TWO DECADES ON…

From first to last, Porsche couldn’t help but enrich the recipe

If anything defines Porsche, it’s evolution Most evident in the 911, especially the air-cooled cars, which spanned 1964 to 1998 After 34 years, the bloodline was evident, the main design elements clearly related, yet there’s barely a bolt the same on the first and last cars

And so Porsche was always bound to twiddle with the Cayenne Three generations, a range of powertrains, improvements all the way, even a coupé-style version of the latest car And now this, the Turbo GT

If anything else has defined Porsche, it is purity of purpose A 911 is a sports car you can use every day and you don’t have to change it much to go racing That’s what makes it a stalwart of Le Mans But what happens when you apply that kind of thinking to a Cayenne? You got me, frankly Anyway, with its 4 0-litre twin-turbo V8’s wick turned up to 631bhp and 627lb ft (up by 89 and 69 respectively), this fairly massive, off-roadable family hauler will erupt from rest to 62mph in 3 3 seconds For power-to-weight, think Cayman GT4 It’s also scored a 7min 38 9sec lap of the Nordschleife, a record for an SUV, and quicker than any (far lighter, purportedly more nimble) hot hatch

Your £150,000-ish is buying something that has had Porsche’s GT treatment There’s new fuel injection, a new crankshaft, new turbo internals, con-rods, pistons and timing chain The transmission has been both beefed and tightened up The chassis settings have been entirely recalibrated, the 22in wheels are an inch wider, shod with bespoke Pirellis, and there’s 0 45º more negative camber at the front The same guys who hone and pare GT3s have applied their scalpels, sliderules and stopwatches to a leviathan and fundamentally altered it. Just enough that possibly the laws of physics have been fundamentally altered, too After the 2005 car it feels nervous The steering is arcade game light, ultrasharp, super-quick There’s a lot of LED lighting inside too, and twin screens on the dash: we’ve left behind the analogue world for the set of Tron. Thankfully familiarisation comes quickly as I descend from the moor towards the A68 And you know what? I suddenly find myself at one with the Turbo GT

Minimal movements translate to definitive vector changes; no slack The engine is epic, utterly effortless, vocally suave. The ride, which should be brittle, just isn’t. And I keep having to remind myself that I’m driving an SUV, not a Panamera limo: even the driving position seems to put you near the road, and you sit with feet forward, not like you’ve been plonked on a stool If you wanted to build the world’s fastest four-door, you wouldn’t kick off with an SUV But Porsche has shown that, well, you probably could