Driving the Porsche turbo Cayenne E-Hybrid Coupe SUV today – the most
powerful combustion engine Porsche available from $297,200. The best plug-in
hybrid I’ve driven but given the price maybe understandable – enormously
capable the turbo Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Coupe ticks all the performance
boxes – powered by a combination of a 4.4-litre twin turbo V8 and a 130kW
electric motor - producing 544kW of power, a staggering 950 Nm of torque driving
all four wheels though an 8-speed Tiptronic automatic with four drive modes – in
Sport Plus mode its performance aggressive but with so much electronic
sophistication just so accomplished – with a top speed potential of 295 km/hour –
a plug-in hybrid with nearly 80kms of 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 30 km drive I managed to recover 11km of
electric range. The Porsche E-hybrid Coupe delivers highly competent handling
and braking yet a very comfortable ride in a cabin that oozes class and comfort. A
simply fabulous driver. An upper luxury Coupe style SUV that’s hard to fault apart
from some options that simply should be standard fare and a short three-
year/unlimited kilometre warranty. I’m David Berthon