Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe

Porsche’s Cayenne joins the coupe SUV party, but what – if anything – does it mean for the driving experience?

- Antony Ingram

HERE ARE TWO WAYS OF looking at the Porsche Cayenne Coupe. The first is as a big, dumb lump of ostentation, ammunition for the kind of people who would ban cars altogether if they could, and as an object of dubious style over substance bought not for any semblance of practicality like a regular Cayenne might be, but purely for whatever image you think it projects about yourself.

The other is, like all Cayennes that have come before it, as Porsche’s cash cow, but one without cynicism, engineered to the same exacting standards and dynamic sensibilities as any other car from Stuttgart, even if it’s conceptually as far from a Boxster or 911 as it’s possible to get.

And after an hour or so behind the wheel, your thoughts drift inexorably from the first school of thought to the second. It’s still large, brash and deeply vulgar, but if circumstances or desire lead you to buy an SUV, few are better suited to those who actually enjoy driving than one made by Porsche.