I took delivery of my 2024 Porsche Cayenne in December of 2023, and since then, I’ve put over 3,000 miles on the odometer. This mileage includes everything from the daily grind of pothole-ridden city commutes to a challenging road trip through the icy Sierra Nevada Mountains. This review will deliberately adopt a more critical lens than you might typically find. If you’re searching for overwhelmingly positive endorsements, you’ll find plenty in advertisement-heavy car magazines and from influencers who often shy away from substantial criticism. Before my purchase, I actually found it difficult to locate reviews that offered any real critical analysis of the Cayenne.
My automotive background is primarily rooted in BMW and Volkswagen vehicles from the early 2000s onwards. I’ve owned and driven models like the Golf, Jetta, 330i, X3, and X5. I have a particular fondness for BMWs, having been a loyal driver for many years. The Cayenne represents my first car purchase in over a decade. Additionally, I have considerable experience with Teslas, thanks to frequent drives in friends’ vehicles.
Which Cayenne trim am I reviewing specifically? Mine is the base model, but it’s loaded with nearly every available luxury and convenience package, including premium and technology upgrades.
Driving Performance: Highway Star, City Street Question Marks
The 2024 Cayenne truly shines on the open road, especially on highways, where it delivers a sensation of unwavering stability and remarkable calmness. It feels like a tank gliding just above the ground. Cruising at 80mph feels as relaxed as 50mph in most other vehicles I’ve driven. Whether this is attributable to the optional air suspension, I can’t definitively say, as I haven’t experienced the standard suspension setup. However, while the suspension is exceptional on highways, it falls short of my expectations on less-than-perfect road surfaces. Even minor potholes transmit noticeable jolts into the cabin, a stark contrast to the refined ride quality I’ve experienced in BMWs in similar conditions.
The base engine’s acceleration is more than adequate for both navigating city traffic and executing highway maneuvers like passing and merging – hardly a surprise for a vehicle in this class. Another key contributor to its impressive highway performance is the outstanding sound insulation. The cabin becomes a sanctuary of quiet, with minimal tire or wind noise intruding, enhancing the overall driving experience for long journeys.
Let’s discuss the steering. As someone who appreciates the communicative and substantial steering feel of older BMWs, I initially found the Cayenne’s steering responsiveness somewhat lacking, almost akin to the feel of a video game controller. However, as speed increases, the steering gains weight and maintains sharpness, offering a much more tangible connection to the road. Above 35mph, it achieves a near-perfect balance, significantly increasing its appeal from a driver’s perspective.
Moving on to the transmission, I have no complaints. Downshifts are quick and seamless. The engine-transmission combination, coupled with the superior sound isolation, creates an impression of electric car-like responsiveness, a characteristic often absent in turbocharged vehicles with automatic transmissions.
So, predictably, the Cayenne performs exceptionally well behind the wheel, particularly in highway driving. No major surprises here, but solid performance nonetheless.
Interior and Ergonomics: A Mixed Bag of Classic Design and Questionable Quality
When selecting a luxury brand, interior quality was a top priority for me, largely based on my positive experiences during 12 years of BMW X5 ownership. Initially, my plan was simple: visit a BMW dealership and purchase a new X5. However, it seems BMW has drastically shifted its interior design philosophy, perhaps influenced by the rise of Tesla. New BMW models now overwhelm drivers with massive panoramic LCDs and touchscreens, a departure from what I consider practical and user-friendly. This design direction was a significant turn-off for me. My next stop was an Audi dealership, but the Q5 presented a similar “Minority Report” style interior. Needless to say, I skipped the test drive and quickly moved on. Then came the Cayenne. As of now, it remains the only German-made mid-size luxury SUV that hasn’t fully embraced the “iPhone-on-wheels” trend. Yes, there are screens, but they are integrated into the classic car dashboard design in a way that feels cohesive and less intrusive. Nothing obstructs your view, and crucially, all essential functions still have physical buttons with haptic feedback – a significant win for Porsche in my book.
Another common frustration I have with cars, from my BMWs to nearly every rental vehicle, is the automatic climate control. It’s often excessively noisy, making the auto mode essentially unusable. However, Porsche seems to have solved this problem, maintaining the interior temperature without the distracting sound of a jet engine. How they achieved this, I’m not entirely certain, but I suspect the design and size of the air vents play a role. They are exceptionally well-designed, and for the first time, I can simply set the temperature in my car and forget about it.
However, upon taking delivery of the car, I immediately noticed a concerning issue: a moderate, almost constant cracking sound emanating from the roof. The service advisor dismissed it as the car needing to “settle,” which I found dubious but initially accepted. Three months later, the cracking had only worsened, spreading throughout the entire interior. It’s now like being surrounded by a chorus of creaks every time I encounter anything but the smoothest highway surfaces. Every door, the roof, the cargo area – they all creak, even with minor acceleration or braking.
When I raised this issue with the dealership, I received the same “wait for it to settle” response. Unsatisfied, I sought a second opinion from another dealership, only to be told, “What did you expect? It’s an SUV.” The service advisor seemed completely unfazed that my brand-new Porsche Cayenne exhibited more interior creaks than my 12-year-old BMW X5. It then dawned on me: Porsche is essentially a Volkswagen in terms of manufacturing culture and tolerance for interior build quality. At this point, I’ve resigned myself to experiencing the interior quality of a $20,000 vehicle in a car that cost five times as much. It’s a disappointing realization, especially knowing that lemon laws in the US typically don’t cover issues related to poor interior craftsmanship.
And the problems aren’t limited to creaking and cracking. The quality of the seat leather is also subpar. In just three months, the wear on my seats is comparable to what I saw in my BMW X5 after 5-7 years. The side bolsters are already showing signs of deformation. And this is with the premium leather and 14-way adjustable seat option. Perhaps I should have opted for the basic seats instead.
