The future is coming, and Porsche is riding the wave. The Taycan, the Macan—are both electric stars for the brand. However, the stalwarts from Stuttgart aren’t dumping liquid fuels just yet. The 2025 Cayenne GTS reminds us that Porsche knows how to build a big burly bruiser just fine.
The star of the Cayenne GTS is, naturally, its engine. It sports a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 good for 493 horsepower and 487 pound-feet of torque. Porsche says it’s a significant leap forward from the previous generation, with the new model up 40 hp and 30 pound-feet in total. It’s paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
What is that power good for? It’s enough to get the Cayenne GTS from zero to 60 mph in just 4.2 seconds. Those used to be supercar numbers. Now you’re doing them in the family hauler on the way to school. Being rich must be a dream.
Born To Run
If you’re located near an autobahn, you’ll enjoy knowing that the Cayenne GTS can canter all the way up to 171 mph. That’s less relevant in the US, but it could see you escape a shorter-legged EV if you’re in some kind of top-speed chase on a deserted Interstate. Indeed, Porsche is serious enough about the model’s performance that it has a water cooling circuit just to keep the all-wheel-drive system cool in heavy driving.
It’s all hardcore stuff, but not the hardcorest. The GTS doesn’t have the same power as the Turbo GT (631 hp), let alone the wild Turbo E-Hybrid (729 hp). Try not to remember that, lest it ping off your ego and leave a dent. Ow.
Suspension is inspired by that formerly seen on the Cayenne Turbo GT. The GTS gets its own unique air suspension setup, with adaptive dampers and torque vectoring helping it maneuver deftly at speed. It’s also possible to drop the GTS model a further 0.4 inches (10 mm) compared to the regular Cayenne, and it has a further 0.58 degrees of negative camber to boot. Add it all up, and you get sharper turn-in, more direct steering, and improved cornering performance, according to Porsche. It may be an SUV, but this gear is about tuning the GTS for on-road performance, not off.
Porsche will let you take things further, too, with three Lightweight Sport Packages to shave off the pounds. Depending on your taste, you can cut back on sound insulation, or get a lightweight roof or a carbon fiber rear diffuser. The packages can shave up to 55 pounds off the vehicle, the equivalent of leaving your grade-school kid at home.
Visually, people need to know you have a GTS, so Porsche has seen fit to decorate it thusly. You get the usual badging, along with a unique front fascia with larger intakes than the basic Cayenne. Red brake calipers also help scream performance, along with the tinted headlights and taillights. Bronze exhaust tips are another giveaway, as is the adaptive rear spoiler fitted to the Coupe models.
Real Talk
The 2025 Cayenne GTS models are to be available for order shortly, with deliveries expected around the season of pumpkin spice. The Cayenne GTS starts at $126,985, while the GTS Coupe starts at $131,495. Can’t hurt to call your dealer now if you want one.
It’s neat that Porsche is still putting out some big V8s while it still can. Don’t forget though—these aren’t the mightiest examples of the form. The Cayenne Turbo GT boasts a mighty 650 horsepower, while the Turbo E-Hybrid has a truly bonkers 729 hp in combined output. They’re the real way to go if you want to shred tires on the way to Nathanial’s harp recital.
Fundamentally, the GTS is a neat way to make it visually obvious you didn’t buy a base model. It’s also decently quick, sure. But it’s not the grandest one of the lot by a long shot. Just keep that in mind before you stunt too hard on your fellow parents in the pickup line at the Marbury Academy.
Image credits: Porsche
So are the V12 engines, too. Those green politicians and unelected officials are full of killjoys…
As someone who shares with our resident Ms. Mercedes a tendency to buy these cars toward the end of their depreciation-cycle and who never learns his lesson in so doing…that sounds like a headache for future me. The Germans in general and Porsche in particular will design something five times as complicated for incremental gains in performance or capability.
Porsche is the same company that decided to run the AWD Panamera’s front axle through the engine block (not the oil pan; the engine block), so that they could mount the engine lower and achieve a lower center-of-gravity.
VW and Porsche have come a long way from the plucky, cost-conscious conglomerate that would leverage spare-tire pressure to power the wiper-fluid sprayers in its air-cooled cars.
good parsh
good parsh
GOOD PARSH
How long before they put the EV powertrain into this?
Does it still eat itself alive around 90k miles?
I love all the snarky commentary embedded in this article.
While I do intend to own a Porsche soon, I don’t intend to lose my sense of humor, nor do I intend to stop caring about the societal problems that come with wealth disparity.
When there’s not enough meat in the press release you gotta have some fun. ;D
“deliveries expected around the season of pumpkin spice”
So, July?
Uh… fall? That’s when the seasonal drinks hit, right?
Used to be, gets earlier every year it seems (hence my failed sarcasm). Fall is when they release Holiday favorites like peppermint. It’s hard to know anymore.
“Porsche will let you take things further, too, with three Lightweight Sport Packages to shave off the pounds. Depending on your taste, you can cut back on sound insulation”
But WHY?? I get shaving the pounds in an all out track car, but a daily SUV. Is the few pounds saved worth losing sound deadening? If anything I would want a package that adds sound deadening, that is a package I would choose on almost any car if offered.
Because money. I’m sure there are 2-3 people (or influencers if they’re considered people) who will want to pay more for that just to have something to brag or talk about.
you could save up to 55 pounds!
I know, I find it hilarious too
Agreed. I wish my LR4 had laminated windows and more sound deadening–at the expense of weight–although there’s not much you can do to mitigate wind noise for what is effectively a brick at highway speeds.
