FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2019 Porsche Cayenne Turbo

How big is the boot of the 2019 Porsche Cayenne?

The boot of the Porsche Cayenne is really generous and holds sixteen bags of shopping from empty. That's comparable to the BMW X5 and Audi Q8 that both hold fifteen. The Range Rover Velar holds fourteen and the Jaguar F-Pace holds thirteen.

The twin stroller fits with seven shopping bags.

The tandem stroller also fits with seven shopping bags.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The single stroller fits with seven shopping bags beside it.

The compact stroller fits with ten shopping bags beside it.

You can easily fit a large dog in the boot of the Porsche Cayenne, the boot floor is carpeted, even and flat. Making it perfect for travel for dogs and for emergency nappy changes!

There are buttons on the right-hand side of the boot which you can use to raise and lower the height of the rear suspension. This is great for making it easier to load things in and out of the boot and for different size dogs to jump in and out of the boot.

How good is storage inside the Porsche Cayenne?

The storage inside the Porsche Cayenne is great in both rows.

In the front, there are two cup holders in the central console, they are well sized to hold a reusable and disposable coffee cup and there is a small well in front of them that I found useful for holding the key.

The central console storage box is a good size, with USB ports and the best place for sunglasses as there is no glasses holder in the ceiling.

The glovebox is felt-lined and a good size holding my wallet with an iPad.

Door bins in the front are large enough to hold a large refillable water bottle and there are little wells in the door handles too.

Underneath the front seats there are small storage drawers that we found useful for putting valuables in when going to the beach.

Storage in the second row is good as well, with door bins that will hold a large refillable water bottle.

There is a fold-down in the central seatback with two cup holders that will hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup.

In the back of both front seats are solid map pockets, they will hold but not conceal an iPad. Also down on the back of the central console box is a 12V and USB socket and a little shelf for a phone too.

How noisy is the Porsche Cayenne?

The Porsche Cayenne is a lovely quiet SUV. The windows are all made of noise protection privacy glass, which makes for a quiet drive! Of course, if you put your foot down is roars like a sports car though!

The media system is simple to navigate using the scroll bar down the right side on the media screen.

The Cayenne has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto also which I found really useful.

There are some great features within the media system firstly being able to control the rear air conditioning from the screen. Which is really handy when you have little ones in the back.

You can also really customise the airflow in the front on either side of the car.

The fader screen is handy too so you can select the location of the sound from the speakers, so you don't have to listen to nursery rhymes in the front!

The Sat-Nav is easy to use and programme and the map fills the screen.

You can easily adjust the volume of the navigation announcements on the screen too.

I find on most journeys when I use sat nav I only need directions for the last part of the journey. I know how to get to the area I am going and then it’s just the exact address I need help with. Because I need to input the address before I head off I found myself on most occasions when you can’t mute the sat nav voice having to listen to all the directions, which disturbs your concentration, any conversation in the car at the time or more importantly my sleeping baby! So being able to mute the sat nav voice until you reach the part where you actually need it is gold!

The drive mode can be adjusted on the screen, the spoiler position and you can turn off the auto engine cut out too.

The camera image quality is so clear in the Porsche Cayenne, it's excellent, there are different camera views available too using the selection buttons on the right and I found having the birds-eye view on the screen at the same time when maneuvering and parking really useful. You can also mute the parking sensors on the top right of the screen too, which is really helpful when transporting little passengers.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The Porsche Cayenne also has a night vision camera which is great for keeping an eye out for animals when driving at night. We also had a bit of fun dancing in it at night time (as you can see in the video)!!

There are buttons and a rotary dial down in the central console to control the media system as well but I found I mainly used the touch screen.

You can control the airconditioning from here also and you have heated and cool seat controls in the front too.

The cruise control in the Porsche Cayenne is frustrating! It doesn't have adaptive cruise control so you can set a speed but the Cayenne can't keep the distance from the cars in front so it renders it a little useless and feels hard work in comparison to other new cars (it's a VERY expensive optional extra to have adaptive cruise on this car).

