• This is the first of a three-part series covering the development of the Porsche Cayenne sport utility vehicle. This development drive in January 2001 took the Porsche test team into the Yukon Territory during the cold and dark Canadian winter.

It is so cold here that the sun doesn't even want to rise and shine in the morning. It snoozes until nearly 10 o'clock, and then it barely peeks above the horizon. By mid-day it has climbed only a few degrees. From there it slides a little ways across the southern sky, then quickly sinks back to sleep around 4:30 in the afternoon.

But while the hours of darkness are long and cold, they also are spectacular, with the Northern Lights staging a shimmering, streaking, explosive green and blue display that warms the soul if not the flesh.

So where are we? And why?

We are "north of the 60," as Canadians refer to this land beyond the arc of latitude that bisects Hudson Bay and defines the southern boundaries of the Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut Territories.

We are much closer to the Arctic Circle than we are to the Canadian population centers that cluster along the border with the United States.

We are north, and also west, some 850 miles farther west than Los Angeles.

But we're mainly north, so far north that the 19-seat Beechcraft 1900C charter flight that brought us here from Vancouver had to stop to refuel, touching down on Moresby Island off the British Columbia coast, at the airstrip at Sandspit, a thin finger of land that points farther north, to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon.

It is from Whitehorse that a team of Porsche engineers launches a two-week winter test of E1 prototypes.

E1? That's Porsche's internal code name for the Cayenne, the company's new sport/utility vehicle, though at this stage in the Cayenne's development the car is so heavily disguised that the only things that might hint that these prototypes are Porsches are the shape of their headlight covers and the way the cars handle on the roads we follow south and east from Whitehorse to Calgary, from where the cars will head back north, north again of the 60, to Yellowknife.

Kangaroos and Christmas trees

For the Porsche test team, this winter fest in northern Canada is the second half of an adventure in weather extremes. It was just a few weeks ago that these engineers took these same Cayenne prototypes to Australia, where temperatures in the Outback reached as high as 45 degrees Celsius (that's more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit). The hot-weather part of the trip completed, they returned to Germany for a few days; home, as it was, for the holidays, and then they came here, eagerly anticipating temperatures between 30 and 40 below, and again we're talking Celsius, or from minus 20 and minus 40 Fahrenheit. That minus 40 Celsius is the same temperature as minus 40 Fahrenheit only speaks to the fact that either way, it's cold up here.

Northern Canada may be too cold for the sun to shine for very long, but as it turns out it really isn't quite as cold as the Porsche test team would prefer. These guys are genuinely disappointed as the thermometer dips only to negative 27.

That is cold enough for all the necessary tests to be completed, and the team is truly excited one morning when heavy snow starts falling.

"These are good weather conditions for us this day," Egon Verse, the project manager for the Cayenne, says as we drive through a forest of fir trees heavily flocked with fresh snow.

"It's very pretty here, it's like a holiday," adds chassis engineer Helmet Widmaier.

But the engineers have little time to enjoy the spectacular scenery. They have a job to do, and even the heavy snow doesn't slow them as they explore the limits of adhesion on an icy mountain road.

Verse says the snow provides a good test, especially for the intake manifolds on the Cayenne's engines. "We'll take a look at these parts tonight," he says. "But I think they will be okay," he adds confidently.

The test team includes Verse, team leaders Juergen Kern and Peter Hass (Hass serves as trail boss for this trip) and engineers who specialize in powertrain, electronics, chassis, suspension, HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) and lighting, plus three technicians. So important is this test that for the first two days, Horst Marchart, Porsche's soon-to-retire board member in charge of research and development, and Klaus-Gerhard Wolpert, Porsche's director of SUV operations, accompany the group, though they must quickly return to Germany for important management meetings.

The test team caravan includes four Cayenne prototypes, three other mid-size SUVs (a BMX X5, a Mercedes-Benz M-Class and a Jeep Grand Cherokee) brought for benchmarking and two huge Ford Excursions that carry spare parts and luggage. Bringing up the rear are a pair of rented minivans that transport a television crew, a photographer and writers being allowed to chronicle the Cayenne's development.

At first, the test team isn't sure about its companions with their notebooks and cameras.

"For 20 years," says Juergen Kern, "we've been taught that if we see a journalist with a camera, we are to dig a hole and bury the cars."

On this trip, the journalists get to ride along.

A Porsche with a trailer hitch?

That Kern, Verse, Hass and the others all have more than two decades of experience at Porsche says much about the company's commitment to make sure that the Cayenne is a true Porsche, that regardless of the number of doors or its towing capability that it will be a real sports car, not just another, ordinary sport/ute.

