What role does a super SUV perform? I thought I'd nailed it. The ultimate winter supercar: a high-rise family hauler to see over the snowdrifts, make enough noise to trigger avalanches in distant valleys and generally blitz all roads. And not-roads the new Urus Performante has a Rally mode.
And then the Cayenne Turbo GT turned up on Pirelli Corsa track day tyres. The Lambo wasn't on winter rubber, but tyres a notch back from the Porsche's. The truth of it is that super SUVS are no more suited to winter than any other supercar. It's not the quality of engineering, it's the quality of contact patches.
Both Lamborghini and Porsche are part of the wider VW empire, so both use the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 base engine and insert it into the same MLB Evo platform that underpins everything from the Bentley Bentayga to the Audi e-tron and A4. It's not all chummy in the group though. Porsche and Lambo both want to claim dibs on building the most dynamic SUV.
For Porsche this meant a Cayenne Coupe with the Turbo S's hybrid gubbins stripped off and plenty of GT department know-how thrown at it. Mainly by the marketing department. Hence the Corsa tyres. Plus standard carbon ceramic brakes, rear-steer and stronger pistons, timing chain, crankshaft and boost pressure for the V8. Its 631bhp is up 89bhp on the standard Cayenne Turbo. Torque has climbed 59lb ft while 0-62mph has fallen 0.6secs to 3.3.
This story is from the April 2023 edition of Top Gear.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2023 edition of Top Gear.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself
