AMAZON-TRENDING

The world was a different place when the original Porsche Cayenne hit dealers in 2002. The internet was barely a thing for most Americans, Ferrari’s single-clutch paddle shifters were considered cutting-edge, and the term “performance SUV” hadn’t been invented.

The Cayenne changed the SUV landscape, giving enthusiasts hope that big, useful utility vehicles could also evoke joy behind the wheel. And 22 years later, even the base V-6-powered Cayenne is proof that practicality and fun aren’t mutually exclusive.

Spotting a 2024 Cayenne is tough unless you know what to look for. Its overall design appears nearly identical to the outgoing model, with only minor changes to things like the headlights, taillights, and bumpers. Only the most eagle-eyed will spot changes like the reshaped fenders and hoodline. The old Cayenne wasn’t an ugly car, and this model continues the trend with sleek, sporty lines reminding you that, yes, this is still a Porsche.

The easiest way to spot a 2024 model is to peek inside. The cabin’s gone through an extensive revision that’s heavy on the tech. In front of the steering wheel sits a new 12.6-inch curved digital display that acts as the gauge cluster. It pairs with a 12.3-inch infotainment screen in the center of the dash. Between the two screens is where you’ll find the tiny gear selector, a design borrowed from the 918 Spyder hypercar.

Things get more controversial farther down the center stack. The two columns of buttons flanking either side of the shifter are gone, replaced by a single cluster of buttons that include rockers for climate control and a knob for volume control. Other items, like seat heating and climate functions, are controlled by buttons. But they’re not normal buttons, nor are they touch-sensitive buttons. When you press down on any button, the entire cluster of buttons moves down, as if it were just one huge physical button.

Pros: Solid Design, Best-Handling SUV In The Class, Even the Base Model Is Capable

It’s a strange middle ground that aims to draw the line between the last-gen car’s touch-sensitive, haptic-feedback buttons (which, presumably, everyone hated) and individual physical buttons, which would probably cost a lot more to make. The design takes a bit to get used to, but you forget about it after a few hours. The resulting fingerprint-covered buttons are tougher to ignore, however.

The rest of the interior is a lovely place to spend time. The seats are comfortable, supportive, and provide an extremely wide range of adjustability. It’s one of the few driver’s seats where I don’t immediately hit the lowest-to-the-floor setting while trying to find my optimal driving position. Everything you touch feels solid, well-built, and expensive. We’d recommend steering away from the Mojave Beige interior color found in our tester, though. It might be a nice pairing for the Montego Blue Metallic exterior paint, but it scuffs easily and too closely resembles the color of human skin.

The turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 under the hood is a similarly nice thing, with good initial pickup and consistent torque delivery. It’s not an especially memorable engine, but it’s effective and mostly unobtrusive. Same goes for the transmission, a smooth-shifting eight-speed torque converter that’s standard across the range. The Cayenne remains the only combustion-powered vehicle in Porsche’s lineup not to receive the company’s holy PDK, but for good reason: The traditional automatic allows for a towing capacity of 7,700 pounds, even for this base model. Plenty for getting your race car and trailer to the track and back.

Even when it’s not pulling a big trailer, the Cayenne impresses. This SUV stands tall as the best-handling, most satisfying vehicle in its segment, and it’s not even close. Nowhere else can you find a base-model car this size that delivers as much joy to the person behind the wheel. It’s no 911, obviously, but for something this tall weighing 4,678 pounds, it’s a treat.

Steering feel is one of the most noticeable ways to draw a connection between Porsche’s sports car and its big SUV; the Cayenne’s steering rack is nearly as feelsome as you’d find in a new 911 Carrera. A more-distant sense of road feel and different choices with bushing materials stop the Cayenne’s rack from feeling truly like a sports car, but it’s certainly the best steering you’ll get in a car shaped like this. Rear-wheel steering, a $1,280 option, further improves agility at low speeds, effectively shortening the wheelbase so that three-point turns are kept to a minimum. If all you’re doing is commuting to work, though, you can safely skip it.

