Driving the New 2025 Porsche Cayenne GTS Proves It Holds Tight to the Lineup’s Sweet Spot
A just-right mix of performance options and overall performance that stops short of price overkill.
On paper, it might seem you can take a Porsche Cayenne S, throw a few sporty options on it, and have something near as no different from the just-revised 2025 Porsche Cayenne GTS based on the newest Cayenne introduced last year. One level up from the base Cayenne, the $103,595 S includes the same twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 and offers essentially the same core equipment that’s standard on the $126,895-and-up GTS, including an air suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) adaptive dampers, Porsche Torque Vectoring rear axle, Sport Exhaust, and an array of plus-size wheel options beyond the included 20-inch rims. So optioned, the Cayenne S undercuts the GTS by about ten grand—so, why go for the GTS?
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Because an S Isn’t Quite a GTS
Mostly, like other GTS models in the Porsche lineup, the Cayenne GTS takes equipment that’s offered on other, lesser Cayennes, and combines it in a performance-minded way you can’t replicate exactly by choosing options on those other variants. Though it shares its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 with the S, the GTS’ version gets an additional 25 hp and 45 lb-ft of torque, for totals of 493 hp and 487 lb-ft (those figures represent jumps of 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque over the 2021–2024 Cayenne GTS, too).
The GTS’ standard air springs and PASM suspension dampers lower the body 0.4-inch closer to planet Earth relative to the same components on the Cayenne S, and there’s a sprinkling of know-how from the athletic Cayenne Turbo GT model baked in. The front steering knuckles, for example, are ported over from that hunkered-down Cayenne, and deliver 0.58 degree of additional negative camber for the front tires. Beyond the Cayenne GTS’ standard equipment and mechanical revisions are features you simply can’t get on the S, including the enlarged front intakes and a Lightweight Sport package Porsche says reduces weight by up to 55 pounds via a lightened roof panel, carbon-fiber rear diffuser, and the removal of some sound deadening material. Porsche finishes this off with its Sport Design package, which blends gloss-black fender flares, rocker panels, and other exterior trim, plus red-painted brake calipers, tinted headlights and taillights, and dark gray 21-inch Spyder Design wheels.
Gran Turismo Sport, Indeed
Porsche by now has the whole GTS treatment down to a science, and though familiar, it’s no less appealing here. We recently tested a 2024 Cayenne S, and that model, with a host of the aforementioned near-GTS upgrades, performed admirably. So admirably, in fact, that per usual, Porsche’s performance estimates for the GTS (4.2 seconds to 60 mph) are likely hugely conservative—the 25-hp-weaker Cayenne S we tested reached 60 mph in only 4.1 seconds on its available summer tires. We also declared that version “tantalizingly close to the performance of Porsche’s top-dog Cayenne model,” the 650-hp Cayenne Turbo GT.
The GTS bridges that gap, however narrow it may be. Equipped with every performance option—Rear Axle steering ($1,280), Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control active roll stabilization (PDCC, $3,580), Sport Chrono package ($1,100), and Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB, $9,070)—the Cayenne GTS delivers more road feel, more athleticism, and an altogether more focused vibe than the more mall-friendly Cayenne S.
Porsche tunes the active anti-roll bars (PDCC), as well as the non-active roll bars standard on the GTS, for firmer roll resistance than you receive in a Cayenne S. Twisting the drive-mode knob from Normal to Sport to Sport Plus dials down body roll like a rheostat. Normal keeps the car commendably flat while allowing slight lean that helps drivers determine where they’re at with available grip, and Sport tightens this up further. Sport Plus seemingly keeps the body level with whatever road surface you happen to be on, no matter how hard you’re cornering. Same goes for the adaptive dampers (Porsche says the two-chamber air springs carry over from the pre-refresh Cayenne unchanged), though their firmness variances are more subtle as you work through the different modes, and the ride remains comfortable throughout.
Further accentuating the racier vibes? A “GT” sport steering wheel with a smaller-diameter rim, yellow shift lights that rise from the 10 and 2 o’clock positions on the central tachometer and meet in the center before flashing blue when it’s time to manually upshift (in manual mode, of course), a tolerable sizzle from our test Cayenne’s tires on optional 22-inch wheels, and the burble from the Sport Exhaust (which is augmented by engine sounds piped in through the audio speakers, a tune whose volume increases in Sport and Sport Plus modes).
We could do without the piped-in engine sounds, which seem to emanate from the dashboard and sound less like intake sounds than exhaust sounds, of which there are plenty from the V-8 already coming out of the Cayenne’s butt; the unnatural source location from the car’s nose only calls more attention to it. And skipping the nearly $10,000 carbon-ceramic brakes is recommended for anyone not planning on regularly taking their Cayenne GTS to a racetrack (so, most). These incredible stoppers deliver eye-popping halting performance, but only with temperature in them. Fail to get them heated up, which is difficult to do in regular driving, and you’ll deal with slightly inconsistent, wooden top-of-pedal response. The regular brakes are themselves impressive and enjoy more consistent pedal feel without needing a qualifying lap to warm up.
An Everyday Rip-Snortin’ Good Time
Hyperbolic though it might sound, the 2025 Porsche Cayenne GTS is, as before, a compelling option for the discerning Porsche buyer whose family requirements prevent them from using a 718 Cayman or 911 every day. Though at $126,895 for the SUV to $131,495 for the fastback Coupe version to start, these new Cayenne GTS models are only attainable by those who can probably afford to also park one of Stuttgart’s sports cars in the garage for non-daycare-or-school-drop-off trips. It neatly channels the sort of sporty urgency you get from Porsche’s lower-slung athletes in the Cayenne’s taller, roomier body.
Sure, the Cayenne—even the GTS—does not feel lightweight, and the steering feel could be sharper, but there is a ton of grip on hand and the SUV’s V-8 is powerful enough to make the electrified, plug-in 729-hp Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid SUV and track-ready 650-hp Cayenne Turbo GT Coupe models seem like overkill products serving more niche buyers.
Every 2024–present Cayenne drives sportier than before, but all continue to exist on a performance caste. The GTS’s firmer setup, energetic responses, and mix of equipment elevate the already good Cayenne S for those times when you can go for a back-road blast or want to whip through traffic, without taking away from its everyday practicality when you aren’t drifting into Bonkersland like those pricier Cayennes ahead of it.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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