Asked about the unusual challenge of developing a four-door sports car, Marchart is eager to respond:

"Your calling the Cayenne a 'sports car' touches upon the most vital aspect of this project: the challenge for our Porsche engineers has been to develop a sports car which differs from our traditional vehicles with regard to very influential parameters like dimensions, center of gravity, the driver's seating position, etc., etc. while featuring those Porsche-typical qualities by which we feel that all our products should distinguish themselves.

"The target is a highly demanding one in itself and is further complicated by the request for off-road mobility. Our goal has been to create an SUV which reflects Porsche's philosophy and meets the very particular feasibility standards set by our engineers."

And by the high expectations of Porsche customers, who are likely to expect a vehicle that handles like a 911 Carrera 4 on pavement and like the Paris Dakar-winning 959 off road.

"The Cayenne is the Porsche among the SUVs," Wolpert adds. "In other words, the Cayenne's father is a sports car."

To be sure those sports car genes aren't altered, Porsche assigned many of its most experienced engineers to the project.

Verse was project manager for the development of the Boxster. Hass has been a Porsche development engineer since 1980. Kern has been with the company even longer, and brings to the Cayenne team a depth of experience that includes quality-control evaluation of many Porsche models as well as extensive testing and finely detailed assessment of vehicles produced by other companies.

Andreas Jaksch, another 20-plus year Porsche veteran, led the team that developed the water-cooled engines for the 911 and Boxster. Now, he heads the engineering group charged with the development of three new engines for the Cayenne.

Engineering standards and customer expectations include the capability for the Cayenne to go regardless of weather, regardless of whether there's pavement, and - is it possible -- is that really a trailer hitch we see behind one of the Cayenne prototypes?

Yes, it is, and yet this is not the first Porsche with such a feature. Drawing on his years with the company, Jaksch notes that a trailer hitch was among the options available for another Porsche model.

"Our 928 also could tow horses," he says, adding proudly that that front-engined Porsche was the only "true sports car" with such ability.

The Nurburgring of the North

The Cayenne team isn't the only Porsche engineering group spending time in Canada this winter. As we arrive in Whitehorse, we meet a convoy of 911s and Boxsters, brought here for their winter workout.

Porsche has been testing in northern Canada since the 1980s. In addition to the (usually) extreme cold temperatures and a good infrastructure of lodging and gas stations, the area provides the cover of 18 hours of darkness each day and an excellent network of roads that are little traveled this time of year. Except for the Northern Lights, most of the tourist attractions are closed for the long Canadian winter.

Also closed are many of the restaurants that cater to summer travelers headed to Alaska. Thus the gas stations become refueling stops not only for the cars, but also for whatever refueling the crew gets between its early breakfast and a late dinner. With many miles to cover each day, there's neither time nor place to stop for lunch.

Many car companies do their winter testing in Sweden; in fact, while we're in Canada, a group of Porsche engineers is in Sweden working on new software for the Cayenne powertrains and on the variations needed to adopt Porsche Stability Management anti-spin technology to an SUV. Those powertrain engineers will meet us in Calgary, where the updated data will be installed on our prototypes for the drive to Yellowknife.

"In Sweden, you often meet the other car companies," Hass explains. "Here there are good conditions and we meet no other companies."

Nor are there likely to be very many people with cameras that might capture an image of the Cayenne a year before its official launch.

"It is a tradition in Porsche that we go very early on normal streets," says Hass, who explains that testing on a proving ground can accomplish only so much, and that some problems present themselves only in real world driving.

"That is the reason we are traveling, to find problems," he said.

"You cannot just test on proving grounds, or by a strict guide book [as some automakers do]," adds Kern. "You have to drive in the real world."

Even if that might mean exposing the vehicles.

Therefore, all of the test vehicles, even the X5, M-Class and Grand Cherokee, are completely camouflaged with tape and fiberglass covers that turn from just drab olive brown to downright dirty as the miles pass.

"It has to look terrible," Verse says of disguises meant to discourage attention.

To further confuse anyone who might spy this caravan, it isn't long before an anonymous wet finger traces a different emblem in the dirt of the rear flank of each of the Cayennes. One day one wears four interlocking rings, another gets a non-blue oval and yet another sports a pair of overlapping Rs.

Secrecy is so important that even though it is well after dark each night when we arrive at a motel, the cars are carefully covered beneath canvas blankets.

In fact, the engineers are so paranoid that when one of the media crew shows up wearing a Porsche coat, the logo is immediately covered with a cross of duct tape.

