Porsche Cayenne review

The Cayenne’s interior was treated to a thorough overhaul as part of the facelift, and mostly that boiled down to ‘more screens’. Gone is the physical rev counter – quite a moment in the Porsche cinematic universe – now digital and bookended by digital displays, all the instruments now contained in one 12.6-inch binnacle-free screen that apes the Taycan's futuristic cockpit.

There are seven different views to choose from, and happily two of them still feature simple, clear round dials. You'll cycle through the whole lot a few times and no doubt end up using those anyway. BMW would do well to learn from this, though – the Cayenne’s speedo is a heck of a lot easier to read than an X5’s.

What else is new?

To one side, a start-stop button has replaced the old, twisty ‘key’ starter. A pity, as a nostalgic piece of Porsche uniqueness is replaced for same-again genericism. To the other, the gear selector now sprouts horizontally from the dashboard – another Taycan carryover. This means you can’t shift gears manually on the stick, but we can’t imagine many Cayenne buyers will care.

You hold the lever down to lock the transmission into manual mode if you want to change gear yourself via the paddles. Frankly, the gearbox behaviour is so well sorted, you’re unlikely to.

Is the infotainment any good?

In the centre lies your main touchscreen, measuring 12.3 inches. It’s a lag-free, sharply rendered unit. A bit fiddly in places, but at least the dashboard ‘shelf’ provides a convenient hand rest. In front of the passenger the Cayenne now offers an optional 10.9-inch screen coated with a film that avoids distracting the driver by blanking the contents to them.

It actually made us a little queasy, that film denying its resolution complete sharpness that was tricky to focus on while moving. While it offers plenty of streaming options, we’d imagine most passengers will prefer to look at their phone, where messaging and social media also live alongside the movies. The Cayenne’s optional second screen costs £1,061. That’s enough to subscribe to Netflix HD for eight years.

New vaneless vents and some fresh trim materials look to be the only other alterations, including a strangely tasteful coppery tone that lifts the Cayenne’s austere ambience towards Bentley-esque indulgence. But there’s more that’s noteworthy.

By migrating the gear lever higher, the centre console has more stowage, there's a chilled wireless charging bay that’ll help charge your phone faster and Porsche has sensibly retained physical switches for the climate controls, instantly making the Cayenne a safer, easier and more expensive feeling car to operate than abundant rivals.

Anything to be wary of?

Like the current Panamera and Macan, the glossy centre panel looks swish when new, but quickly attracts dust and fingerprints. Worse, it’s susceptible to dazzling glare – reason enough to keep the blind for the glass roof closed – or better yet avoid it altogether.

Materials and perceived quality are strong and there’s stowage aplenty. Rear seat room is strong – adults behind adults is no problem – and you’ll notice the uplift in headroom versus a Macan, unless you spec the dingier Coupe, with its narrower windows. The hybrid lacks underfloor stowage due to the battery, but Porsche has cleverly squeezed in a narrow cubbyhole near the boot lip so you can at least tuck the cable out of the way – a BMW XM at twice the price isn’t clever enough to offer such an elegant solution.