About a decade ago, you may remember VW used a Touraeg R50 diesel to tow a 747. Quite the achievement it was too, a ballasted SUV using a standard powertrain to pull 155 tonnes of aeroplane down a runway.
If you think it looks silly here...
Well now Porsche has upped the ante as far as silly SUV stunts go. It has used a Cayenne Diesel S to tow an Airbus A380, all 73 metres and 285 tonnes of it, to set a new Guinness World Record. And then did it with a Turbo S too, presumably just to prove the point. To be specific, the record set is for 'Heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car'.
The record was set at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, using one of Air France's A380s. The driver was Porsche GB technician Richard Payne who, after towing the plane 42 metres for the record, said "I could tell that it was working hard but the Cayenne didn't complain and just got on with it. My mirrors were quite full of Airbus, which was interesting."
Both cars were mechanically standard, the only modification being a "special towing attachment" that was fixed onto the regular tow bar of each. Talk about testing the durability!
So if your summer holiday is likely to require some very serious towing, the Porsche Cayenne could well be the car for you. Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, over to you...