Porsche Cayenne morphs from German SUV into American drift machine

Few of us would seriously consider a bulky premium crossover like the Cayenne for a drift car, but someone in the United States had fun building just that.

Working with a stock Porsche Cayenne, the uncredited tuner dropped its ride height while also redesigning the subframe so as to leave as little ground clearance as possible. As a result, the car sits closer than 50 mm (2 inches) to the ground – whole 230 mm (9 inches) lower than stock. To protect the undercarriage, it rides on much stiffer springs and 22-inch wheels, and has Wilwood brakes at the rear end for extra slide control.

A big surprise awaits any Porsche fan daring to look under the hood. The stock engine is gone, and a bulky 6.0-liter LS2 V8 toils in its place. The power is quite respectable at 537 PS (530 hp / 395 kW). A three-plate-clutch transmission borrowed out of a BMW 335i (E92) carries the torque to the wheels.

According to the owner, he didn’t have any particular reason for the engine swap and just felt like trying it out to see how well it would go.

No less bizarre in the cabin, which is not stripped like most drift car interiors. Furthermore, it packs some extra weight owing to posh Bentley seats wrapped in leather and Alcantara and a sound system with four speakers built into each of the front doors.