Watch: new 473bhp Porsche 911 Dakar tested on snow and... sand

Off-road supercars are for show not go, right? Not for us. Especially when the car in question is a jacked-up 911 that believes driving doesn’t have to end when the tarmac does. Welcome to the Porsche 911 Dakar: a high-riding armour-clad version of the 992 GTS.

That means a 473bhp 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six at the back, four-wheel drive, and an eight-speed PDK gearbox... all raised 50mm higher off the ground than usual, while a lift system at both axles can extend the Dakar a further 30mm for “ambitious off-roading”.

But is this recipe any good? We sent Top Gear magazine’s Jack Rix out the office to put Porsche’s ‘tough’ new 911 Dakar through the wringer to find out. And because we’re thorough, we told him not to come back until he’d done it on sand and snow.