With Electrification This Good, Who Needs A V8

In motoring, as with eating your vegetables as a kid, there’s what you want and then there’s what’s good for you. Those lucky enough to have Porsche budgets might picture themselves in a 911, but real life could keep them at the SUV end of the dealership. Before you feel too sympathetic for them, mind, remember what that leaves in consideration.

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Revamped for the 2024 model year, the Cayenne may have been sniffed at by Porsche enthusiasts when the first generation launched all the way back in 2002, but these days it’s a mainstay of the line-up. The automaker’s two-door coupes may be what keeps the mystique going, but it’s SUV sales that keep the lights on. And, with electrification increasingly part of Porsche’s future, that makes the 2024 Cayenne E-Hybrid a very big deal.

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Unlike the Taycan and the upcoming Macan, both of which are all-electric, the Cayenne’s extra zap comes courtesy of a plug-in hybrid drivetrain. You still get a V6 gas engine, but Porsche combines it with an electric motor and battery. As we’ve seen in other PHEVs, the result is the flexibility to run on all-gas, all-electric, or a blend of the two.

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For the model year 2024 refresh, Porsche revamped its gas and hybrid drivetrains, as well as bringing back the V8 for the Cayenne S. In the 2024 Cayenne E-Hybrid, a more potent electric motor takes the 300 horsepower and 309 lb-ft of torque from the 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 to 463 horsepower and 479 lb-ft overall.

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It’s enough, Porsche says, for a 0-60 mph time of 4.6 seconds, and a potential top speed of 158 mph. A larger battery than the pre-refresh E-Hybrid, meanwhile — 25.9 kW, of which 21.8 kW is usable — means up to 28 miles of all-electric range, at least officially. My experience suggests that’s a very conservative estimate (driving style depending) and in fact range is well above that. You can theoretically drive the Cayenne E-Hybrid up to 84 mph on EV power alone, though lean into the accelerator with any real sense of urgency and the V6 will awaken.

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Even with that caveat, you could well argue that the E-Hybrid outshines its more expensive Cayenne S sibling. Even with that model’s V8 — and its 5 horsepower more than the plug-in hybrid SUV — the more expensive Cayenne S is a tenth of a second slower to 60 mph, though it’ll keep going (if you have a track or an autobahn on hand) to 170 mph.

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Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is standard, as are steel springs. Porsche offers optional air suspension on the Cayenne E-Hybrid — it’ll cost you $2,390 — which can adjust damping strength according to drive mode and road conditions, and adjust ride height between 7.4 and 9.2 inches.

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With the Sport Chrono package (standard on the E-Hybrid) it adds a Sport Plus drive mode to the usual Offroad, E-Power, Hybrid, and Sport modes that can be switched between using the knob on the steering wheel.

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By default, the Cayenne E-Hybrid starts in electric-only mode, though it’ll switch to Hybrid mode if the battery is depleted. Thumbing the button in the middle of the drive mode knob, meanwhile, gives you the maximum performance settings for a 20 second period. It’s always useful for taking advantage of a last-minute overtaking opportunity, or indeed just making the most of an unexpectedly engaging length of road.

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All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Cayenne, as is an 8-speed Tiptronic S automatic transmission. $1,280 adds rear-wheel steering, reducing the turning circle and helping shrink the SUV’s bulk in tighter parking lots. Combined with the $830 Surround View camera (which I still think all big cars should include by default), it leaves the Porsche surprisingly easy to maneuver.

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The air springs come into their own, of course, when you’re pushing harder. This is neither a small nor a light SUV, but it feels planted and stable in Sport and Sport Plus modes. The E-Hybrid is quick to tap excess gas engine power to top up the battery, too: I never found myself without sufficient juice to take full advantage of the point-and-squirt action of the electrified drivetrain.

