Porsche Cayenne gets more power

Porsche launches the Turbo Powerkit for the Cayenne Turbo offering 40bhp more and the Cayenne Diesel gets a small power hike.

A lack of power is not something you would normally complain about with the Porsche Cayenne Turbo.

After all, despite weighing roughly the same as a grouse moor (unlike the previous generation which weighed slightly more than a small moon), it’s 500bhp V8 moves this SUV to 60mph in a chunk less than 5 seconds.

But power under the bonnet is addictive, and even if you have 500bhp under your right foot there will always be occasions when you wish you had just that bit more.

And Porsche understand that. That’s why there’s usually a Turbo S lurking in the wings ready to be released, just when the regular turbo starts to feel just a bit too pedestrian. But for the latest generation Cayenne you don’t have to wait for the Turbo S to get more power, you can now grab the Turbo Powerkit, which ups power to 540bhp.

That extra 40bhp – and an extra 37lb/ft of torque – make only a small difference to the 0-62mph, which drops to 4.6 seconds (0.1 s quicker). Top speed also improves by 3mph to 176mph.

The extra power comes courtesy of a pair of fresh turbochargers (with titanium-aluminium turbine wheels, no less) and some electronic tweaks, and to make sure you can stop there’s extra brake cooling and the optional ceramic brakes get bigger.

On a slightly more pedestrian performance level, the Cayenne Diesel gets 5bhp more thanks to a new turbocharger and tweaks to the injection system. The changes cut the o-62mph to 7.6 seconds, economy improves to 39mpg and emissions drop to 189g/km.

And finally, Porsche has had a fiddle with the Cayenne Hybrid so you can now use electric power from a cold start, whereas you used to have to wait until normal operating temperatures had been reached.

Don’t run away with the idea you can start up from cold and blat down the road on the batteries – you can’t. But if you’re happy to move around at a snail’s pace you can just use the electric motor.

Or if you’re trying to steal away from a tryst in the dead of night, you can now do so silently.