India Cars

The Cayenne has built up a formidable reputation for itself, with executive-car luxury, sports car ability on tarmac and goat-like prowess off-road. The chin is tucked in, the windscreens are steeply raked with little regard to practicality and a strong shoulder that runs all the way to the tail-light seems to have been given preference over luggage space.

The Cayenne is a monocoque that has sports-car-like double wishbones, air springs, massive 300mm-plus discs and big anti-roll bars on all four wheels and Porsche’s stability management system (like ESP). It weighs a pavement crumbling 2.3 tonnes — the same as two normal cars.

The cabin is very nice, more limousine than sports car, with acres of leather, hugely comfortable seats, and plenty of equipment. Front seat passengers are comfortably seated on very supportive seats, but comfort levels are great at the rear as well, the backrest of the rear seat is a little too vertical.

The Cayenne is available in three guises: the base Cayenne, with a V6, the S, with a V8, and the Turbo, with a blown version of the V8. It’s difficult to call any of them slow, but the star of the range is the hellish Turbo. The top-of-the-line variant is powered by a state-of-the-art V8 with two large turbos to give it some serious wallop, 450bhp of it, at least a 100bhp more than the BMW X5, its closest rival.

Lower the ride height put the dampers on the hardest settings and the Cayenne feels as lithe as a sporting saloon. Transferring less of its weight and in possession of massive grip, with almost 70 percent of torque going to the rear wheels, you can hurl the Porsche around corners at extremely high velocities. Its 2.3-tonne mass shrinks around you and with only 2.7 turn’s lock-to-lock, it’s really easy to place and point the massive Cayenne.

The Porsche Traction Management (PTM) system working along with the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) which ensured that it never wasted an iota of its prodigious torque, applying it where it was needed most.

Raise the suspension, put the dampers on soft and the Porsche will also make for the perfect leather-lined cruiser. Ride quality is really good, enough for a luxury limo. The Cayenne is astoundingly capable, with searing performance, great handling, highly welcome luxury and stunning off-road ability as well.

Porsche-Boxster one of the world’s most celebrated sports cars, the mid-engined Boxster has been universally praised for its handling and (relatively) affordable performance. The suspension has been uprated and goodies like active steering have been tacked on, as well as PASM active suspension.

The new Boxster’s styling is more curved and Coke-bottle in the way the doors are well in-board of the higher, hipper wheel-arches. The headlights are moved further back and are more vertical, like the last 911’s, though the lens covers are flatter and the fog-lights now separate across the upper section of the large front cooling vents. The S also gets a signature, thin central front vent and twin oval exhaust pipe.

It has Carrera GT-like headlamps and new side air-intakes. This is the first roadster to get head airbags. The cabin has been changed drastically, and now feels like a really up market cockpit, with traditional Porsche instrumentation but a modern, Cayenne-like centre console. The car accelerates to 100 kph in 5.5 seconds flat. Porsche literature gives a 100-200 kph time of 19.4 seconds.

The Boxster comes with a choice of two engines, a 2.7-litre flat six and a more powerful 3.2-litre boxer engine. The latter is equipped to deliver 266PS (at 6200rpm) and comes with a new 6-speed manual transmission. There is also the option of a 5-speed Triptronic S transmission. The 2.7-litre flat-six offers 228PS but is just as exhilarating to drive. Both engines feature Porsche’s VarioCam variable valve timing gear plus a Bosch Motronic injection system. Unlike the 911, the engine in the Boxster is mounted in the middle of the chassis endowing the car with a near neutral balance. The Boxster exhibits the same flat cornering attitude which many have come to associate with Porsches and its ride quality borders on the firm when being hustled while pottering in town it is quite comfortable. The Boxster rides on 18-inch alloys shod with 225/40 ZR 18 tyres up front and wider 265/35 ZR18 tyres on the rear.

The S version uses a 276bhp 3.2-litre flat six, good enough to take the car to 266kph. Its high 7200rpm red line, and works very well with the outstanding six-speed manual gearbox, now made better than ever. It works effortlessly and eagerly, as easy to drive in traffic as on a track.

It is super-precise around corners, and the car pretty much reads your mind when you drive. The Boxster S slices beautifully through mountain roads, aided by incredible brakes and a firm but refined ride. The only letdown is the active steering system: at low speeds, the steering feels lighter, fuzzy around the on-centre position, so that on first turning the wheel the steering seems slower and the car less nimble.

The Porsche 911 is finally in India. Porsche officially launching its entire range in the country. The 911 Carrera S has a more powerful engine. The shape is instantly recognisable, and prettier, having dropped the previous version’s runny-egg headlamps in favour of traditional ovals.  The chassis has been updated as well, with better safety equipment, upgraded suspension and better chassis electronics.

The quality of the interiors is top-class. Neat and perfectly formed, the powered seats are supportive and you can spend hours behind the wheel happily, with every creature comfort available. Look around the cabin and you will find a small button that operates the active damper system that adjusts both the ride height and the electronically controlled dampers. Drivers can choose between two settings - a comfort-style setting that has a slightly softer ride quality till the driver starts hustling her when the system automatically adopts a tauter stance and a track biased Sport setting wherein the dampers cancel out pitch and yaw and make for a faster track tool. The rear seats, if you can call them that, are only for kids, unless the front passenger is willing to be really cramped. But on the whole, this is a surprisingly user-friendly super car.

The 350mm Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) are the ultimate word in braking systems and are gripped by four-piston calipers finished in yellow (red are for the standard 300mm steel discs). Power is channeled to the rear wheels by either a six-speed manual or in our case a Tiptronic auto ‘box that has a manual over-ride via toggle switches on the steering wheel.

The new Porsche 911 Carrera S’ motor is sharp, nasal and deep at low engine speeds. A 3.8-litre flat-six, the engine makes a terrifying 355bhp, enough for over 280kph, and spine-snapping acceleration. The gearbox is one of the best around, and the performance will make distances seem half as long. The car was fitted with the Sports Chrono package that allows the driver to set various parameters (revs, throttle response etc) to suit his driving style and mood.

The 911 is an exceptional driver’s car, with blade-sharp, perfectly-weighted steering, excellent, multi-mode PASM active suspension.

The S version that puts out the aforesaid 355bhp of power and 400Nm of torque from the 3824cc, four valves per cylinder, variable valve timed and switch able intake manifold equipped boxer six. All of which rockets the Carrera S to 100kmph in 4.8sec, 160kmph in 10.7sec, 200kmph in 16.5sec and a top speed of 293kmph. The S has an incredibly low centre of gravity due to that flat six motor, and with its engine slung out back, its full weight over the rear wheels in time-honoured tradition, there’s fantastic traction from the fat, 295 tyres at the rear.

Aiding aforesaid track work is variable ratio rack and pinion steering that’s brilliantly responsive and direct making the 911 feel like a racing car. While the standard 911 comes with 18-inch wheels, our S was shod with the full-on 19-inch wheels running 235/35 and massive 295/30 Michelin Pilot Sports. In fact check out any 911 from the rear and she looks awesome riding on those impossibly wide tyres.