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It’s not the body-twisting surge of thrust in, say, a Taycan. Still, the electric motor’s contribution of instant torque sets you smoothly whipping away from a standing start. The transition between gas and electric power is near-seamless, the V6 roused with the barest of grumbles, though in the feistier drive modes the Cayenne keeps both halves of its drivetrain active. Firm — but not overly so — suspension makes it easy to sashay through backroads while still always feeling in control.

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Fun, then, though not the giddying excess of some of the more potent electrified Cayenne models. A Turbo E-Hybrid brings a faintly-ridiculous 729 horses to the party, and will do 0-60 in a mere 3.5 seconds. You’ll pay upward of $157,000 for that privilege, mind.

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“Upward” is the key word, there. As always, Porsche’s starting prices are not what anybody expects you to pay, with a healthy — or just intimidating — options sheet to send the sticker spiraling. Even the fairly restrained spec of this particular white example sees extras contribute more than $15k to the $97,200 base price (plus destination). 

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The red and black leather, for example, is more than $4k alone; I can’t help but be charmed by it, though, compared to the sober all-black interior of the Cayenne S I reviewed earlier in the year. $850 adds ventilation to the front seats, themselves a $1,290 upgrade to include 14-way power and memory. $3,590 contributes the Premium Package, with heated rear seats and a panoramic roof.

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There’s no denying that they all help elevate Porsche’s cabin, nor indeed any question that the post-refresh interior — which cherry-picked some of the Taycan’s best features — is a swell place to find yourself. It’s spacious in both rows, with 22.1 cu-ft of trunk space (down from the 27.2 cu-ft of the non-hybrid SUV) that expands to 55.2 cu-ft with the rear seats folded. The E-Hybrid is also rated to tow up to 7,716 pounds; $660-worth of the options here were for a trailer hitch.

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The driver gets a 12.6-inch curved display for the gauges, and a 12.3-inch center touchscreen runs Porsche’s latest PCM 6.0 infotainment. That supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though there are also native apps for some of the more popular streaming services like Spotify. There’s a brief learning curve for the UI, but it’s much better than in many rivals’ cars.

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Porsche’s switchgear has a charming tactility to it, too. The steering wheel buttons and wheels click and scroll with reassuring precision; the metal paddle shifters are cool and their action a pleasing clunk. I like the milled climate control toggles, too, though I’m less enamored by the swathe of glossy black plastic surrounding them. As always, that’s a real magnet for fingerprints and smudges. Porsche does, though, find space for a volume knob, and the transmission selector is now a stubby control to the right of the steering wheel.

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There are some glaring omissions, depending on your family requirements, mind. Porsche still doesn’t offer a three-row Cayenne, meaning seating for five is your lot. If you don’t mind sacrificing a little prestige and all of the electrification, Audi’s latest SQ7 accommodates seven and has a more powerful V8 for less money.

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If you have charging provisions at home — the 11 kW onboard AC charger means a full top-up takes less than 2 hours 20 minutes with a suitably-potent Level 2 wallbox — the Cayenne E-Hybrid has a lot to recommend it. No less eager from behind the wheel than its gas-only peers, but with the refinement of electric-only driving, only the slight reduction in trunk space really counts as a compromise.

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Is Porsche’s V8 a sonorous, pleasant thing to have under the hood? Certainly, though I’d counter eight-cylinder traditionalists with the argument that true luxury is as much about smoothness and hush. That’s well in evidence in the Cayenne E-Hybrid, and quite honestly makes me all the more excited for the big SUV’s eventual all-electric transition.

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As with any Porsche purchase, playing coy around the options and extras can be wise. Not so much because any of the automaker’s cars are cheap, but more because it’s very easy to spec, say, a Cayenne E-Hybrid to the point where suddenly you’re spending more than you would on the faster Cayenne S E-Hybrid (from $105,100). In the end, though, the sticker isn’t what matters: think of this Porsche plug-in as a salubrious six-figure way to drive fast and in comfort, and the Cayenne’s perennial appeal is entirely clear.

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