Porsche goes SUV. (Wheels).

When I heard that Porsche was jumping into the SUV market, I had what must be a common reaction: "They're doing what?" It struck me as a major marketing non sequitur-kind of like hearing that Robert Mondavi had decided to distill Scotch.

After all, what I've always loved about driving Porsches, and especially the 911, is that whole down-in-the-cockpit, oneness-with-the-road sensation. What makes an SUV fun to drive is precisely the opposite feeling: The driver's seat becomes a sort of throne from which you lord over the traffic.

Besides, a Porsche with cup holders? Child-safety seats? It just didn't compute.

Needless to say, I was eager to put the new Porsche SUV-named the Cayenne, as in the tongue-jolting pepper-through its paces. Now, having had that opportunity, I'm inclined to offer Porsche two-and-a-half cheers. The Cayenne is a superb SUM probably as close as you can get to a high-performance sportscar in its category. However, it's still an SUV, with everything that implies.

Before actually driving it, I had to satisfy my curiosity as to why the company decided to get into the SUV business in the first place. Who was this car designed for? Souped-up soccer moms? Novelty-starved Hollywood types? Yes and yes, it turned out, but the larger market may lie in the existing pool of semifanatic Porsche owners.

As one of the company's marketing execs put it, "The research was telling us 40 percent of all Porsche owners have SUVs. And we know Porsche owners love their Porsches. We suspected if they had the option of owning an SUV from us, there would be a very good chance they would make that choice." Porsche's sales goals are simultaneously ambitious and modest: Within three years, executives nope to double U.S. sales, to 50,000 vehicles-a fraction of what BMW moves here.

But is the Cayenne the car to do the trick? Based on looks, you're less likely to get a verdict than a hung jury. To me, it resembles a space-age version of the classic London taxi (not the old boxy one, but the newer, more streamlined one), especially in its black and midnight-blue versions. It's a distinctively cool-looking car, in a slightly goofy way. During that mercifully brief time when I was crawling along in Manhattan traffic, the Cayenne passed the Rolldown Test with flying colors--about once per block, someone would roll down his side window and call out in admiration, "Wow, what is that?" or words to that effect. However, the friend I was driving with found the Cayenne underwhelming. "It looks like an SUV that wants to be a sportscar but can't," he said.

You'd like to think, though, that anyone capable of falling in love with a Porsche will be looking beyond the cosmetics. And there's much to admire with the Cayenne, starting with the V8 engine designed specifically for this model. (Little-known fact: Many carmakers use essentially the same engines for their SUVs as for their smaller cars.) For the standard Cayenne S, the 4.5-liter engine produces a full 340 horsepower--and for the Turbo, that number hits an eye-popping 450 horses. I didn't get a chance to test Porsche's claim that the Cayenne can go from zero to 62 in 5.6 seconds, but based on what I experienced, it doesn't seem like a stretch.

To enhance the car's sporty feel, the company used a bagful of clever strategies, such as maintaining Porsche's traditional interior taper so that it's slimmer m the back than the front, while keeping an even distribution of weight. And probably just for psychological reasons, they've made sure the Cayenne features the guttural Porsche "growl" that makes the driver feel as if he (or she) is Mario Andretti.

Finally, Porsche engineers created what they claim is the ultimate leveler between sportscar and SUV: a suspension system that provides six different chassis height levels, from less than five inches off the ground (ideal for highways) to almost 11 (for off-pavement terrain). In addition, the Cayenne's suspension gives you three different "feel" settings: "comfort," "normal" and "sporty."

But these are all, Finally, drawing-board brainstorms. They weren't about to answer my pressing question: Could the same vehicle truly offer the two seemingly incompatible pleasures of an SUV and a high-performance sportscar? The only place that could be answered was on the asphalt--and off it.

My first discovery: Whether the Cayenne truly delivers on the road depends a lot on what kind of road you're talking about. On the freeways and residential routes that made up most of my first day's journey, I found the ride a superior version of the SUV experience, but not a quantum leap. Granted, it was a pleasant surprise to realize that whatever speed I drove at, it almost always felt 15 mph less--the ride was that smooth. But the real revelation in those early miles was the braking; the response was firm but easy, whether I was just nudging the brakes or really giving it some foot. On the whole, though, it was hard to account for all the fuss. And I couldn't tell much difference between the suspension "feel" settings.

Not until the second day, when headed out for some off-roading, was I able to take full measure of the machine. Oddly, it wasn't the time off-road that got my attention, though the Cayenne has a casual ease with steep, muddy inclines, and it crunches over rotten logs as if they were so much kindling. I 'was far more impressed with the way it performed on the twisty, up-and-down, switchbacking two-laners that led to my off-road course. In even a high-end SUV, the top-heavy feel would have discouraged me from leaning into curves and hitting the gas pedal as I pulled through them. With the Cayenne, I didn't think twice. The response was instantaneous and precise--the car really listened. The four wheels felt anchored to the macadam at every moment. For several minutes, I even forgot I was in an SUM It really did feel like a 911.

So, is the Cayenne deserving of all the hoopla--and, more critically, your cash? I'd sum up my reaction this way: It's a car ideally suited to those who want a luxury SUV experience, but also, on certain roads and under certain conditions, would like to feel they're commandeering a sportscar. However, probably inevitably, every accolade you can give the Cayenne must come with the caveat, "for an SUV."

The biggest question you'll want to ask will be, "Is this worth the money?" High-end SUVs from the likes of Volvo, BMW and Lexus can be had for sticker prices in the mid-$40K range. The Cayenne S checks in with a base price of $65,900, and its cousin, the Turbo, reaches the rarified heights of $88,900. While the Cayenne decisively outperforms these others in most ways, whether the difference justifies the cost is strictly your call.