Porsche spices up their Cayenne

It looks much the same - is this a brand-new car or simply a facelift?

On the surface the new Porsche Cayenne does bear a striking resemblance to its predecessor. However, as with many things in life, the devil lurks in the details.

Up front there are larger air intakes while at the rear a thin horizontal light bar now bridges the two taillights - a stylistic nod to the 911. Tyres are now staggered (wider at the rear, skinnier up front) while wheel sizes start at 19 inches and end at 21 inches. Take out your measuring tape and you'll also notice that the new Cayenne is longer, wider and lower than the outgoing car.

So, yes, this is an all-new, built-from-the-ground-up model. An all-aluminium exterior means that weight has been cut by up to 65kg.

Tell us about the oily bits we can't see - what lies beneath?

Perhaps the biggest news about Cayenne v3.0 is that it rides on a new chassis hewn from a lightweight yet rigid steel alloy. This ensures that it handles like a Porsche (exceptionally well) across your favourite asphalt but also has the strength to attack mild off-road terrain.

The standard Cayenne model features steel-sprung suspension but we think most owners would want to spec the new three-chamber (versus the old car's two-chamber) air-suspension system that allows you to adjust the level of ground clearance to suit conditions.

Intelligent all-wheel-drive automatically distributes torque between the front and rear axles while four preset driving modes (Mud, Gravel, Sand & Rocks) help take the guesswork out of your next bundu-bashing mission.

For the first time Cayenne owners can also fit electric rear-axle steering. Like the 911 this makes the car more nimble at slow speeds and more stable at higher velocities.

I wasn't a fan of the old model's interior - please tell me it's changed?!

Thankfully it has. The Cayenne now sports the futuristic Porsche Advanced Cockpit that first debuted in the new Panamera earlier this year. This means that the centre console houses a giant 12.3-inch HD touchscreen that controls everything from the sound system and navigation to the climate control and drive settings.

Stretching out beneath it like the face of a giant smartphone is a glass-look touch surface that, via haptic feedback buttons, offers adjustment for other assorted electronica: traction control, heated seats and windscreen demisters, to name a few. So in short it's a giant leap forward.

Thanks to the car's greater length you also score an extra 100 litres of boot space.

So if it has grown bigger and holds more technology, does this mean that the new Cayenne is slower?

Certainly not! The entry-level Cayenne packs a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine that's good for 250kW and 450Nm. It will dispatch the 100km/h sprint in 6.2 seconds and hit a maximum speed of 245km/h. If this sounds a bit tame then the only other model currently available is the Cayenne S.

It gets a twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 churning out 324kW and 550Nm. 100km/h comes up in 5.2-seconds (4.9 if you spend a little more on the optional Sport Chrono Package) while the speedometer will run right up to 265km/h. Pretty damn impressive for something you can use to take your dogs to the park.

Regardless of which engine you choose, both models get the all-new eight-speed Tiptronic S gearbox. Hotter variants are in the pipeline.

What's it like to drive?

Er, dunno. I can't tell you because we didn't actually drive it. Instead we all just stood around shiny display units parked on the Porsche museum roof, drank free beer, chatted to engineers and updated our Instagram accounts. But going by every Porsche I've driven in the last five years, the new Cayenne should be a real peach.

Expect it to land in South Africa in June next year. Pricing will be announced closer to that time.