The Exceptional Ride Comfort of the New Cayenne

In September this year, when we test-drove the new Cayenne at the Porsche Center, both my spouse and I were genuinely surprised by how incredibly comfortable the ride was. Until then, the top of my list for ride comfort was the “971 Panamera” (though I haven’t driven that many cars to begin with), but the new Cayenne felt several times more comfortable.

ポルシェ 新型カイエン 試乗レビュー

…or rather, it was in a league of its own.

How is the ride so good? It’s “firm in the suspension, yet incredibly soft and smooth”, with hardly any sensation of bumps or shocks from the road, as if gliding effortlessly on rails. Yet it’s not floaty; you still feel firmly connected to the road.

The rear seats were also very comfortable. I had always thought that “the rear seats of SUVs feel like you’re riding a bus, swaying around”, but that was not the case at all. I actually thought, “It’s totally fine to take long tours sitting in the back seat!”

Regarding the ride comfort of the base model new Cayenne (with coil springs, no PASM), Matsutoya-san said this in his test drive review on Car Graphic TV:

The moment you start driving, you realize it’s a luxury car. The suspension feels so supple, it’s hard to believe it’s running on such wide tires. I’m not sure if it’s right to say it’s un-Porsche-like, but I wonder if it’s okay to make it this luxurious and comfortable. (Omitted) It’s amazing how you can be fooled into thinking it has air suspension… It’s a strange feeling. It’s a Porsche, right? It doesn’t have air suspension, yet the ride is like that.

If even Matsutoya-san says this, the ride comfort of the new Cayenne must be truly exceptional.

The Cayenne I Can’t Forget

Since test-driving the new Cayenne, a bit of a problem has arisen at home. “Cars I used to think had good ride comfort now feel uncomfortable.” Especially our Volkswagen Golf 7. It’s still a great car, but whereas before I sometimes thought, “If we have the Golf, do we really need a Panamera?”, now I find myself wondering, “Wait, was it always this bumpy? Did we change the tire pressure?”

Even with the Panamera, while the ride isn’t bad at all, sometimes I catch myself thinking “The smoothness just can’t compare to the Cayenne.” In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have test-driven the new Cayenne. (…but that’s probably not true)

The other day, my husband said this:

After riding the new Cayenne and being amazed by its ride comfort, my standards for car comfort have changed drastically. I used to think, “Panamera and Boxster have completely different ride comfort and belong to totally different categories,” but after driving the new Cayenne, I feel like “Panamera is also a sports car, in the same category as the Boxster.” I can’t find a good analogy though.

I asked, “Is it like thinking 500-yen meat and 2,000-yen meat are totally different, but after eating 10,000-yen meat, you realize 500 and 2,000 yen are basically the same? (Though I’ve never eaten such expensive meat)”

Hmm, I don’t really get that analogy either, but yeah, something like that.

He said (-_-) (Really?)

Since then, my husband can’t help but compare every other car’s ride comfort to the Cayenne’s, and he just can’t forget it. That said, replacing the Golf with a Cayenne would be way too extravagant…

That said, since the Golf’s inspection is due next year, who knows where we’ll be this time next year…