Should Porsche’s new Cayenne Turbo GT appear in your deck of Top Trumps chances are it will stand a strong chance against whatever cards your opponents are holding. 631bhp and a 627lb ft, an additional 89bhp and 69lb ft over a Cayenne Turbo coupe, are a supersaloon-rivalling set of numbers. So too the 3.3-second 0-62mph time (sixth-tenths quicker than a Turbo) and the 189mph top speed. And it will also lap the north loop of a specific German race track in 7min 38.9 seconds, quicker than the fastest hot hatches can be thrown around the 12.9-mile lap.
Regardless of its ability to win you a hand in a game of cards, you have to ask what’s the point of a 2200kg (and the rest) SUV that’s been honed, tuned and finessed by not just Porsche, but by its ludicrously talented GT department that’s responsible for GT3s and the such like? Partly because they can, but also because love them or loathe them, the market for such vehicles is where there are enough customers waiting with £143,910 to boost the company’s profit line.
When we say the GT department has developed the car we don’t mean they’ve completed a few laps of Weissach and updated a couple of lines of engine management code. The twin-turbocharged 4-litre V8 has been comprehensively overhauled with a new injection system and internals for the turbos and the crankshaft, con-rods, pistons, and timing chain are either bespoke or have been thoroughly redeveloped for the Turbo GT.