The controls are on a stalk, behind the steering wheel, on the left.

The Cayenne is a smooth and enjoyable car to drive. With a turbo boost button on the steering wheel, that once pressed gives you 20 seconds of high-performance power which is a lot of fun!

The indicator volume is nice and quiet and won't be baby-waking in the Cayenne.

The doors and windows of the Porsche Cayenne close very gently, they have a ‘soft close' mechanism which pulls the doors closed gently and automatically so they are not baby waking.

The doors close quite easily with a gentle close, which was surprising for a car of this size. With baby asleep you can get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy. The same for the windows their mechanism is not too noisy and I didn’t notice them having a loud opening or closing sound.

With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up! 

Road and engine noise are excellent in the Cayenne, I really noticed how quiet and smooth it is for a big SUV.

There is a seatbelt removal alarm and warning that comes up in the screen in front of the driver

You can also lock the doors from the driver's door control panel.

The screen in front of the driver tells you your distance to empty in km too which is a great BabyDrive feature.

How many child seats fit in the Porsche Cayenne?

The Porsche Cayenne easily fits three child seats in the back seats, which is fantastic!

I found forward-facing seats fitted as well as a combination of forward and rear-facing child seats. I could sit between two child seats in the back and I'm 162cm.

With rear-facing child seats installed there was room for a 180cm driver to sit comfortably in the front.

There are ISOFix in the two outer rear seats, within plastic guides and easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages on the back of all three seatbacks, within plastic guides that are clearly labelled and easy to connect to and reach through the boot.

All three seatbacks can fold down individually which is good.

The doors of the Porsche Cayenne open nice and wide and there is plenty of headroom too, making posting bub into their car seat easy from outside and the from inside too.

Australia being a country of weather extremes; blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

There is plenty of room to feed bub in the back seats if you only have one child seat installed.

How comfortable is the Porsche Cayenne?

The front seats of the Porsche Cayenne are lovely and comfortable, with built-in headrests that unfortunately can not be adjusted.

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

The seating position is easily adjustable using the electronic controls on the side of the seat base.

For a mum travelling in the back with bub, the seats are extremely comfortable too. Legroom is good too in the back and I had plenty of legroom behind a 182cm driver and I'm 162cm.

For the first year of my daughter's life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!

The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down using the electronic adjustment on the side.

The front seats are heated and cooled and the controls for these are down in the central console.

Across the front dashboard, there are four air conditioning vents.

They can be easily controlled using the buttons down in the central console…

…or within the media screen.

In the second row, there are air-conditioning vents in the side pillars which is fantastic…

…as well as in the back of the central console box.

The driver can reach the rear vents while driving and control the rear airconditioning through the media screen which is fantastic when transporting little passengers.

Visibility in the Porsche Cayenne is good and visibility out of the back windows clear for the rear passengers. The windows are deep and the large sunroof helps to make the interior lighter too.

When maneuvering or parking, these deep windows and excellent camera image really helped.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread parking new cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Porsche Cayenne, although was pretty easy to park.

How good is the Porsche Cayenne to drive?

The Porsche Cayenne is a great car to drive! It is lovely and smooth and very quiet (but noisy like a racing car when you want to go fast). This is partly due to the noise minimising privacy glass used on all the windows and sunroof.

The Cayenne has a turbo boost button on the steering wheel that gives you 20seconds of fast acceleration which is also a lot of fun!

The only thing that lets the drive down for me is the lack of adaptive cruise control. It made motorway driving arduous instead of relaxed.

How safe is the Porsche Cayenne?

The Porsche Cayenne has not been put through the ANCAP safety testing.

Eight airbags come as standard in the Porsche Cayenne; full frontal airbags for driver and front passenger, as well as side seat integrated airbags and knee airbags. Full curtain airbags for 1st and 2nd-row seats and side airbags for rear seats as well.

The Porsche Cayenne has three-point automatic seat belts with pretensioners in the front and outer rear seats and force limiters in the front only. The central rear seat has a three-point automatic seat belt.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!