Porsche Cayenne review

Let's start with the base car. The Cayenne V6, if you like. Could you live with the entry version, or is it unworthy of the Porsche badge? Actually, it’s fine in a relaxed, unsporting kind of way, and that’s what a lot of people secretly want from a bolshy SUV.

If you’re a real driving geek you’ll appreciate the way the lighter V6 rounds a corner just a smidge more deftly than the V8. In fact, all new Cayennes seem to have slightly lighter steering than the previous model offered. A subtle change, but one that makes the car a smidge friendlier in town.

Ask the V6 for everything it’s got and it’ll play along gamely until about 5,000rpm, where it starts to get breathless and sound strained. In a brief but mixed road drive, our test car returned 21mpg. Over the same stretch, the V8 Cayenne S was only 1mpg thirstier.

We also enjoyed the steel suspension with adaptive dampers in the base spec car – it soaks up bumps with aplomb, leaving you wondering where all that energy has even gone. It's a calm cruiser and makes for a comfortable ride around town.

What about the V8 version?

The Cayenne S, then. A tiny bit burlier on turn-in, but more satisfying everywhere else. It’s downright bizarre to be sat behind a new V8 engine in this day and age without even mild hybrid assistance offering a placebo of eco-conscience. But Porsche says this 4.0-litre powerplant will comply with all current and incoming emissions rules and regs, so it’s no longer only the Cayenne Turbo that enjoys eight cylinders.

Yes, the noise sounds as digitally augmented as a Mission: Impossible car chase, and the acceleration is swift rather than fast, but that’s fine. How fast do you need your two-tonne SUV to go? Is 0-62mph in 5.0s (4.7s with Sport Chrono package) and 170mph really not adequate?

No. I want more.

Luckily, the hybrids are here to fix that. Well, one of them specifically. The E-Hybrid and S E-Hybrid aren’t separated by a huge amount of money, power or performance, the latter marking itself out with standard air suspension for cushtier ride quality. Each has a V6 that’s strong but not especially sonorous. But for a proper punch, the Turbo E-Hybrid tops the range with its bonkers 729bhp output thanks to its big twin-turbo V8 and an e-motor that effectively fills in any turbo lag.

Post facelift all three hybrids now benefit from an improved battery (up from 17.9 to 25.9kWh) and motor (up from 134 to 172bhp). The 130kg battery is actually no bigger physically – the Cayenne remains on the existing platform after all – but more efficient cells mean tailpipe emissions-free range of up to 56 miles if you’re light footed. And it’ll now charge faster – less than two and a half hours from flat to full on an 11kW charger. Allow an extra hour on a 7kW home wall box.

Does the Cayenne still drive like, well, a Porsche?

Now, the V6 and the V8 Cayenne are fine handling cars. Perhaps some of the wow factor of their seemingly physics-defying abilities has been diluted over the years as we’ve become accustomed to these high-riding battle buses employing 48V roll stabilisation, active anti-roll bars and air suspension to eradicate body roll, understeer and shrug off a portion of their corpulent mass.

But to point a Cayenne down a challenging road is still a deeply impressive experience, and there’s no direct rival that’s remotely as assured and composed to hustle. Only a BMW X5 or (hold your nose) an X6 comes close, while the likes of the DBX, Purosangue and Urus occupy a different universe. And probably demolish a road with less subtlety than the comparatively pure Cayenne.

Switch to one of the hybrids and you do sense the extra mass of the battery, slung out under the boot floor. You detect the dodgy brake feel as the car juggles battery replenishing regeneration with grabbing the green calipered brake discs. And though the e-boost does a reputable job of helping the plug-in car get out of its own way, the base V6 never sounds overly pleased about it. Don’t bother with the optional sports exhaust here.

Incidentally, the stock E-Hybrid returned a best figure of 148mpg in our test, and a more realistic average of 90mpg when starting with a full charge (showing 48 miles) and driven along briskly with the air conditioning blowing, though this plummeted once the electric juice ran out. It probably rides well enough to deem its S E-Hybrid sibling a luxury over a necessity.

What about the maddest one?

The Turbo E-Hybrid is another beast entirely, Porsche even laying on a baking hot Spanish racetrack to really prove its mettle to us. A curious choice on a 30-degree day when the brakes already had a hard day’s work ahead of them, and enough for us to conclude that while fun, you shouldn’t ever take a Cayenne on a trackday. Unless you’re pulling people out of gravel traps, something it could do in its sleep.

On road it’s startling, though, combining all the childish obscenity inherent to a 700-odd horsepower truck with a genuine classiness. Rival carmakers must get Cayennes in for benchmarking and immediately facepalm at the task ahead. Its breadth of ability is astonishing, its 2023 upgrade bringing starker changes in character between its drive modes than before and a very adjustable balance when you’re driving it in a more assertive fashion.

The sheer madness of the old Turbo GT special may have been diluted, but the pace and satisfaction of this car really isn’t far behind – even without the Cayenne Coupe’s optional GT package. It rides better, too.