Porsche Cayenne wins “OFF ROAD AWARD 2012”
Most popular luxury SUV comes from Leipzig

Stuttgart. The readers of “OFF ROAD” trade magazine voted the Porsche Cayenne the “Off-road vehicle of the year” in the “Luxury SUV” category. The choice was between models from eleven manufacturers in this category alone. Porsche’s sporty SUV attracted more than 20 per cent of the votes, putting itself in the lead by a clear margin.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG received the “OFF ROAD AWARD 2012” yesterday evening at a prize ceremony in Munich. This award illustrates yet again just how popular this sporty SUV is. The 100,000th Cayenne of the current generation was built only a few weeks ago in Leipzig. The monthly trade magazine’s reader poll has been held since 1982. This year there were 143 vehicles from 40 manufacturers in twelve categories in the running and more than 57,000 readers took part in the poll.

Source [Porsche]

 

Very nice! Just curious, can you drive the Cayenne into water up to the windows and still make it out like you could with some other luxury SUVs or go play in mud/snow/rocks? Is it a true off-road capable luxury SUV? I thought it was more of a cross over than a true off-road capable vehicle.

 

Here you go... Porsche Cayenne Trial Race - YouTube

 

We had a chance to play with the Cayenne at the Porsche Sports Driving School on the off-road course at Barber. It did very, very well! Check out Can a Porsche Cayenne Really Handle Off-Road Driving?

 

This says a lot on how abysmal the level of offroading really is nowadays.

 

A fair observation. In high school my friends and I all drove Jeep CJs. Mine was slightly modified, but nothing too drastic (3" suspension lift, 33" tires, Rancho air suspension, etc.). One thing that is clearly different today is simply the access to any decent spots to really test what your rig/SUV can do.

I'm sure it depends on where you live, but here in the north east, almost all the spots we used to play have either been developed or closed to public access...

 

That's for sure, you have to go further and further to be free to explore the outdoors. I'm very glad Canada has no shortage of such real estate.

This being said, it can't be an excuse to let big station wagon win this kind of award. I like the Cayenne as much as anyone else, but an offroader it is not.

 

Well, that's one place I would disagree. Have you tried it off-road without performance tires?

While it definitely lacks true "rock-crawling" capabilities of a purpose built machine, it's extremely capable in everything from mud to sand, and can climb and descend better than any other road going SUV I've driven. In fact, twice I've had to pull my friends Jeep from spots the Cayenne made it through with ease (but that may have just been my better driving) .

At first I was a bit concerned that the new model would have issues, but after trying it in all sorts of terrain, using all three of the off-road modes I'm fairly confident that with the right tires, there's not much it can't do (as long as it doesn't need huge amounts of clearance).

 

I suppose it does depend on the terrain.

But around these parts, it's just too low, suspended too roughly, needs non Z rated tires and less plastic and electronics hanging down low. And it doesn't even have a low range, for pete's sake.

It's alright on gravel and forest roads, with the odd rougher part here and there.

But that's a comment true for many SUVs today.

 

Have you seen either of these videos?

The first http://993c4s.com/cars/porsche-cayenne/can-a-porsche-cayenne-really-handle-off-road-driving/

is from the Transsyberria Rally in 2007.

The second http://porschepurist.com/cars/porsch...-desert-dubai/ is a video of the Cayenne testing in the desert in Dubai.

However, like you said, it depends on terrain. Neither of these videos show terrain where clearance is needed.