Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Image: Peter Frost
Driving ImpressionsBy: Alex Shahini
After last year’s too-quick local launch, CAR has been waiting to properly sample the latest Cayenne Turbo GT. Mission accomplished; Peter Frost drove Porsche’s superstar SUV up the world’s best-driving road in the Middle East; Jebel Jais.
Image: Peter Frost
Looking for a real test for your Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT? Try Jebel Jais
Last year wasn’t the greatest time to launch anything, so when Porsche introduced its latest, bahnstorming V8 Cayenne Turbo GT, it more or less slipped through the cracks. We reported on its availability and had a quick drive around the proverbial block, enough just to whet our appetites. The intention was to get some real drive time in, somewhere, somehow.
Jebel Jais, road of the century!
Fast forward, to October 2022, Ras Al Khaimah, Middle East. There are a handful of epic driving roads in the world (the SH20 through the Albanian Alps, Montenegro’s E762, the Stelvio Pass in Italy, Eagle Road in Norway, the Carretera in Chile and the Khunjerab Pass in Pakistan are the standouts) but this is arguably the best – the 34-kilometre switchback pass up the western Hajar Mountains on the Musandam Peninsula. Jebel Jais is an institution for those that know about it, masterfully engineered, all the right cambers, sheer cliffs to bounce back any decent aurals – a dream drive. And Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo GT might have been made for just this serpentine pass.
Image: Peter Frost
Turbo GT redux
Quick refresher course. There are Cayennes and then there is the Turbo GT, the overachieving superstar of Porsche’s SUV line-up, the GT4 of SUVs. 850 N.m, 471 kW 4,0-litre V8, 0-100 km/h in 3,3 seconds, ceramic brakes, air suspension, titanium exhaust system (minus a muffler), new tech-laden interior. It should have its own nomenclature – the bespoke mill and upgraded running gear puts it into a league of its own; on a power-to-weight basis, it is equivalent to a mid-range 911. Add adaptable air suspension, all-wheel drive (with a strong rear emphasis), one of the world’s best launch control systems and you have the recipe for memories aplenty. That it is capable of playing in the sand as well as rocketing up mountain passes only makes it more desirable.
Finally, Jebel Jais
It’s multi-lane highway all the way from Dubai to Jebel Jais, trucks, entitled Prados, drifting Tiida taxis. Where are these legendary mountains then? An hour later, off to the left, finally. Highway becomes B-road, quickly becomes country road. The crazy cliffs of the Hajar Range appear and ahead, suddenly A-grade blacktop again. The snaking road disappears into a confusion of cliffs, archaic rock farragoes swallowing the tar. Select Sport+, listen as the Porsche imperceptibly changes down twice (change times have been significantly shortened). The V8 thunders in the canyons and makes a beelined for the chaos. As it had followed the Al Bayh valley floor, so the road now angles steeply upwards. A sharp left-hander and the full extent of Jebel Jais is revealed – 34 kilometres of switchback zigzag spaghetti blacktop up 2 000 metres, science fiction, implausible, surely impossible.
Each well-cambered bend begs to be attacked. Dual lanes most of the way to the top mean there’s little chance of even the foolhardiest muppet overcooking it. And the Turbo GT is a decent wingman; all that torque is available between 2 300 to 4 500 r/min, meaning it’s the easiest thing to calibrate your inputs, always with satisfying results, whatever the revs or speed. Start slow, work up – feed the power, understand the delivery, next time a shade more, next time the full monkey. Porsche’s traction control is as competent as its launch control – if things get lairy on the exit, a quick correction, nothing to see here, next and next and next.
Image: Peter Frost
Soon enough fatigue set in – 34 kilometres of hairpins is hard work – and it’s time for a break. The road designers have made provision for sizeable laybys along the way, each seemingly more spectacular than the last, views all the way down to the wadis (valleys) far, far below. Visually, Turbo GT is arguably a bit of a disappointment, a wolf in sheep’s clothing; while Lamborghini Urus goes for alien starfighter stranded on Earth, Cayenne Turbo GT could pass for the school run carry-all. Whether that approach will win friends among the very rich remains to be seen. It’s only available in the Coupe shape and that at least offers a degree of difference.
Ziplines, petrolheads and a view forever
Back to the job at hand. Jebel Jais exists only to take traffic up to a couple of white-knuckle rides and a restaurant – and I’m late for all three. Start button, visceral bellow, 22-inchers bite, snap, snap, snap, bingo, the summit. It’s all so easy, physics redefined, how does Porsche do that?
After the longest zipline in the world and a mechanical toboggan called the Sledder (far scarier), time for a drink with the restaurant’s Dutch manager, Robin Holthaus. Turns out he’s a petrolhead. ‘There are special tours for drivers and their cars up the pass. A lot of locals enthusiasts have Jebel Jais as a must-do bucket list item and a few companies have taken advantage of that. They sort out your dream car and off you go. Usually it’s a group of four or five.’
Image: Peter Frost
On cue a cacophony of premium metal throats up the pass, Lamborghini vapours settling over the antiquity. The noise reminds me of my own V8 waiting patiently in the baking sun. Apres scream over, it’s time to head down and make for the desert.
I could do this all day.
Fast Facts: Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT
Price: R3 500 000
Engine: 4,0-litre, V8-cylinder, petrol
Transmission: 8-speed automatic PDK
Power: 471 kW
Torque: 850 N.m
0-100 km/h: 3,3 seconds
Top speed: 300 km/h
Fuel Consumption: 11,9 L/100 km
Rivals: Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga
Keyword: EPIC DRIVE: Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT review in Jebel Jais, United Arab Emirates