One of the brightest spots of the dismal year that was 2020 was the RUF Rodeo concept, an Old West-inspired, Safari 911-style all-terrainer that couldn’t have been any more timely. (It’s got the horses in the back, after all.) It’s been long enough since then that I’d about given up hope RUF would make any—but lo and behold, at this year’s Monterey Car Week, the RUF Rodeo rides again. This time it does so as a production car, with fully adjustable all-wheel drive, ground clearance galore, and the best damn interior I’ve seen in a modern car.
The 2025 RUF Rodeo is, like all RUFs, not a Porsche 911. It’s actually based on a proprietary RUF monocoque made out of carbon fiber, with an integral roll cage for further reinforcement. The body, complete with big boxy fenders like a Tonka truck, is straight carbon too. That means a curb weight of just 2,756 pounds, which the engine has more than enough oomph to push around.
Out behind the rear axle is a turbocharged 3.6-liter, all-aluminum flat-six making 610 horsepower and all 516 lb-ft of torque at 2,250 rpm. They’re stuffed through a six-speed manual (as opposed to the paddle-shifted Porsche 911 Dakar) to a fully adjustable AWD system, which can send all torque to wherever you want it. Yes, that means all of it can go to the limited-slip differential-equipped rear—the front has an LSD too, by the way. Also, check out those square quadruple exhaust tips in the bumper.
The suspension is four-corner independent, consisting of double wishbones with electronically adjusted damping. Despite that, the Rodeo still has 9.5 inches of ground clearance, which is on par with serious factory off-road trucks like the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. It has the traction to use it too, with 235-section Goodyear all-terrain tires wrapped around forged 18-inch centerlock wheels. It’s still good for a top speed of 155 mph though, which is why it also needs four-corner ceramic brakes with six-piston front calipers and four-piston rears.
Only now do we get to what might be my favorite part: the interior. Like the concept, the production car is clad in Old West-style upholstery inspired by Ralph Lauren Ranch. The leather looks like it was peeled directly off a well-worn saddle, while the seating surfaces, door cards, headliner, and more are wrapped in patterns inspired by Indigenous American art. The pedals are all titanium, while the controls are almost entirely knobs and buttons. The gauges, of course, are pure analog.
So, not only does the RUF Rodeo look like more fun than a mechanical bull after two Revolvers, but it compares more than favorably to the similar Porsche 911 Dakar. The RUF claims a more than two-inch ground clearance advantage, 137 extra horsepower, and an almost 800-lb lighter curb weight. And again, it’s manual too. The only ways it might not be better than the Porsche are its price and availability, as there are typically fewer RUFs to go around than there are people who want them. With all-terrain supercars being the newest craze in big-money performance, it’s hard to see the RUF Rodeo being anything other than a runaway success.
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