I recently had the opportunity as the result of a generous birthday gift from a friend of my wife to do the Porsche Driving Experience in Atlanta. As an owner of a 955 Turbo S, even though I could select any model to drive, there was only one real choice - a fully loaded Cayenne Turbo S. I just had to see how much they've improved in a couple of generations.


The experience includes all of the goodies: a "precision" road course, a wet skid pad, a low friction course, a kick-out plate, a short "drag strip for full power launches, and a slalom course. They also offer an off-road course for the Cayenne and my instructor added the hill climb and descent to my experience.


Overall impressions of the new Cayenne Turbo S: Simply amazing. The huge PCCB brakes are fantastic. No fade and totally confidence inspiring, lap after lap. The power is immense and for being such a heavy vehicle, the handling was pretty crisp on the stock 21" tires. Even managed to do some passes on lesser 911s on the road course. The kick-out course was really interesting. You enter the course at about 25 mph and a large plate literally throws out the rear of the vehicle as though you had encountered ice or serious hydroplaning. The object was to snap the steering wheel to correct the direction of travel as quickly as possible. A worthwhile driving exercise.


My only reservation on the CTTS was on the valved exhaust note. In sport mode, the exhaust is opened up and I just was not quite liking the exhaust note. Hard to pinpoint, but just didn't sound quite right - almost kind of fake sounding and overdone. Not needed.


Other than that small disappointment, the experience was terrific. Nice instructor, great vehicle, and serious fun. Highly recommended.