Cons: Base V-6 Isn’t Exciting, Ride May Be Too Stiff For Some

The tradeoff for the Cayenne’s superior handling is a noticeably stiff ride. Even in the standard adaptive suspension’s softest mode, more bumps come into the cabin versus something like a Genesis GV80 or Volvo XC90. Our tester had the $2,390 optional air springs, which delivered smooth, settled body control and several ride heights to help with things like fuel efficiency and off-roading. But even with the air ride, don’t expect a truly luxurious experience.

The 2024 Cayenne starts at $80,850 including destination, nearly 10 percent more than before. Porsche justifies the increase by adding a bunch of previously optional items as standard. Things like variable steering, heated front seats, wireless phone charging, memory seats, and comfort access now come included with every Cayenne.

Still, there’s no such thing as a base Porsche. Like any new Cayenne you’ll find on the dealer lot, this test vehicle arrived stacked with options—more than $15,000 worth. Depending on where you live, you might be able to get away without the air suspension. We’d also be fine without the two-tone leather interior and the Sport Chrono package, priced at $4,180 and $1,110, respectively. The ventilated seats ($850) and the premium package ($3,590) are worth it, though. That package gets you things like a Bose sound system, adaptive cruise control, heated rear seats, and a panoramic glass roof.

No matter which options it’s equipped with, the 2024 Cayenne is a lovely machine that checks a lot of boxes. It’s a good-looking car that’s quick enough for most people, and more enjoyable to drive than its competitors. Sure, it’s a bit more expensive than some vehicles in its segment, but you can feel where your money is going as soon as you sit inside and start driving.

Competitors

BMW X5 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Genesis GV80

More on Porsche’s Lovely SUV

The 2025 Porsche Cayenne Is Way More Expensive Than Last Year
The New Porsche Cayenne GTS Has More Power
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Well here it is. Like the four-door M3 CS before it, we knew the M4 CS would arrive. As the Brits say, this CS does exactly what’s on the tin. That means sandwiching between the top-line CSL and the Competition badge just a rung below.

Our hero coupe rings up at $124,675. It’s spendier than the Competition trim, of course. It’s also slightly more powerful, lighter, and faster overall. The inverse is also true; The CS undercuts CSL on price, but can’t match the hard-edged focus of BMW’s limited-production halo car.

To nail its Goldilocks blend, the CS borrows from each of its brothers. It takes CSL odds and ends to decrease weight and increase visual punch. Take for example the gorgeous carbon-fiber center console, a carbon-composite hood, and titanium exhaust resonator. All are used to cut pounds and mix some CSL flavor into the CS (plus amortize the costs of those swanky CSL components). All said, the CS weighs 77 pounds less than the xDrive Competition.

From the M4 xDrive Competition, the CS borrows its rear-biased all-wheel drive system (called xDrive), setting the CS apart from the rear-drive CSL. We’ve long considered the xDrive Competition the standard bearer of the M3/M4 lineup. It remains the best value, so far as nipping the heels of supercars is concerned; A Nissan GT-R by way of Bavaria.

Of course, BMW’s ubiquitous 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six lives under the hood. You’ll know the engine by sound alone—every M4 sounds like you’ve stuffed tube socks up its tailpipes. This one’s no different.

The CS’s ‘six lays down 543 horses at 6,250 rpm and 479 pound-feet from 2,750 to 5,950 rpm. That’s up 20 horsepower from the Competition while maintaining the S58 engine’s trademark torque curve—flat and long as a salt bed.

From one perspective, the CS is a budget CSL. From another, it’s simply a more-capable M4 Competition. Both are correct, but I’d give the edge to “CSL-lite.”

For all its extra lightweighting, visual fizz, and trim-specific touches, the CSL laps a race track only marginally quicker, making the M4 CS the second-fastest production Bimmer to ever snake through Hatzenbach, blitzing its way to a 7:21.99 ‘Ring time. That’s less than four seconds off the CSL.

Over a lap that long (more than 12 miles), that four-second disparity could be down to atmospheric conditions, spring rate, tire pressure, or something so marginal we wouldn’t think to consider it. From the perspective of a pit-wall stopwatch, these cars are identical.

