2019 Porsche Cayenne First Drive | Better, faster, lither
It’s no longer enough simply to be a fast crossover. Many crossovers are fast, and several of them are also sexy. The Porsche Cayenne, almost endearingly homely in its first iteration and baroquely overwrought in its second, managed mainly the former. To be fair, you could say they were distinctive, and looked appropriately expensive. There was no mistaking it was a Porsche. And then the Macan came along – much sleeker, definitely sexier. Now that the Panamera’s gotten pretty after its much-needed makeover, the Cayenne’s out of excuses. It may drive great, but it needs to look the part to be a contemporary Porsche.
To analyze both aspects of the new Cayenne, Porsche brought three versions to Crete for us to sample. It seemed to be an odd choice at first, but if you’ve been to Crete on the off-season you know the sleepy island is full of mountains, surprisingly good pavement, and tons of tight switchbacks and larger sweepers. The variety of roads and paucity of traffic was the perfect setting to evaluate the Cayenne, especially with its new handling options. As the drive approached, we took a long, hard look at the new shape in the parking lot in the soft light of a Cretan morning.
It’s immediately apparent that the Cayenne is not quite a scaled-up Macan. The Cayenne is still doing its own thing, to some extent, and that means it trades some of the Macan’s lithe proportions for a staidness that can’t quite be explained away by its increased size. The steepness of the front end, despite being broken up by a gaping three-part grille and a similarly carved out lower fascia, is imposing and overly tall. The headlights, fascinating and complex inside and more gracefully shaped overall, are perched awkwardly on top, froglike. The hood is lovely, with a nice tumblehome and perfectly creased power bulge. There’s simply no way to reduce the visual height of the front enough to make these elements attractive, but they’re certainly distinctive. And as mentioned above, a massive improvement.
Backsound Credit By Bensound.com
Смотреть в источнике
No responses yet