One for the enthusiast driver – the Porsche Cayenne turbo E-Hybrid Coupe SUV – simply a German express priced from $297,200. The Cayenne SUV comes in wagon form or in the sloped roof Coupe style with a total of seven models available. The turbo E-Hybrid Coupe detailed here being the most powerful combustion engine Porsche available. The output figures staggering – 544kW of power and 950Nm of torque from its plug-in hybrid powertrain – a combination of a twin turbo 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine paired with an electric motor and despite tipping the scales at nearly 2600 kilos powering the Cayenne to 100km/hour in just 3.5-seconds.




This German coupe style SUV feels absolutely bullet proof and with a 25.9kWh battery we are talking about a very sophisticated Porsche. With all wheel drive, an eight speed Tiptronic automatic gearbox as well as adaptive electronic suspension and four available drive modes topped off by a very sophisticated traction management system this is a technically impressive upper luxury SUV. On top of that the coupe style body gives it a sporty profile to match the performance capability. And despite the enormous performance potential the turbo E-Hybrid is no slouch as a workhorse with a braked towing capacity of 3500kgs.

In Sport Plus mode its performance becomes somewhat aggressive but with so much electronic sophistication on hand it’s just so accomplished and manageable despite a top speed potential of 295 km/hour. This is a plug-in hybrid with nearly 80kms of pure electric range and with charging on the over run and through regenerative braking the best I’ve encountered in a plug-in hybrid – as an example, on a short 30km drive I managed to recover 11km of electric range.





The hybrid system is also incredibly smooth with the transition between hybrid power and the grunt of the turbo V8 imperceptible. Porsche suggesting the combined fuel consumption at 2.5L/100kms however on my cycle of city and country driving the best I could achieve was 4.1L/100kms.The top speed in pure electric drive is 135km/hour.

As you expect from Porsche the E-hybrid Coupe delivers highly competent handling and braking yet a very comfortable ride in a cabin that oozes class and comfort. The package includes gloss black exterior highlights, body coloured wheel arches, quad exhaust outlets, a head up instrument display, a panoramic glass sunroof, front and rear sports seating, heated in the front and rear privacy glass. Importantly this variant is offered in no less than 11 different colours, plus a custom colour option, as well as eight different interior trim schemes and a whopping 22 different wheel options.

A simply fabulous driver. An upper luxury Coupe style SUV that’s comes with a multitude of options, a number of which should be standard fare. In fact, the option prices on the test car tallied $42,000, some simply over the top like the Porsche crest on the headrests at $950, a branding exercise and barely what you would consider an option. However, the performance capability is just so impressive and satisfying its very easy to overlook the few shortcomings on this upper luxury Porsche Cayenne SUV.