That plays out in their handling too. Whether RWD or AWD, the M4 lays down power equally well. From a dig, the xDrive M4 holds a traction and acceleration advantage over the CSL, but I don’t think there’s much between the two drivetrain layouts otherwise, from either performance or experiential perspectives.

Pros: Track Performance, Big Power, Bigger Grip

Probably because these coupes both ride on Michelin’s uber-gummy Cup 2Rs (though they’re optional on the CS), sized 275/35 up front and 285/30 out back. The CS wrap its French rubber around a set of multi-spoke wheels in matte gold or black, complimenting the four available paint colors: Riviera Blue (think Smurfs), Frozen Isle of Man Green (think dusty cloverleaf), Brooklyn Grey Metallic (think anodized steel), and Sapphire Black Metallic (self-explanatory). All four paint colors were on hand for comparison, and after ample consideration, we’ll take ours in blinged-out Vader spec: black on gold.

BMW gathered its multicolored fold of CS testers at Austria’s Salzburgring, which lives on the aptly named Jochen Rindt Strasse, just over the German border. After an opportunity to sprint the coupes down some derestricted autobahn, we headed to the track to poke at this BMW’s track-day bona fides.

Of course the CS takes to track work like wildfire.

The eight-speed automatic works flawlessly, cracking off quick, precise upshifts down Salzburgring’s back straight, under full engine power. Then the transmission hits equally swift, settled downshifts when braking deep into Salzburgring’s tricky and high-speed turn 11.

At this track and any other, however, you’ll want to select your own gears via the paddle shifters. The ECU gets behind the ball when you need power the most, often a gear (or even two) too high when digging out of the Salzbugring’s low-speed chicanes.

The brakes performed flawlessly too. Carbon-ceramics are available, as are a set of standard “M Compound” brakes with calipers in either red or black; The ceramics are available with red- or gold-finish calipers. Either are well-suited to track work.

xDrive provides buckets of grip on corner exit, but never penalizes with torque steer or push, regardless of how clumsily or heavily you pick up the throttle. Whether or not you care about lap times, xDrive is the correct choice for the M4. It makes ultimate lap times that much easier to reach, bestowing ultimate confidence on the meatbag behind the steering wheel.

If the CS has one flaw, it’s the M Carbon bucket seats. They’re suburb-looking things with a cool fabric insert running up the seatback. The thrones are fully power adjustable. They’re heated. They’re gorgeous. They’re just not very comfortable. And for many peoples’ frames, they won’t provide enough support in fast corners and they’ll ache your backside on long road trips.

Every member of the BMW M4 family goes quick enough to stress your breathing in high-speed corners. Hardcore trackday bros will yearn for a deeper, single-piece bucket like Porsche offers in its RS products. Without an option that extreme, they’ll opt for something with Recaro or Sparco embroidered high on the fixed seatback.

We drove another BMW M car prototype alongside the CS. Same track, back to back. The prototype’s adjustable-bolster seats offered exceeding support for your torso and far, far more comfort via plush leather and a deep well of under-seat padding. Track speeds were similar between the two cars, but I felt far more secure driving the prototype on track.

Your body type and experience will vary. Just give the CS a good long test drive before you decide for yourself.

From one perspective, the CS is a budget CSL. From another, it’s simply a more-capable M4 Competition.

Overall, it was a marvelous little stint at the Salzburgring.

The CS’s Michelin Cup 2Rs are masterful things when the weather allows. There’s a sliver of happy Narnia, right in the tires’ useful operating window, a magic spot between unwieldy ice-cold marbles and useless gooey campfire mallows.

With ambient temperatures just cresting 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Salzburg, the M4 worked its 2Rs into that happy zone within maybe three-quarters of a lap. There they lived for the remainder of our short lapping sessions, which isn’t always a given; Think of these tires as the ones you’d throw on for a qualifying session. They’re not here for a long time; they’re here to nail a fast one.

The 2Rs bite right after the first greasy smidge of slip, a sensation you feel through the CS’s steering wheel as a kind of grainy buzzing rumble. The sensation gives way only when you’ve asked too much from the M4’s front end. It’s not the most-feelsome steering in the CS (and I don’t consider the 2R’s as most-feelsome things either), but the CS offers enough of the right feedback through your hands and haunches to get you up to speed on a new track within mere corners. That’s the mark of a confident sports sedan.

