2024 Porsche Cayenne

The Cayenne is the bigger of Porsche's two crossovers. It's been on sale, in various different forms, for the past 20 years, and is the Stuttgart automaker's answer to the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE. For 2024, the Cayenne is getting a hearty series of upgrades that should placate the Porsche faithful until it's fully redesigned. Bear in mind, this particular Cayenne has been on sale since 2019 without much in the way of change, and this face-lift introduces new tech, reworked powertrains and a refreshed look. 

It also simplifies the lineup in a big way. Only the base Cayenne, Cayenne S, Turbo GT (which is only available in the fastback coupe body style) and Cayenne E-Hybrid are living on with the refresh. That means models like the Turbo, Turbo S E-Hybrid and the GTS are all dropped for 2024. But don't discount Porsche from potentially bringing these models back in the future.

What the refresh takes away in terms of trims, it gives in new standard equipment. Blind-spot warning, lane keeping assistance, keyless entry and a wireless charger are now included on all Cayennes. Porsche's Matrix design LED headlights and Porsche Active Suspension Management (Porsche-lingo for adaptive suspension) are also now standard kit. This iteration of PASM features new shock absorbers with two-valve technology that have separate settings for compression and rebound. What that means for buyers is the new Cayenne will be more comfortable in its Normal setting and more taut for sharper handling in its Sport and Sport+ settings.

The big news is that the V8 is back in the Cayenne S ... again. Depending on the model year, the Cayenne S and GTS have waffled between V6 and V8 power, and with the discontinuation of the GTS, there's now room in the lineup for an eight-cylinder S. The 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 makes 468 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque (more power, but less torque than the V8 that was in the GTS). The most powerful Cayenne is now the Turbo GT model, and it gets an extra 19 ponies underhood, bringing output to a nice, round 650 hp.

The more affordable variants benefit from upgrades too. The turbocharged V6 in the base Cayenne is bumped to 348 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque — gains of 13 hp and 36 lb-ft. That V6 is also used in the plug-in hybrid version, the E-Hybrid. The PHEV Cayenne takes the V6 and mates it with a 174-horsepower electric motor, bringing total system output to 463 hp. The hybrid's battery pack has grown considerably in size from 17.9 kWh to 25.9 kWh, which should grant more electric-only driving range than the current 15 miles, but the EPA hasn't rated it yet.

For 2024 the Cayenne's interior gets a pretty big shakeup. The previous car's instrument cluster setup featured a mix of physical and digital gauges, but no more. The 12.6-inch gauge cluster has been taken straight out of the Taycan and is now fully digital and customizable with various different readouts. The center stack also gets a redo, with Macan-like switches for the HVAC controls. There's still a large panel of piano black plastic in the center console, underneath which rest backlit buttons for most of the car's functions, but the gear selector has been removed. It now sits to the right of the steering wheel, protruding slightly from the dashboard and is very similar to the one in the Taycan.

All other vehicle settings are handled by the Porsche Communication Management (that's fancy Porsche talk for the infotainment display). It's the same 12.3 inches as in last year's Cayenne and includes all of the software updates that Porsche made for the 2023 model year. These include a new menu structure and a more colorful icon array. Some functions, like the drive modes, are all controlled via the infotainment now as well, a change Porsche initially made in the 911. In addition to the center screen, there's also an optional screen that sits in front of the passenger. It measures 10.9 inches across and will allow the passenger to stream various media types. In order to prevent driver distraction, this screen features a special tinting, which blocks it from the driver's view.