Technology: Brilliant Design, Flawed Execution
I must reiterate my praise for Porsche’s elegant integration of LCD screens within a classic dashboard layout, as well as their exceptional user interface (UI) design. For the first time, I’ve encountered a navigation system from a car manufacturer that genuinely rivals Google Maps on my smartphone. The automatic zooming, map rendering, and search functionality are all remarkably well-executed. Furthermore, the virtual instrument cluster (the LCD screen behind the steering wheel) is highly customizable, and I particularly appreciate how information is distributed between the Head-Up Display (HUD) and other screens. Having the navigation map directly in my line of sight has been a long-desired feature, and Porsche has implemented it brilliantly. As a software product manager myself, I have to commend the UI designers at Porsche.
However, my praise ends with the design team. The software and hardware engineers seem to have fallen short in terms of quality implementation. The infotainment system suffers from noticeable lag. Button presses often result in delays ranging from a barely acceptable quarter of a second to a frustrating 2-3 seconds, depending on the button pressed. The search function frequently returns no results initially, only to miraculously find what you’re looking for as you continue typing. Moreover, the UI animations are consistently jerky and lack smoothness, making the entire experience feel like running advanced software on underpowered hardware. Despite my initial optimism, I ultimately abandoned the built-in system in favor of Apple CarPlay. A truly disappointing waste of potential.
The software bugs extend beyond navigation and music. The Cayenne offers a wide array of software-controlled vehicle settings, but the car inconsistently remembers these settings. Chassis settings, for example, are reset every time you restart the car. What is the point of this, Porsche? Are we expected to reconfigure the vehicle to our preferences every single time we start it? Unsurprisingly, we’ve stopped using these features altogether.
But the most infuriating “anti-feature” is the automatic engine stop-start system. While I understand the potential fuel-saving benefits in certain situations, Porsche’s implementation is the worst I’ve ever encountered. It turns the engine off before the car comes to a complete stop! This is not only jarring but also a potential safety hazard. On several occasions, it killed the engine just as I was attempting to slow down for a left turn when there was a small gap in oncoming traffic. It does the same thing at stop signs or when slowing down before sharp turns in mountainous areas. Worst of all, this system cannot be permanently disabled. There is an option to deactivate it, but the car “forgets” this setting every time it’s restarted. Thankfully, there’s an option to assign the engine auto-off function to a steering wheel button, but it’s still an annoyance to have to press that button every time I start the car.
The car does remember some settings (inconsistently) within driver profiles. You can create multiple profiles that can be linked to specific key fobs. However, the automatic key assignment is unreliable. If both you and your spouse are in the vehicle and both have your keys with you, profile confusion is almost guaranteed. After three months of frustrating trial and error, we gave up on profiles altogether and reverted to the old-fashioned method of assigning seat and steering ergonomics to the numbered buttons on the driver’s door. Once again, poor implementation renders a potentially useful feature completely useless.
Another example of Porsche’s software shortcomings is the vehicle’s smartphone integration. A common task is to find a location on your phone and send it to the car’s navigation system. In a Tesla, this takes less than a second. Guess how long it takes to send a location from the Porsche app to the Cayenne? Anywhere from 30 seconds to two hours, and sometimes it simply never appears. Keep in mind, this is a premium feature that requires a monthly subscription fee. Do we use it? Of course not. Meanwhile, numerous car magazines reviewing the 2024 Porsche Cayenne have described its infotainment system as “responsive.” In my experience, it is barely usable, and we primarily use it as a basic CarPlay display.
On a positive note, the smart cruise control is a feature I’ve long desired, and it works exceptionally well in the Cayenne. I’ve been using it regularly for weeks and now have it activated almost 100% of the time during my commute. I find it remarkably reliable, predictable, and quite intelligent. The accident avoidance system (automatic emergency braking) also performs admirably. I’ve safely tested it and found it confidence-inspiring. I also utilize the automatic lane-keeping assist feature. While not fully self-driving, these reliable automation features significantly reduce the chances of minor accidents in traffic. I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but this reliable automation is subtly encouraging me to be more distracted while driving, as the car effectively drives itself for a significant portion of the time. The self-parking ability is another standout feature. Having tried it in a Tesla as well, the Cayenne’s system is significantly better – faster, more reliable, and more reassuring. It’s perplexing that Porsche has mastered these complex driving assistance systems so effectively, yet struggles to send a destination address from a smartphone to the car in a matter of seconds!
The User Manual: A Legal Document Disguised as a Guide
This might be the first car review in history with a dedicated section for the owner’s manual. You have to see it to believe it. Every section, on every topic, regardless of its simplicity, begins with an extensive list of safety warnings, legal disclaimers, and limitations. These legal caveats literally consume about 80% of the manual, making it virtually unreadable. As someone who actually enjoys reading car manuals, I’ve never encountered anything like this before. It feels like a bureaucratic failure within Porsche. Perhaps an unsupervised intern in the legal department went overboard, or maybe it’s a case of outsourced documentation gone horribly wrong.
TLDR: Porsche Cayenne – Great Dynamics Marred by Interior and Software Flaws
Engaging steering, excellent engine and transmission, and well-executed safety and driving assistance systems are highlights of the 2024 Porsche Cayenne. However, the suspension is merely average, the software is well-designed but poorly implemented, and the interior assembly is subpar with some questionable material choices. The owner’s manual reads more like a legal disclaimer for a beachfront property in a hurricane zone than a user guide. I hope this detailed, critical review proves helpful to potential buyers. I certainly would have benefited from a review like this before purchasing the vehicle myself.