When we stop during the daylight to refuel the cars, all we can tell curious Canadians is that we're a tour group enjoying our drive through their beautiful country.

But even if someone notices these vehicles, they really don't see much of significance. The true shape of the car - especially its sloping rear deck - is well hidden. Even the taillights are just bolted-on shapes of red plastic. The headlights are prototypes that may or may not reach production.

Should someone get a peak inside, they still wouldn't know the vehicle's origin. One car has a shifter borrowed from an Audi. Even the steering wheels are unbranded prototypes.

But while the beauty of these vehicles may not be in the eye of the beholder - at least not until its official unveiling at the 2002 North American International Auto Show at Detroit, the Cayenne shows its beauty in another way as we head south in the early morning darkness from Watson Lake and onto the Cassiar Highway.

Though labeled a "highway," this 446-mile route is just a thin red line on the map of western Canada. If you don't examine that map closely, you might not even notice the road that goes up, over and down the Cassiar Mountains and then meanders between the Coastal and Skeena ranges is a just a thin red line on the map on the map of Western Canada.

For those who do find British Columbia route 37, "The Milepost," the Bible for those traveling in this part of the North American continent, warns of potholes, stretches of washboard gravel and many one-lane bridges. In other words, an excellent place to test SUVs, especially when falling snow slickens its already iced-over surface.

Our caravan of Cayennes and other vehicles stays in touch by way of two-way radios. The lead car - on this trip always driven by trail boss Hass, who has his "Milepost" beside him and a GPS receiver on the dashboard -- warns those behind of the occasional logging truck or any other hazards ahead. But today the coast is clear and we sometimes run at triple digits (and we're talking miles per hour here, not k/ph!).

It's like riding along on a stage of the World Rally Championship, and from the passenger's seat we marvel at how very quickly and how very well the Cayenne prototypes handle such conditions. We're enjoying a roller coaster ride, with the deftness of the engineers and the dynamic capabilities of the Cayennes providing the "rails" that keep us safe.

Will we see the Porsches today?

Unfortunately, the minivans don't have the Cayenne's all-wheel-drive, its PSM or its electronically locking differential for low-range traction. In fact, one of them comes without a windshield wiper (and we're not talking about the blade; the entire wiper arm is missing).

The Cayenne caravan leaves for its first day of testing without us. Hass has plotted a route north out of Whitehorse to Carmacks, and then east to Ross River, where the forecast is for temperatures to be nearly 30 below.

The missing wiper blade finally replaced, the minivans hit the road, but it's obvious we can't catch the Cayennes. So Klaus Steckkonig of the Porsche press department plots a route to intercept the Cayennes at Ross River. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a "Milepost" and therefore doesn't know that the back road he plans to use as a short cut isn't plowed in the winter months.

But that becomes obvious when one of the minivans buries itself in deep snow.

Manpower finally pushes the minivan free, and as we get ready to climb aboard, someone shouts: "Welcome to the Krazy Klaus Adventure Tour." Even Steckkonig laughs, and the experience provides an instant bond for the members of Klaus' Krew.

Now Klaus has a new plan: We'll drive all the way to and through Whitehorse, then turn north until we're within radio range of the Cayennes. Well out in the Yukon wilderness, Steckkonig finally reaches Hass and convinces him to slow down long enough for the TV crew to take a few seconds of footage in the fading light as the Cayennes make their return to Whitehorse for the night.

Right on cue, the Cayennes make their appearance, slow so the crew can capture some video in the fading light, and then the Cayennes quickly disappear around a bend as the sun sinks to sleep.

On the way back to Whitehorse, one of the minivans coughs its way into a filling station that appears to be closed. Fortunately, there's a café next door, and the cook has the key to the gas pump, although we'll have to wait while he finishes an order he has on his stove.

Over breakfast the next morning, Steckkonig is asked a simple question: "Will we see the Porsches today?"

Everyone laughs, even when the question is repeated each morning as the group heads onto the road.

And despite their serious exteriors, it turns out that the engineers aren't above some fun on their own. As the caravan crosses a bridge over an obviously unfrozen river, one engineer gets on the radio and breaks out in song, a German child's song about going down to the river, putting on your trunks and taking a swim.

It would not be the last time that song would be sung as we traveled along.

Green balloons aren't child's play

When we notice that each of the Cayenne prototypes has a green balloon tucked into the windshield wiper well, immediately in front of the steering wheel, we wonder if this is some practical joke being played by one of the engineers or technicians.

