Okay, okay; I grant that the Cayenne S Hybrid isn’t a pure EV. But if you want an upscale SUV that also serves as an environmental carbon-fighter, while producing a fairly hard boot in the behind whenever the driver puts his foot down, Porsche’s hybrid should serve quite nicely.
Priced at just under $70k, the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid is kind of an odd mix between practicality and performance, since the car’s six cylinder dual-turbo will get the SUV moving from 0-60 in just over 6 seconds. The car’s interesting parallel powertrain is driven by a V6 integrated with a diminutive electric unit that, standing alone, produces 288 volts at 47 HP while delivering 428 ft. lbs of torque. However, since the electrical plant operates in parallel with the ICE, and is entirely governed on the basis of a Porsche-proprietary auto-sensing power mode switch, the aggregated system is estimated to produce a measured 380 HP overall.
Inside, the Cayenne is quite spacious, although some may fail to appreciate Porsche’s approach to interior styling, since standard controls, appointments and accessories are clearly focused on efficiency rather than the largesse of luxury. That said, however, the car does boast a long list of options ranging from eight difference color palettes to interior appearance elements including wood fascias and leather seating.
On the road, reviewers have suggested that the braking system is a bit positive for the average SUV driver. And on top of that, the car’s highly-damped power steering system tends toward input numbness, which is somewhat puzzling given Porsche’s long and successful experience with the design of performance cars.
Nevertheless, overall the Cayenne offers an average rating of just over 8 out of 10 on the likeability scale; so someone clearly likes Porsche’s Mom-mobile since the car offers plenty of kid-space inside, kick in the pants performance on the road, plus Ferry’s venerable nameplate on the bonnet. Again, it ain’t a Tesla to be sure, but on the other hand, what is?
