• Great driving position
• High-quality materials
• Lots of customisation options

How is the quality and layout?

Although the interior of the Porsche Cayenne may not have the overwhelmingly luxurious impact of the Bentley Bentayga, it still feels a very special place to be. Everything you touch feels very high quality, and the array of colours and finishes available is far beyond the ordinary, with examples including satin gold inlays and purple leathers.

The modern, screen-dominated control layout generally works well, though you may initially struggle to locate any physical buttons at all, aside from those on the steering wheel. But the illuminated icons on the centre console are set into one giant button that relies on the position of your finger on the surface to decide what you’re trying to do.

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This takes a bit of getting used to – as you need to learn where each icon is without feedback from your fingertips – and you have to press quite hard to activate it. So we’re really not convinced this is a great solution in terms of user-friendliness. But it certainly looks very modern.

Cayennes built after the 2023 update have a smaller gear selector (just like on the Porsche 911) for the automatic transmission, positioned next to the steering wheel rather than between the seats. Also new is a curved 12.6-inch digital instrument cluster that replaces the traditional gauges and does away with a cowl.

Infotainment and tech

The 12.3-inch infotainment display is standard on all Cayennes and features super-crisp graphics with a highly responsive screen. Pinch-and-swipe capability similar to tablets is used to control the navigation mapping featuring real-time traffic information, while a suite of apps and functions are there to extend its functionality.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard, but you’ll have to dive into the options list it you want the convenience of a heated front windscreen or Porsche’s innovative cooled wireless charging pad. This not only charges your phone, but circulates cold air around it in order to prevent overheating. Voice control is available, and works reasonably well unless there’s a lot of background noise.

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If you download the Porsche Connect app you’re able to send sat-nav routes to the car, see how much fuel you have left and pre-heat the Cayenne for cold morning starts. All before leaving the house. This will also connect directly to smart home devices so you can control your household heating or stream data from cameras and other security systems.

For a chunk more money, the front passenger gets the unusual option of their own 10.9-inch information display. This can show films, driving data or other infotainment, with a filtered view that’s intended to prevent it distracting the driver. More screens are available for the rear, should none of your passengers ever want to be sociable.

Comfort

• High seating position
• Comfortable seats
• Can be loud inside at higher speeds

The seats are beautifully made and wonderfully cosseting, with a vast amount of adjustment available for those in the front. This won’t always stop you sliding around if you’re on the slimmer side, as said seats are generously proportioned and the Cayenne is a high-performance machine capable of generating lots of cornering speed.

Still, electric controls for these and the steering wheel adjustment make light work of finding an ideal driving position, and as with all Porsches you should find yourself centred exactly in line with that steering wheel.

Refinement is more than acceptable for the most part, though you will hear more road noise on the motorway due to the large size of the wheels. All of the petrol engines sound fantastic when worked hard – in keeping with that performance car brief – while the E-Hybrids also offer silent running thanks to their substantially useful electric-motor-only driving range.