Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid review

The first thing to say is I strongly suspect this hybrid Turbo is the wrong Cayenne to buy: it costs over £140,000, over half as much again as you’ll pay for a Cayenne S which, you may remember, has been reunited with twin-turbo V8 power ever since its effective 2023 facelift with its more attractive (though difficult to use) screen and haptic interior. Somewhat down on power with a mere 467bhp compared to a hybrid assisted 728bhp, it’ll still hit 170mph and 62mph from rest is 4.7sec, which strikes me as being enough. More persuasively, it’s a sack of dog biscuits short of 400kg lighter, so I’d bet what few hairs remain on my head on it being by a distance the better to punt down a decent road if, perhaps, not quite as quick from here to there, as if that actually mattered in such things.

Yet despite that, I found that this too expensive Cayenne with its too cheap interior (for the kind of money it is commanding) remains an entirely convincing example of what a luxury Porsche SUV should be, the operative word being the one in the middle. With the hybrid reducing turbo lag to zero (and providing decent EV range) and Porsche’s unbeaten ability to manage high velocity mass, progress is not only effortless but usually entertaining too. Its steering is at least a match for an Aston Martin DBX and better than anything else in the class, and while I have no time for journalists who seem to think such cars can defy physical law and somehow appear half a tonne lighter than they are, the way it uses its (optional) four-wheel steering and active roll control is a genuine marvel. Of course you can still feel its weight, but its effect is far less intrusive and deleterious to your driving enjoyment than I can recall in any other car of similar heft.