21 Feb 06
Ultimately, it's all about context.
You might think a Lamborghini Murcielago sounds like fun but it's not, let me assure you, if you're trying to thread one around Hyde Park Corner in the rush hour. A Smart ForTwo, by contrast, could not be more in its element in such conditions, but you'd rather put your head in a ceiling fan than drive one down the M4 and over the Severn bridge on a windy day. I should know, I've tried both.
So where is this new £81,565 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S in its element? Well, despite its adjustable ride height and four-wheel-drive, it's clearly not in the mud. I once took a standard Cayenne Turbo and a Suzuki Jimny over an off-road course designed by Land Rover and the cheapest SUV on sale was convincingly superior in that environment to the most expensive.
All the Cayenne will do on the motorway is go at the same speed as everything else, but with noticeably less refinement and poorer ride quality than any number of saloons you could buy for half the money.
It can't be used as an MPV, despite its size and 2,355kg weight, because it only has five seats: nor can it be used as the family workhorse, because no one is going to spend more on a car than he or she would on an Aston Vantage and then fill it with rubbish to take to the tip.
Well, it's a Porsche and, with 521bhp, the second most powerful in its history after the Carrera GT, so surely its natural habitat can be found on those twisting, curving roads you always see in the magazines but rarely, if ever, through the windscreen of your car?
