Last month we brought you pictures and video of hotshoe Walter Rohrl testing a new mystery Porsche Cayenne Coupe on the racetrack. We only knew bits of information, but now Porsche has told us more starting with its insanely good Nurburgring lap time. It will be officially named and unveiled "soon," says Porsche.
Test driver Lars Kern was behind the wheel at the 12.9-mile, 160-turn "Green Hell" and came back with a stopwatch that said 7 minutes, 38.925 seconds. That is good enough to stand as the fastest SUV, off-road vehicle, van or pickup. We're assuming SUV is the key here, as vans, off-road vehicles and pickups, besides maybe the F-150 Lightning, wouldn't stand a chance. It took the record from VW Group sibling and platform-mate, the Audi RS Q8.
"Over the first few meters of the Nordschleife in this Cayenne, you're tempted to turn around to make sure that you're really sitting in a spacious SUV. Its high steering precision and stoically stable rear axle gave me a lot of confidence in the Hatzenbach section," said Lars Kern, who was present for long periods of the car's development, of his record drive.
"It changed direction at lightning speed in the fast curves such as between Hohe Acht and Eiskurve, with no wobble and no tendency to understeer. Even in this technical stretch, the Cayenne is a real driver's car that is easy to control," said Kern. "The wheels normally leave the ground at both the Pflanzgarten I and II crests, but these sections felt smooth and quiet in this Cayenne. There is a lot of wheel travel, and the body stays solid and controlled."
That time puts the Cayenne Turbo Coupe right in front of the 997 Porsche 911 Turbo and right behind the Lexus LFA. Like we said, good company.
The performance tires used for the record lap were 22-inch Pirelli P Zero Corsas that were specially developed for the new Cayenne model and will be fitted as standard. Porsche is being cagey about the engine, but promises more than 600 hp and a 0-60 mph sprint time right around the 992 GT3 time of 3.2 seconds.
It's based on the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe, which houses a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 making 541 hp and 567 lb-ft with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission. If this one goes over 600 hp, possibly to 630 hp as we predicted, it should feel much faster than the base Turbo. For the record, that car costs $132,000 before destination, so this one, faster and more limited, should easily eclipse that. We'll find out the name and more details soon.
Check out the video of Rohrl talking about new Porsche below.