First drive: Porsche Cayenne

Porsche Cayenne

It may look like a big chunky off-roader, but most owners of the first generation Porsche Cayenne used it to tackle nothing more challenging than urban speed bumps. For the second generation, Porsche has caved in and dropped some of the off-road pretence, billing this as a purely sporty SUV.

This means the ungainly looks of the original have been toned down in favour of a sleeker, more pointed style. The result is undeniably Porsche, with 911 design traits obvious all over the big car.

The front has been sharpened up, and the snub nose has been dropped but the best changes come at the rear, with the previously utilitarian tail now sculpted in a more flowing manner. With this new look comes a new mentality – the Cayenne feels more at home on the track than plugging up and down muddy hills. There are a host of buttons on the centre console that will help with the rough stuff, but everything is now electronic so there is a slight feeling of detachment while tackling tricky terrain. This is unlikely to bother most of the Cayenne's owners, as most will never take it off road. Should they ever need to though, tricks like hill-descent control, ride-height adjustment and custom off road modes that change the gearing and throttle response means there is a fair amount of capability here.