By: Justin Jacobs
Cape Town – A news headline from 2001 read: Can You Believe Porsche Is Putting Its Badge On This Car? Believe it! With sales of its sports cars zooming, Porsche wanted to cash in on the sport-utility phenomenon. Traditionalists were horrified. The article went on to further state that a sports car-maker should not dabble in the cumbersome SUV segment.
They said the Cayenne would play havoc with the Porsche brand. Now, some 20 years later they were clearly wrong. Celebrating 20 years of the Cayenne with Porsche recently, we sampled some special heritage models and got behind the wheel of the latest Platinum Edition Cayenne.
Porsche had dabbled in the off-road scene long before the Cayenne came around. Remember, Porsche was going to compete in the infamous Group B Rally Championship with the 959, a vehicle designed specifically for rallying. Unfortunately, just before its debut, Group B was shut down due to it being rather dangerous.
So Porsche had a rally car with no rally to compete in. But Porsche shifted its perspective from Group B to what is still considered the toughest race on Earth, the Dakar Rally.
The Dakar ready 959 featured a more sophisticated all-wheel drive system with multiple modes. The 2.8-litre twin turbocharged flat-six motor produced around 300kW and the vehicle was fitted with an extra large fuel tank.
Much to everyone's surprise, the three 959 rally cars that entered the Paris-Dakar race claimed first, second and sixth. Porsche then retired from the rally as their point had been made.
With its emphasis on electronics and lightweight materials, the road-going 959 helped set the template for the modern supercar. Could the Dakar 959 and Porsche have done the same and set the template for the Cayenne, Porsche high-performance SUV?
Y2k unsettled many people worldwide, and just as we seemed to settle into what was a shaky start to the new century Porsche hit us with the first generation Cayenne in 2002. Back then the SUV wasn’t as popular as it is now, especially a high-performance one at that.
The Cayenne received mixed reception upon its introduction. Regardless, it was the performance vehicle among other SUVs at the time and had comparably good handling, coupled with powerful engines.
Staying true to the legacy left by the 959, Porsche adapted the Cayenne to settle the hearts and minds of the purists who were still not particularly welcoming about the entrance of a performance SUV to the market, especially a Porsche branded one at that. The German auto-maker once again turned to motorsport to showcase how effective the new Cayenne truly was.
In 2007, Porsche opted for the 7 000km-long Trans-Siberia rally, running from Moscow across the Mongolian steppe to Ulaanbaatar. Porsche engineers built the rally ready Cayenne from some of the SUVs best production bits.
The rally-spec Cayenne got the 4.8-litre 287kW V8 from the GTS, linked to a six-speed Tiptronic S transmission. The transmission also received a shorter final drive ratio. Beyond these upgrades, the Porsche Cayenne vehicles sent to the Trans-Siberia Rally were relatively stock-standard. The result was a resounding success in both 2007 and 2008.
The Cayenne has not only impressed off-road but on it as well. Remember, this is still a Porsche. The newly released Cayenne Turbo GT blitzed the infamous Nürburgring 20.6km gauntlet in just 7:38 minutes, setting a new record in the SUV category. Furthermore in 2020 the one millionth Cayenne rolled off the production line, reaffirming this vehicle’s popularity.
Not only did we get to experience some truly special Cayenne models at the 20-year celebration on a challenging off-road course, we also got behind the wheel of the latest Cayenne Platinum Edition.
This model features many of the most requested customisation options as standard. The Platinum Edition models enhance the attractiveness of the Cayenne offering even further.
The Platinum Edition Cayenne is based on the Cayenne S, which features a turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 that develops 324kW and 550Nm of torque as well as an 8-speed automatic gearbox, making light work of swapping cogs.
The standout however is the fact that the Cayenne is truly an all-rounder. Show it a Western Cape mountain pass and treat it like a sports car and it behaves like a sports car. It will travel hundreds of kilometres with ease and do the school run all week long.
Somehow, Porsche nailed the sports car recipe and the 911 is the most iconic of them all. After 20 years I think it’s fair to say that they have nailed the SUV recipe with the Cayenne. Let’s see what the next 20 years have to offer.
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