It’s like when I briefly consider spending thousands on a new, lighter road bike then note my expanding waistline and realize I’d never notice those few ounces on the bike and would likely enjoy the ride less. 🙂
Look at that good little Parsh. Anyway, I’m happy that Porsche is still shoving V8s in stuff when everyone else is moving away from them. If I recall correctly they even formally announced their V8s were being discontinued several years ago and just straight up went back on it when they realized they could. All those Taycans and E Hybrids must’ve bought them some time and they did what is morally right and just.
These things are stupidly expensive, especially compared to everything they compete with…but if you want a Porsche you want a Porsche. I think these fill a niche as a true one car solution. You get all the practicality of a midsized SUV with all the driving joy, attention to detail, and customization that Porsche is renowned for.
Would I choose to do this with my $130,000 internet dollars? Absolutely not. I’d get a Cayman GT4 and spend whatever is left on a practical daily. But if you’re a surgeon or something and would rather have your cake and eat it too then I do understand the appeal of these. That being said, good luck with that turbo V8 once the warranty is up.
I know our friend angry cat meow meow will be here to defend it, but I just do not trust an overboosted, small (by V8 standards) Audi V8 long term. There are myriad horror stories on forums about these things and there’s a reason you can find used RS7s for like 30 grand. But who knows, that Stuttgart special sauce definitely hits different.
I know a Porsche Tech and he says the badge-engineered cars are a quantum level of grief worse than the 911 and Cayman. Riddled with VWness apparently.
So I’m also in the Cayman GT4 and a practical daily camp.
I’ve heard that the 3 liter turbo V6 is actually pretty good because it was co developed with Porsche. You’ll see cars with it that have 6 figure mileage pretty routinely. I’ve also driven an SQ5 with it and thought it was quite pleasant. It’s smooth, sounds excellent, and has a nice power band.
…but an EA888 or this 4 liter? It’s gonna be a no from me, dawg. I could be wrong, and if I am someone is welcome to correct me (and I’m sure they will, we have a lot of VAG folks on this site), but I believe this mill is all Audi and has been around for a decade plus at this point.
I’ve come across a lot of horror stories about it and it frequently shows up in mechanic’s videos on YouTube. I wouldn’t go so far as to say no flat 6=no dice for me because I’m a diehard Parsh fanboy and the best shot I have at making one work as a daily is likely a Macan, Cayenne, or Panamera…but for six figures plus I’m going flat 6 every single time.
If you want a German luxury V8 the AMG and M/M lite powertrains are a bit more robust. I’m sure you’re still risking a 4 figure repair whenever you beat the snot out of one and that glorious Lexus NA 5 liter is still on sale, but with the magic of depreciation I’ve certainly been tempted by M550s/M850s/full M8s before.
As always, please remember that the magic of depreciation doesn’t come for servicing costs. I routinely offer to work on cars for friends and family, but the first time I looked into the (hilariously cramped and complicated) engine bay of my brother’s M8, I noped out of there faster than an Audi timing chain guide at 60k miles.
That M8 engine sounds like the spine-chilling wrath of Zeus himself when you’re starting it up. It’s glorious. But every repair bill associated with that car has cost more than the entire purchase price of at least one member of my fleet
Thank you for being the voice of reason. I’m already seeing M8s in the high 50s/low 60s and boyyyyy are they tempting at that price. Someone brought one out to the last track day I was at and it was just glorious. The combination of that sound and the sheer elegance of the design floating around the circuit making it look effortless was quite an experience.
I’ve also been tempted by M550s since there are already nice enough examples in the high 30s. But at the end of the day I should not stray from the Lexus path…although I’d like the IS500 and GSF to depreciate a little more? Nice GSFs go for as much as their original MSRPs and IS500s remain stubbornly pricey despite the fact that they weren’t all that well reviewed.
The M8 has 600HP shoved to four wheels; it’s unusable on the street and uncontrollable on a track without extensive computer intervention.
My vote for a drop-dead gorgeous car that sounds heavenly, tracks competentently, and occasionally produces a ruinous repair bill is the Jaguar F-Type. Ideally spec’d with real colors for both exterior and interior.
Fair, but also something with way too much power for the chassis happens to be my idea of a good time!
The AWD F-Type is manageable, but consider that the F-Type platform is an iteratively improved version of one that was engineered in the 90s/early-00s.
Depreciation not applying to service and repair costs is actually a key argument in my line of work. I can’t be concerned about how much it costs to buy something, I have to worry about how much might be spent fixing the asset. But many other members of my company seem to think that if its cheap to buy up front because its used, then should just go in wholesale.
That low-4 second 0-60 times aren’t remarkable for something weighing 2&1/2 tons says we’ve come a long damn way in the last few decades.
It’s also nonsense. Porsche says the base Cayenne takes 5.7s to reach 60, C&D tested it last month and got there in 4.7s. On the S Model, Porsche advertises 4.7s, MT did it in 4.1.
“It vill go 0 to 60 in 4.7 seconds, yes. Unt it vill also go 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds if zee driver ist proficient.”
German manufacturers are preposterously conservative on 0-60 times. People have clocked the current DSG Golf R at under 4 seconds to 60 and I think VW says it’ll do it in the high 4s. The M240i has been clocked in the mid 3s to 60 and BMW claims it’ll do it in the low 4s. This has been the case for as long as I can remember.
holy. that’s bonkers.
Well car mags dont actually get those times. They do their runs, then adjust they times according to SAE formulas for altitude and temp etc. It has always been bullshit because they are giving figures for a perfect world…..on that does not exist. The car mags always say “Its just to make cars easier to compare etc”……NOTHING ever competes on the perfect track etc. The ONLY figures to believe are the ones you actually get on a drag strip and DONT change.