some time to get this right: early Cayennes were rightly forgettable. But this lighter, faster, greener and better looking model is hugely impressive, the most astonishing SUV we've yet driven.

All of which is just as well, given not only tougher top SUV competition but also the existence these days of another five-door Porsche, the more luxury saloon-oriented Panamera. That car manages to combine sportscar with luxury cruiser. This one, though model-for-model £25,000 less, manages to go a step further and combine both those attributes with a third, that of go-almost anywhere off road freedom. And that, makes it a very unique car indeed.

TOP 3 CAYENNE DEALS

The results below show the top CAYENNE deals on buyacar

Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid 5dr Tiptronic S estate
Price £60,766 Read Cayenne Reviews	Save £210
Porsche Cayenne S 5dr Tiptronic S estate
Price £56,896 Read Cayenne Reviews	Save £210
Porsche Cayenne Turbo 5dr Tiptronic S estate
Price £87,691 Read Cayenne Reviews	Save £210
VIEW MORE DISCOUNT CAYENNE DEALS