Heading to Nara and Wakayama in the Cayenne

The other day, my family and I visited Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine. It was just before the state of emergency was declared, but since it had been planned for a long time, I’m glad we managed to go at the last minute.

Our family doesn’t go for the traditional New Year’s shrine visit on January 1st. There’s no deep reason, but both my husband and I dislike crowds and waiting in lines, so we avoid places where people gather densely, like “cherry blossom viewing,” “festivals,” “fireworks,” and “theme parks,” or if we do go, we try to visit at off-peak times.

So, usually we’d go for our first shrine visit of the year to Kumano Nachi Taisha around February, but this year, given the current situation, it ended up being quite a late first visit.

…Well, by April it’s no longer really a first shrine visit, just a regular visit…

Until now, when visiting Kumano Nachi Taisha, we mainly took the highway to Wakayama, then drove around along the coast near Shirahama.

However, Wakayama’s highways south of Arita IC have many stretches of single-lane two-way traffic for about 50 km, so my husband and I often talked about how “driving slowly for 50 km every time is pretty tiring,” and that although the coastal roads after exiting the highway are stunningly beautiful, “they tend to have quite a lot of traffic.”

So, we decided, “This time, let’s try a different route!” We chose to cross the Kii Peninsula from Nara via Route 168 to Shingu, then take Route 311 to Kumano Nachi Taisha.

Driving the Cayenne through breathtaking scenery

The weather was great and traffic was light, so this drive was incredibly enjoyable. Honestly, it was probably the best drive I’ve ever experienced.

First of all, we were blessed with good weather.

I’m well known as a “rain woman” — whenever I go somewhere, it usually ends up “pouring rain,” “heavy rain,” “heavy snow,” or “thick fog,” so I often drive feeling a bit disappointed.

A visit to Fuji Speedway in March

But strangely, whenever I visit Kumano Nachi Taisha, despite being a rain woman, it always clears up. This time too, I was amazed thinking, “Driving on a sunny day feels this wonderful!”

Plus, it was the perfect season of fresh spring greenery. I’d never driven through such beautiful fresh green landscapes before, so being surrounded by mountains painted in various shades of green with a majestic river flowing below was truly a blessing.

My husband noticed how thrilled I was and said,

“It’s true that our past family drives often had bad weather or the timing was off, so the scenery wasn’t very pretty. When I go touring, it’s usually like this though, so you can understand why I say it’s refreshing, fun, and I still want to keep driving.”

Also, the roads on Routes 168 and 311 were excellent. With tight corners, wide straight stretches, and moderate curves, we enjoyed a variety of driving experiences, and I was delighted thinking, “I didn’t realize there were such beautiful roads in the Kinki region…”

This trip reaffirmed that the Cayenne SUV can deliver a thoroughly enjoyable driving experience.

By stiffening the suspension one notch, the car feels more muscular with less body roll in tight corners, and switching to Sport mode on smooth, wide roads sharpens the engine response, making it drive surprisingly agile for an SUV.

Above all, the Cayenne E-Hybrid’s acceleration is incredibly satisfying. The instant torque the moment you press the pedal is fantastic and fast.

However, on narrow roads, there were some tricky moments passing other vehicles, and I thought it would be incredibly fun to drive a more compact, nimble manual transmission car on these roads.

By the way, my husband said about this Cayenne drive,

“It’s been a while since I toured country roads in the Cayenne, but it’s really fun. Even driving with the family, I never get bored, and the handling is enjoyable. Fundamentally, I think it targets a different kind of SUV experience than other brands. I bet it’d be even more fun driving solo. I’m seriously thinking about taking a solo tour in the Cayenne sometime—it’s that good of a car.”

In a previous article, I wrote about looking for a manual car for myself, and actually, I recently placed an order. Once my second personal car is delivered, I definitely want to come back and drive here again. (I plan to share what I chose in a delivery report article.)