There are no surprises beyond its grip, either. The M4 is surefooted and stupid-quick in any guise. The CS just offers a bit more.

Cons: Hard Seats, Expensive Rubber, High MSRP

That’s what you get with this CSL-lite. A bit more spring. A bit more damper. A bit more roll bar. More-direct and responsive steering and probably the best-looking exterior in the fold. It’s not much, but it’s not nothing.

I’ve had maybe a hundred racetrack laps across every trim level in the M4 portfolio, and the CS’s front end does feel a smidge more eager to turn in than any of the lesser M4 variants. It telegraphs a bit more road feel and transmits a bit more noise to the driver. And as far as a difference in on-track character to the CSL, there’s mere inches between the two cars. Not miles.

The M4 CS’s interior feels appropriately spruced for the price. There’s a new steering wheel with a flat bottom and a slash of red fabric at 12 o’clock, a pair of carbon shift paddles sat just behind the wheel’s rim. It feels special in there, far more special than a similarly priced Porsche 911 and funkier than the equivalent Mercedes or Audi, with plenty of “///M” fanfare to satisfy the type of buyer who’d spring well beyond six figures for a Bavarian track special.

Does the CS justify the price delta between its siblings? For me, it doesn’t. The M4 Competition xDrive offers 90 percent of the CS’s performance, but I’d give up time at the track to save thirty-six grand ($88,300 MSRP).

In the context of the CSL, however, you’d have to say the CS does justify its asking price. The pair are equally fast on a racetrack and look identical from 10 feet away. For my money, the CSL doesn’t feel any more special than the CS.

If you have to have the bestest, baddest M4 on the lot, this is your huckleberry, as the limited-run CSL is all gone. If value enters the equation, then the competent, supercar-quick M4 xDrive Competition beckons.

Competitors

Audi RS5 Mercedes-AMG C63 S

More BMW Reviews

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The Chevrolet Silverado EV will get the job done. It lives up to its impressive range figures, has a trick “midgate” that adds genuine functionality, and enough onboard power to juice up tools, camping gear, or even your home. But all of this capability comes at a price—literally and figuratively.

This truck weighs about 9,000 pounds. Its ride, at least in RST form, is compromised as a result. And the interior doesn’t feel worthy of a hundred-grand price tag. For that kind of money, I’m not sure this particular Silverado EV works. The competition will still find this truck a tough nut to crack, though, because of what it offers in spades: capability.

The Silverado EV is GM’s first electric pickup aimed at doing real work. Small numbers of the base work truck, the WT, are already out on the road. Now the automaker has unveiled the upscale RST model, the equipment-laden top trim designed for regular people (with six figures lying around) to use every day.

Let’s start with what the Silverado gets right, because its specs are impressive. The battery pack is 213.7 kilowatt-hours gross, with a usable capacity of around 204 kilowatt-hours. This behemoth amount of energy is a vital piece of the puzzle. To convince pickup buyers to go electric, you need to have more than enough range and the ability to charge quickly. This pack enables both of those things, with 350 kilowatts fast charging and more range than any of its competition; 440 miles. The power and torque this pack can provide are also impressive: 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque.

The big battery also addresses issues with trailering. It’s reasonable to expect any electric truck’s range will be sliced almost in half while pulling a heavy load. The Silverado can tow up to 10,000 pounds, which is a lot. With that much stuff dragging behind you, it would be best if you didn’t have to stop to charge on the way to your destination at all. This is how Chevy attempts to address the charging-with-a-trailer problem: by mitigating it all together with massive amounts of range.

Pros: Class-Shattering Range, Impressive Capability, Spacious Interior

But the battery is long, thick, and heavy. As such, the truck needs a long wheelbase. That’s fine, the RST has rear-wheel steering to get the turning circle down to around a Chevy Bolt’s. But if you put regular-sized wheels and tires on it, the Silverado would look like, well, when an orthopedic shoe and a longboard love each other very much…

To fix this issue, 24-inch wheels come standard—and the proportions now look acceptable. But now each spinning corner of the truck probably weighs more than a hundred pounds. That’s a lot of unsprung inertia. The heavy electric drive units are also mounted to subframes, which like to move around with respect to the body.

