As of today, August 22nd, we’re exactly one week away from the official reveal of the third-generation Porsche Cayenne, which its maker is currently in their final phase of endurance and fault-finding tests. And with a hint of it being a teaser incognito, they’ve released footage of the roaming fleet itself, tackling scorching deserts to subzero temperatures.
Viewed with the multiple layers of camouflage on these test cars, the new Cayenne (given the internal codename ‘E3’) do very closely resemble their immediate predecessors in facelifted guise. Having said that, it’s a little had to believe that the second-generation model has been with us going on 7 years now.
The new Cayenne is just that, an all-new model, unrelated from the bottom up with the version it’s replacing at the peak of Porsche’s SUV pair. However, it does share commonalities with other products of the larger Volkswagen Group such as the Bentley Bentayga and Audi Q7 due to utilising the MLB2 platform.
Not much is known of any of its specific feature list, but some early assumptions can be safely made. As far as its interior, exterior, and spread of powertrains, there should be considerable overlap with that of Porsche’s second-generation Panamera. If accurate, this should mean both the carryover 3.0-litre and more advanced 2.9-litre turbocharged V6 engines will make up the bulk of the 2018 Cayenne variants, with the range-toppers being supplied by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, with or without the aid of electrification.
What isn’t so certain is the porting of Porsche’s newly developed 8-speed PDK dual-clutch, as the less sporty default character of the Cayenne perhaps being more suited to be mated with a 8-speed torque converter automatic like its predecessor, which was sourced from Aisin.
In addition to the familiar torture tests automakers put their new models through, a gauntlet of harsh locations ranging from Death Valley to off-roading in South Africa and New Zealand to -45 degrees Celsius through the ice and snow in Alaska, Porsche also brought those same Cayennes to test in the hot and humid cities of China in constant stop-start traffic before bringing them back to Germany for some shakedowns around the Nurburgring and other circuits.
In total, this hard worn fleet of third-generation Cayennes have covered an estimated 240,000km in some of the harshest conditions any car can be subjected to, and come away with valuable insights into how the production version can be further improved.
Unlike the pioneering first-generation model in 2002, this all-new Porsche will be entering a market filled with competitors all vying for the title of ultimate sports SUV. Against, rivals like the Range Rover Sport SVR, BMW X5M, and (to a slightly lesser extent) Mercedes-AMG GLE 63, the older Cayenne (which received frequent updates) did manage to hold its ground for the most part, Porsche really needs this new one to reassert itself as the leader of a class it invented.
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