Porsche is testing the upcoming Cayenne so that you don’t have to

Forget the 911 Dakar, Porsche's most important new car of 2023 is nearly ready. Yep, we’re talking about the facelifted third-generation Cayenne, which is set to be unveiled at some point in spring this year.

We say ‘new car’ because Cayenne boss Michael Schätzle ensures us that this is “one of the most extensive product upgrades in the history of Porsche”. In fact, the upgrades have been so wide-ranging that Porsche is putting the fresh-faced Cayenne through a full testing programme as it would for a brand-new model altogether. Or was that just an excuse for the engineers and test drivers to go and have some fun in the sand, snow and mud? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Still, these resulting images are rather impressive, aren’t they? We’re told that the aim with the facelift was to achieve a "wider range between the typical Porsche on-road performance, long-distance comfort and off-road capability". We also know that there will be new HD-Matrix light tech and new signatures front and rear, plus there’s a new ‘semi-active’ chassis. 

In slightly less promising news, Porsche says that the facelift will bring with it “a new and extensively digitalised display and operating concept with enhanced connectivity functions”. That sounds like code for the removal of buttons to us. Fingers crossed the important ones remain. 

In total the Porsche testing team has racked up over four million kilometres in the updated Cayenne, with trips to Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Hard work, but someone has to do it. 

Oh, and it’s also very aware that only a minute percentage of Cayenne owners will ever get themselves into a situation like the ones above, but it’s better to know the car can cope with a light dusting of London snow or a particularly tall kerb outside the local grammar school, isn’t it?

“What we demand from the new Cayenne in tough off-road tests in Spain, on punishing sand dunes in Morocco, or during highly dynamic drives on ice tracks in Finland and on the Nürburgring Nordschleife isn’t something we presume many customers will ever do,” says the Cayenne’s prototype lead Dirk Lersch. “But anyone who purchases a Porsche should know that it can withstand exceptionally high loads – regardless of the surface being driven on.”