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Porsche announces four flavors of updated Cayenne [w/video]

The new Macan may be getting all the attention lately, but Porsche hasn't forgotten about its larger crossover - the one that put it on the map in 2002 and on the road to profitability, with over half a million sold so far. So to keep the Cayenne at the top of its game, Porsche has announced several key upgrades for the 2015 model.
For starters, Porsche has updated the Cayenne's appearance with new front- and rear-end styling. The front bumper, fenders and hood are entirely new, with air fins flanking the nose to direct air into the intercoolers (each model now being artificially aspirated), and new bi-xenon headlamps and daytime running LEDs on every model but the Turbo, which goes all-LED. Around back there's also new taillights, tailgate handle, lower rear fascia and exhaust pipes. Meanwhile the interior has been upgraded with a 918-derived sport steering wheel and reformed rear seats with available ventilation.
The bigger news is under the engine bay, where Porsche is offering four choices. The base model is gone as the range starts with the Cayenne Diesel, followed by the Cayenne S, the new Cayenne S E-Hybrid and the top-of-the-line Cayenne Turbo. The Diesel model carries over the same 3.0-liter turbo diesel with 240 horsepower. The Cayenne S however packs a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 that's similar to the one found in the Macan Turbo and packs the same 406 lb-ft of torque but more power at 420 hp, 20 more than either its little brother or the model it replaces to reach 62 mph in 5.2 seconds.

Meet the new Porsche 718 Boxster and Boxster S

The rumors were mostly true. Porsche had already confirmed that the Boxster and Caymans would receive a "718" appended to their badges, in honor of their famous mid-engined racecar of the 1950s and '60s, but the mechanical details were left up in the air. We were almost certain both would be powered by turbocharged flat-fours of a couple of displacements and outputs, and now we can confirm that this is the case. Porsche has revealed the official specs for the 718 Boxster, which will go on sale in Europe this April. The biggest news concerns the flat-fours. The regular 718 Boxster will get a 2.0-liter, turbocharged flat-four producing 300 hp. The 718 Boxster S will get an extra half-liter of displacement and a variable-geometry turbocharger to produce a total of 350 hp. This represents a 35 hp gain over the current Boxster and Boxster S, respectively. Porsche also claims the turbo fours improve fuel economy by around 13 percent. By the NEDC European test cycle, the 2.0-liter gets roughly 34 mpg and the 2.5 gets 32 mpg, although rest assured that EPA test results will yield different numbers than the optimistic European test. Torque gains with the new boxer fours are significant. The 2.0-liter gains 74 lb-ft of torque for a total of 280 lb-ft from 1,950 to 4,500 RPM. The 2.5 gains less, 43 lb-ft, for a total of 309 lb-ft over the same rev range. The extra torque and wide torque band make the 718 Boxster quicker to 60 mph, at least when equipped with the PDK gearbox and the Sport Chrono Package. The 2.0-liter car does the deed in 4.5 seconds, a 0.7-second improvement, and the 2.5-liter car is claimed to hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds, a 0.5-second improvement. 2016 Porsche 718 Boxster View 11 Photos Inside, a new dash houses the latest Porsche Communication Management infotainment system with a touchscreen, included on all 718 Boxsters as standard – although nav is an optional extra. The buttonless, capacitive-touch center stack we just spied on the next Panamera does not make it inside the 718 Boxster, which makes do with a very similar button layout to the current car. Both cars will come with a six-speed manual as standard, which is great news, and a PDK will be optional for both. Porsche also claims to have made the electrically-assisted steering more direct, and retuned the suspension. An optional PASM package lowers the car by 0.4 inches while providing the benefits of active dampers. From a styling standpoint, this is an evolution of the current theme.

What do J.D. Power's quality ratings really measure?

Check these recently released J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) results. Do they raise any questions in your mind? Premium sports-car maker Porsche sits in first place for the third straight year, so are Porsches really the best-built cars in the U.S. market? Korean brands Kia and Hyundai are second and fourth, so are Korean vehicles suddenly better than their US, European, and Japanese competitors? Are workaday Chevrolets (seventh place) better than premium Buicks (11th), and Buicks better than luxury Cadillacs (21st), even though all are assembled in General Motors plants with the same processes and many shared parts? Are Japanese Acuras (26th) worse than German Volkswagens (24th)? And is "quality" really what it used to be (and what most perceive it to be), a measure of build excellence? Or has it evolved into much more a measure of likeability and ease of use? To properly analyze these widely watched results, we must first understand what IQS actually studies, and what the numerical scores really mean. First, as its name indicates, it's all about "initial" quality, measured by problems reported by new-vehicle owners in their first 90 days of ownership. If something breaks or falls off four months in, it doesn't count here. Second, the scores are problems per 100 vehicles, or PP100. So Power's 2015 IQS industry average of 112 PP100 translates to just 1.12 reported problems per vehicle. Third, no attempt is made to differentiate BIG problems from minor ones. Thus a transmission or engine failure counts the same as a squeaky glove box door, tricky phone pairing, inconsistent voice recognition, or anything else that annoys the owner. Traditionally, a high-quality vehicle is one that is well-bolted together. It doesn't leak, squeak, rattle, shed parts, show gaps between panels, or break down and leave you stranded. By this standard, there are very few poor-quality new vehicles in today's U.S. market. But what "quality" should not mean, is subjective likeability: ease of operation of the radio, climate controls, or seat adjusters, phone pairing, music downloading, sizes of touch pads on an infotainment screen, quickness of system response, or accuracy of voice-recognition. These are ergonomic "human factors" issues, not "quality" problems. Yet these kinds of pleasability issues are now dominating today's JDP "quality" ratings.