There is no amount of adaptive air suspension or magnetic shocks in Senior Editor Chris Perkins’s wildest dreams to solve this problem. In any of its three suspension settings, this truck finds a way to be upset with the road surface. In its softest mode, it never really settles, undulating over rises and dips. Its default setting is borderline acceptable, but still not very good. In sport mode—yes, one of the heaviest pickups ever produced has a sport setting for the suspension—you would notice if you ran over Osmosis Jones.

The weight also affects the performance. That 754 hp is a lot for any truck, and once you get this thing going fast, there’s an almost alarming sense of mass. Launch control, the so-called Wide Open Watts mode (WOW), is impressive, sort of like one of those Raytheon drone missiles with the pop-out katanas. You don’t want to get in its way. A sway left or right under hard acceleration hits you right in the confidence, with corrections demanding a delicate touch.

Though it’s arguably not in step with a $100,000 price tag, the Silverado’s interior works well. Heated and cooled seats are available in the RST with a large 17.0-inch infotainment screen and an 11.0-inch digital instrument cluster. These components are shared with several other EVs in GM’s lineup, sure, but with a built-in suite of Google apps and services like Maps and Assistant, it all works without lag or fuss.

Thanks to that long wheelbase, rear legroom is also plentiful. The cabin’s flat floor, in combination with its large glass roof, makes for a pleasant—if not artfully adorned—place to spend time. This is a pickup truck, and if you don’t like this one, a different interior will exist in the form of the GMC Sierra EV.

Wind noise is one thing that can’t be avoided with such a massive front fascia, and it will naturally get worse if you decide to crack open the “midgate,” a convertible panel at the body’s rear bulkhead separating the cab from the bed. That said, the utility the midgate offers is huge. This truck’s ability to carry up to 1,500 pounds of extended loads is almost unparalleled, and if a bed cap is added, the Silverado EV will doubtlessly have one of the largest usable cargo bays of any pickup.

Dispensing energy for other things is also possible. 10.2 kW of electricity can be accessed from receptacles in the bed—a ton of power that can be sustained for a very long time. GM showed off this capability by powering a large camper towed behind the vehicle. Around 50 amps at 120 volts, if the label on the camper itself was accurate. That’s only about 6.0 kW, so the truck still had quite a lot of power to give.

Cons: Poor Ride And Handling, High Price Tag

In short, the huge battery is great for so many things. What a shame the Silverado has to weigh four and a half tons as a result.

Altogether, this truck adds up to something impressive. It brings the heat to its competition in almost every key metric. Is that enough to look past its flaws? I think most people, especially fleet customers, will be able to see right through the weight, ride, and handling, in WT trim.

In a high-trim RST truck like this, I’m not so sure. If you want a big tough electric behemoth, you can already get a Hummer EV, and the GMC Sierra EV will also be out soon, too. The Silverado EV could be a winner, but I don’t think many people will be willing to shell out so much dough for a truck that doesn’t feel like a hundred grand on the inside, or feel like a hundred grand to drive. Once the price reaches the astronomical heights of the RST, it leaves something to be desired, especially compared to its ICE competition.

Competitors

Ford F-150 Lighting Rivian R1T Tesla Cybertruck

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“We have a few minutes before we head back to base—wanna go one more time?”

My GoPro was dead, and no one was filming. I’d been off-roading for about six and a half hours already. I definitely had a solid impression of what the refreshed F-150 Raptor R was all about, and I didn’t need to drive more.

“Oh my God, absolutely.”

I buried the Raptor’s accelerator pedal and let the supercharged V-8 turn a lake bed into silt for the fourth time in a row, swinging wide of traffic-cone apexes, three-quarters sideways, with the four-wheel-drive on and the exhaust baffles wide open. I grinned like a lunatic.

This truck is the best enabler of irresponsible behavior.

