Most Porsche Cayennes spend their lives in shopping mall parking lots and Starbucks drive-thrus, but they were built for more. The Cayenne has serious off-road potential, as this build from E-Motion Engineering demonstrates.
Detailed in a video from Hoonigan AutoFocus (via Motor1), this Cayenne is a second-generation model with the turbodiesel engine. The engine is largely untouched, although the exhaust system’s muffler was removed to improve departure angles off-road.
Not surprisingly, aftermarket off-road parts for the Cayenne were limited, so E-Motion had to rely on custom fabrication. The Cayenne sports custom bumper guards and rock rails, which are tied into the vehicle’s structure. The pieces were designed not only to protect against damage, but to serve as anchor points for recovery gear. A 3/16-inch aluminum skid plate protects the Cayenne’s belly.
E-Motion Engineering Porsche Cayenne screenshot
Other modifications include a roof rack, hitch-mounted, swinging, spare-tire carrier, and a carbon-fiber snorkel modeled on the one from the first-generation Cayenne Transsyberia. The bumper guard and roof rack also got a smattering of lights.
The suspension system is built around 3-way-adjustable KW coilovers, designed using lessons learned from KW’s work on Volkswagen Touaregs for the German military. The Cayenne rides on Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires mounted on custom beadlock rims.
E-Motion noted that the Cayenne is more of a big rally car than a rock-crawling Jeep Wrangler rival. While some off-road ability was baked into the design, the second-generation Cayenne platform does have its limitations. Still, it shows that this luxury SUV can be as comfortable in the desert as it is in suburbia.