Porsche Cayenne

The Porsche Cayenne is an overachiever in a multitude of fields. The first generation of Porsche’s SUV was instrumental in keeping the sports car manufacturer afloat while the current-generation Cayenne is about as close as you can get to a sports car while still offering some off-road capabilities. Regardless of the model and platform, Porsches have mostly offered a great baseline for tuners to extract even more performance. There are more than a few notable names in the business, but few can match the long-term experience as well as MANHART.

From your average Joe on Pimp My Ride to Celebrity builds, I’ve seen a fair share of some truly outrageous creations from West Coast Customs over the past two decades. But this one is special. Why? Because it involves a Billionaire, yes, with a capital ’B’. But this is not just any Billionaire, but Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, yes the same dude who runs the likes of some of the biggest tech / social media companies on the planet in the form of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg along with his wife Pricilla Chan, posted some pictures of a stretched Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and a Porsche 911 GT3, on the very platforms that Mark runs, indicating that he may be a Porsche guy.

It’s sad that Porsche’s best-selling model isn’t its halo sports car, the 911, but a couple of jacked-up SUVs. Both the Macan and the Cayenne are Porsche’s biggest cash cows, the sort of models that make cars like the Carrera GT and 918 Spyder possible. The compact Macan is available in two flavors; Gasoline: starting at $62,000, and Electric: starting at $75,300. The bigger facelifted Cayenne starts at $84,700.

The Porsche Cayenne recently got a few nice updates for 2025. While most will be looking towards the range-topping Cayenne Turbo E Hybrid, it is the new GTS trim that is the most pleasant surprise. The GTS is, typically, considered to be the perfect middle ground among all Porsche models as it combines the ideal blend of performance, comfort, and usable power levels. Despite the Cayenne GTS being one of the most athletic SUVs out there, a Sports Utility Vehicle can never offer the same thrills as a proper sports car like, let’s say the 911 Carrera GTS.

About 20 years ago, Porsche raised a few eyebrows by introducing its first SUV – the Cayenne. This exercise paid off big time since this high-riding Porsche is widely viewed as the model responsible for saving the German automaker from bankruptcy. Fast-forward to 2024 and the two best-selling Porsche models are still SUVs, i.e. the Cayenne and its smaller sibling, the Macan. The Cayenne was recently updated, but its range-topping Turbo E Hybrid model seems a bit puzzling to me.

Remember the early 2000s? Back when flip phones were peak tech and Britney was rocking a shaved head? That’s also when Porsche dropped a bomb called the Cayenne. Sure, some folks scoffed – a Porsche SUV? But here’s the thing: the Cayenne, along with the Boxster, saved Porsche’s bacon. They were the volume sellers that funded glorious things like the Carrera GT. Plus, they practically invented the whole "sporty SUV" thing. (Yes, yes, I know the Lamborghini LM002 came first, but the Cayenne brought it mainstream.)

Porsche’s best-selling model, the Cayenne SUV, recently got a facelift for the 2024 model year, bringing a much sharper and modern look, inspired by the Taycan electric sedan. The update also brings significant changes to the interior, thanks to a fully digital instrument console and an optional 10.9-inch passenger-side display.

We have all seen renderings of what a Porsche Cayenne pickup truck would look like, thanks to A.I. and imaginative graphic designers. While an official model might never be a reality, we no longer have to rely on our imagination. French YouTuber Elyascars decided to use his trusty angle grinder and pickaxe to make the Cayenne pickup truck a reality. A mere seven days ago he acquired an ’03 Porsche Cayenne (955) for just 2,300 euros ($2,500), one he calls the cheapest Cayenne in France.

The 2024 Porsche Cayenne S arrives with a host of exciting updates that solidify its position as a top contender in the luxury performance SUV segment. It’s now propelled by a potent 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, replacing the previous 2.9-liter V6. This powerplant delivers an impressive 468 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, propelling the Cayenne S from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds when equipped with the Sport Chrono Package.

The Porsche Cayenne is a name synonymous with luxury and sportiness and, perhaps less so, off-road prowess. But what if we told you there’s a Cayenne that can tackle sand dunes with the same aplomb it tackles Rodeo Drive? While this might look like any other Cayenne to the average Joe, to the eagle-eyed amongst you, you know that this one is special. This, my friends, is the 2010 Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia that’s come up for sale on Bring-a-Trailer, is a ridiculously rare (only 285 made!) off-road-ready beast that’ll have you conquering sand dunes and carving up canyons in equal measure.

Picture this: It’s the early 2000s, and Porsche, the iconic sports carmaker, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and the company took a gamble that would change everything. Enter the Cayenne, a sporty SUV that raised eyebrows and turned heads. Purists scoffed, but Porsche knew what they were doing. Porsche saw the potential in the SUV market, and three generations later, I’m glad to say that it paid off. Sharing its platform with the VW Tourage, the Cayenne wasn’t just a success; it was a lifeline, injecting much-needed cash into Porsche’s coffers and securing their future (if you didn’t know, it was the Cayenne’s success that fueled the development of the iconic Carrera GT).

Ruf, the legendary German tuner known for breathing fire into Porsches, recently unveiled its off-road-ready Rodeo at the Monterey Car Week. While it certainly was a head-turner and one of the highlight models this year, it’s not the first time that the German tuner has gotten its feet wet with a high-riding model. Enter the Ruf Dakara, a forgotten hero from the mid-2000s that deserves a place in the Super SUV Hall of Fame.

When it comes to reimagining and modifying Porsche cars, there is no shortage of great names that specialize in the art of making the German company’s performance models even more capable than they already are. Such treatment is not limited only to the Porsche 911 and 718 models though. The German company, Friedrich Performance Manufaktur (FPM) offers performance-enhancing treatment for all Porsche models, and one of its latest kits is dedicated to making the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT faster than the latest, most powerful 911 we have. Of course, the 992.2 update is about to bring even more radical variants of the iconic, rear-engine sports car, but the Friedrich Performance package for the Cayenne GT gives it a 36-percent bump in power with a bit of extra torque. As you may expect, the numbers are impressive, but even more surprising is how little it takes to unleash that extra power from the Porsche SUV.

Lamborghini is on a roll, electrifying its lineup one model at a time. The Italian automaker kicked things off with the Revuelto, their first-ever plug-in hybrid supercar with a whopping 1,001 horsepower. Then came the Urus SE, a hybrid SUV that’s more than just a green machine - it’s a performance powerhouse. And let’s not forget the Temerario, the Huracan’s electrifying successor, boasting a brand-new V8 hybrid setup that churns out 907 horsepower.