Now, I did have to test it a little, to be fair. The Raptor R is mildly updated under the hood for 2024. Ford dosed the intake with some Claritin, and breathing easier added 20 horsepower for a berserk total of 720—but what’s more important is what didn’t change. The same 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 resides in the bay, and with the V-8 Ram TRX biting the dust for 2024, the Raptor R stands 300 horsepower above its only other V-8 competition, the 420 horsepower Silverado ZR2.

The Raptor R is the pinnacle of a (supposedly) dying breed, and it flies the V-8 flag proudly. Its exhaust note and supercharger whine is worth the price of admission; Getting the most-powerful half-ton truck ever built is the icing on the cake. The 20 added horsepower allow the Raptor R to take the crown from the previous record-holding 702-horsepower Ram TRX.

Pros: Incredible Sound, Magical Fox Suspension, Most Powerful Half-Ton Ever

The more exciting update, however, is in the wheel wells. Fox and Ford teamed up to revise the Raptor’s Live Valve suspension, which updates valving characteristics on the fly depending on drive mode and driving style. The new Dual Live Valve system works under compression and rebound (previously, it was only on compression). The new shocks are standard on any Raptor with 37-inch tires and all Raptor Rs.

These shocks and redesigned CV axles allow Ford engineers to squeeze another half inch of travel out of the front suspension, for a maximum 13.5 inches. A new modular front bumper with an updated front fascia, rad Raptor R graphics, and a standard heads-up display—with one of the coolest shift light systems on the market—round out the changes.

Though I didn’t have an old single Live Valve truck to compare back-to-back, the Dual Live Valve system feels downright magical at speed. It’s easiest to notice in moments when sideways on a dry lake bed—with the two outside shocks under compression and two shocks on the inside wheels in rebound. Both sets of opposing dampers are managed by the ECU hundreds of times a second now. This allowed Ford engineers to dial in the truck’s response to body roll, which they did well. It felt like I could yaw the truck at will just with my own two feet when I had it sideways already.

You don’t have to be sideways to notice that the suspension feels magic, either. The Raptor R skims over whoops at speeds that would shatter lesser trucks, and thanks to those standard 37-inch tires, it makes short work of any rock crawling scenario. And, of course, the R’s suspension still absorbs a high-speed jump so smoothly you’ll be uncertain when, exactly, you landed.

The new suspension bestows enormous confidence in the dirt. All 720 horsepower feel eminently manageable thanks to the precise and accurate body control bestowed by the rebound control. We didn’t air back up for the brief jaunt back to base, so ride quality on the street was best described as… driving a pickup on aired-down 37-inch mud-terrains. Vague, to say the least.

As I headed back to base, I took note of the Raptor R’s interior amenities. In addition to the new head-up display, Raptor R buyers get heated and cooled Recaro seats, a 12.0-inch center touchscreen running Ford’s Sync 4 operating system, and a 12.0-inch digital gauge cluster. Road and wind noise are well-managed despite the massive tires, and the supercharger whine and exhaust note quiet down heavily in normal driving with the electronic baffles closed.

Cons: F-150 Cabin In A $110,000 Truck, Somewhat Vague On-Road Steering

The interior is pleasant overall, but it still looks like a nice F-150 inside. This is acceptable at the base Raptor’s $80,325 sticker, but it’s a little harder to stomach at the Raptor R’s $112,220 base price. (However, the cabin is much more becoming of a six-figure price tag than GM’s six-figure off-road-focused Hummer EV).

But where else are you getting a snarling, whining supercharged V-8 pickup for 110 grand right now? Nowhere. We live in the final throes of the V-8 era, and the Raptor R has the best muscle-car drivetrain anyone could ask for—packaged inside a trophy truck you can put license plates on. The interior could look like a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe and it wouldn’t matter to me.

This truck is for people who want to drive 100 miles an hour on single-track desert roads while heralding their arrival with an exhaust note that sounds like a flock of bald eagles. For 2024, the Raptor R does that even better, and that’s what matters.

Competitors

Ram 1500 RHO

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2021 Ford F-150 Raptor First Drive Review: Bird Of Prey
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