Actually, we're informed, the green balloons are very serious business. This child's toy is an engine-saving device that Porsche has used for at least 15 years of cold-weather testing. The balloon is rigged to inflate if there's too much pressure in the engine's crankcase, instantly alerting a driver who might not notice the change on a pressure gauge until it's too late. When you're testing prototype parts thousands of miles from home, "too late" is devastating.

"This winter is already the third winter of Cayenne tests," Wolpert says. "We have previously carried out a whole series of test phases. Usually, such a development starts with the so-called "mules," when the drivetrians are installed in the bodies of external vehicles."

Thus the so-called Weissach Jeep, a Grand Cherokee chassis that has been driving unnoticed around Germany, carrying three new Cayenne powertrains - a V6, normally aspirated V8 and twin-turbocharged V8 -- through their preliminary development work.

Like all the Cayenne engineering groups, Jaksch and his powertrain group have been busy. Wolpert compares the effort to simultaneously creating new engines for the Boxster, Carrera and 911 Turbo.

Meanwhile, chassis engineers are revising stability control for SUV application and an air suspension is being developed so the Cayenne can be raised for driving off-road or lowered for the autobahn, where, we're assured, the twin-turbo will approach 170 mph.

But we won't approach such speeds on this test. All the Cayennes and benchmark vehicles ride on 18-inch Dunlop Winter Sport tires, in part so Jaksch has a common baseline in the fuel economy and emission work he monitors with laptop computers in each car. On one long, uphill stretch through the mountains, Jaksch gets on the radio to remind all of the drivers that they must stay in high gear for a specific mileage test.

"Our goals for this winter test are primarily the testing of the whole vehicle," Wolpert says of these two weeks in Canada. "During these drives, all functions, like motor, cold running characteristics, the power of heating and air conditioning, the tires and the closeness of the car body are being tested."

As we pass four adventurers scaling a frozen waterfall, a voice on the radio reminds everyone it's time to test their air conditioning systems. This is not a joke. It is part of the discipline of winter testing, which will continue with one more cold-weather workout a few weeks before Cayenne production begins in April 2002 in a brand new Porsche factory being built in Leipzig.

The practical Porsche

As we've made our way from Whitehorse to Calgary, we've seen the Northern Lights and what we've termed the "Eastern Lights," a spectacular sunrise that starts bright red, then blooms orange and finally turns into lemon yellow display over snow-capped mountains.

We've seen a dogsled team, a gigantic elk and had to pick our way slowly around a herd of big horn sheep meandering down the road.

"This winter test we do like a customer," Verse had said. Well, not quite, because a customer might have had time to stop and enjoy such sights. This was very much a business trip.

"We are 17 months to the launch," Verse said. "Today we make the final tuning for the car. The next step will be to remove the covers for the wind tunnel."

And then there will be more fine-tuning and summer testing and winter testing and so many more things to do before production finally begins.

"Of course," Kern admits, "the engineers are never happy with the car."

But what matters is that the customer is happy with the car. And from what we've seen, they'll certainly like this practical Porsche. Part rally racer. Part sports car. And on the four-lane divided highway to Calgary, part luxury sedan; we may be riding on snow tires and a prototype vehicle, but it's amazingly calm and quiet in the Cayenne cabin.

Kern's role on this trip is to be "the customer." While others must focus on specific systems, he concentrates on minute sensual details - the way the wiper sounds as it moves across the windshield, the tactile qualities of every piece of switchgear.

" 'It's good enough'," Kern says, repeating a phrase heard too often in automotive circles. "That's something I hate!

"And we cannot blame suppliers," Kern explains. "People don't buy the car from suppliers. Porsche sells the car. It's a Porsche!"

Kern has found a rough edge on the windshield wiper stalk and has a suggestion about a possible suspension tweak, and talks into a small tape recorder. Jaksch writes meticulously in his orange notebook.

"The day isn't finished when the driving is done," says Hass. "There's one to two hours on the laptop and talking with Germany."

And there's a meeting each night involving all the engineers on the test team.

"The most important thing is to fix the problems, not to write about them," says Kern. "We meet each night and send to Germany so they can begin to work. Writing something down to protect yourself will not help the program. It's more important to start the activities."

As intense as the activity is on the winter test, Hass stops the caravan in front of the Columbia Icefield for a group photo, and before very long he stops again, at a shopping center at Lake Louise, where he's scheduled time for quick lunch and to buy some souvenirs and presents to take home to the family.

"The whole two weeks I say I am not stressed, but I am strained," Hass says. "And when it's all done, I'm happy to go home."