A big thank you to Erin and the team at Porsche Centre Exeter for lending me the keys to the rather extraordinary Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric for a day. It's fair to say this was one loan car that had the potential to put a smile on everyone's face, although I'm not entirely sure Grandpa knew what he was letting himself in for!
As usual, this was a family test rather than a solo blast around the countryside. It’s a family car after all right! I took my son and his grandpa along for a drive from Exeter through the Devon countryside to Budleigh Salterton, where we enjoyed a walk and a coffee by the seaside. It's a pretty good way to spend a day, particularly when you've got a rather special Porsche sitting on the drive waiting for you.
First impressions
The Cayenne is already a familiar name in the Porsche line-up, but this is something rather different. Porsche has taken its large luxury SUV and given it an entirely electric powertrain, while retaining the performance credentials you'd expect from something wearing a Porsche badge.
And then there's the Turbo badge. Traditionally, that's been a pretty good indication that things are going to get serious, but the electric version takes that idea to another level entirely.
Visually, it has plenty of road presence. It's a substantial car, with the familiar Cayenne proportions, but the detailing gives it a more modern and purposeful appearance. There's plenty going on with the front end, the lighting and the aerodynamic detailing, while the full-width rear light bar gives it a distinctive look.
The car I drove was finished in Dolomite Silver Metallic, which I thought looked particularly classy, rather than shouty. A Porsche always suits silver! It was fitted with 22-inch Sport Techno wheels, which look fantastic and, as I'll come on to, don't seem to compromise the ride quality as much as you might expect.
But there's something about the way the Cayenne feels that is perhaps more important than its appearance. You sit in it rather than on it. It feels like a Porsche should, not an SUV. The driving position, the way it surrounds you and the connection you feel with the car are quite different from what you might expect from a large, luxury electric SUV.
Having driven quite a few of the increasingly impressive offerings from Chinese manufacturers recently, this really does feel like a different proposition. There are some very good cars coming out of China, but the Cayenne demonstrates what happens when a manufacturer with Porsche's experience, engineering heritage and attention to detail approaches the same brief. This is a sporting rocket ship for the more discerning family.
Inside the cabin
Climb inside and you're immediately greeted by a cabin that feels every bit as well engineered, manufactured, special and sporting as you'd hope for at this price point.
The materials are excellent, with lovely finishes and materials across the seats, dashboard and door cards. Everything feels nicely put together, and there's a real sense of quality about the environment. The black leather interior in our test car worked particularly well with the silver exterior. Stay classy Porsche!
The seats deserve a mention too. Our car was fitted with the optional 18-way Adaptive Sports Seats, which offer an enormous amount of adjustment. Finding that perfect driving position is pretty straightforward, something I particularly appreciate at 6ft 4in with a dodgy back. They're heated and ventilated as well, so you're pretty well catered for whatever the weather decides to do.
Screens feature heavily, with a curved central OLED Flow Display, a digital instrument cluster in front of the driver and a separate passenger display.
That passenger screen was an instant hit with my son. In fact, it was probably his favourite feature of the entire car. It gives the passenger their own interactive display, allowing them to access entertainment and vehicle information without distracting the driver. It's a clever bit of technology and something that certainly kept him entertained on our trip. It did mean we had to endure the various theme tunes from Minecraft for much of the journey though.
The central display is also quite a departure from the traditional Porsche dashboard, with its curved design and flowing menus. There's a lot of technology to get your head around, but Porsche has tried to retain some physical controls for the things you want to operate quickly, rather than burying absolutely everything in a touchscreen menu. Thumbs up to that!
There's also the option of a rather impressive augmented reality head-up display, which projects driving information into the driver's field of vision.
Overall, it's a beautifully appointed cabin. Modern and technology-rich, but still somewhere you actually want to spend time. It feels like a proper luxury Porsche rather than a device on wheels as many cars now do.
The drive – and that acceleration!
Of course, the headline feature of the Cayenne Turbo Electric is its performance. And frankly, the numbers are quite difficult to get your head around.
We're talking about up to 1,156PS, four-wheel drive and a 0-62mph time of just 2.5 seconds when using Launch Control. That's supercar territory, delivered in a large family SUV weighing well over two tonnes.
I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car this big that goes that fast and can make the driver feel car sick if you push it to the max. I needed to see my chiropractor after a full on burst of acceleration from this one!
There are different driving modes to choose from, and while Normal mode makes it perfectly usable as an everyday family car, selecting Sport or Sport Plus changes the character considerably.
My son's other favourite feature was Sport Plus mode. No surprise there! Little speed demon in the passenger seat! I suspect this had something to do with the acceleration!
We had a brief opportunity to experience just how ferocious it can be on an empty, dry A-road, within UK road speed limits. Even without getting anywhere near the car's full potential, the instant delivery of power is astonishing. Grandpa, sitting comfortably in the back, let out an involuntary yelp as the car surged forward. I think that probably tells you everything you need to know.
It's one thing reading that an SUV can accelerate from 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds, but quite another experiencing the way it delivers that performance. There's no waiting for a gearbox to change down, no engine building up revs and no drama from the powertrain. Just an enormous, immediate wave of acceleration.
And that's the slightly bonkers thing about this car. It can transport a family, their luggage and everything else in considerable comfort, it’s very easy to drive normally, then it can embarrass some very serious sports cars away from the traffic lights too!
But what surprised me just as much was the ride quality. With those 22-inch wheels, and knowing the sort of performance this car is capable of, I was expecting something a little firmer and perhaps less forgiving over our rather unpredictable Devon road surfaces.
Actually, quite the opposite. It soaks up the bumps really well and feels beautifully composed. There's a real ability to smooth out the imperfections without feeling wallowy or disconnected. You get the impression that Porsche has spent a considerable amount of time getting the balance right between comfort and performance.
It's also a big car. A really big car. But one of the clever things about the Cayenne is how quickly you stop noticing its size. On our drive through the countryside, I never really felt intimidated by it, even on some of the narrower A-roads. There were the odd moments when I was particularly conscious of its width, of course, but generally it was surprisingly easy to place on the road.
I did, however, draw the line at taking it down some of Devon's narrower B-roads and country lanes. It's not my car after all!
Porsche has also put a lot of engineering into making a large, heavy electric SUV feel composed and capable. The combination of adaptive air suspension, sophisticated four-wheel-drive technology and available rear-axle steering is designed to make it feel considerably more agile than its size might suggest.
It's a very impressive combination. You get the comfort and refinement you'd want from a luxury family car, but with the ability to turn things up several notches whenever the mood takes you.
The electric side of things
The Cayenne Turbo Electric uses a substantial 113kWh battery and has an official WLTP range of between 350 and 387 miles, depending on specification.
It also benefits from an 800-volt electrical architecture, with charging capability of up to 400kW. Under ideal conditions, Porsche quotes a 10-80% charging time of just 16 minutes.
The range is actually very good, and for a car with this level of performance, it's impressive what Porsche has managed to achieve. But there is a fairly obvious caveat.
If you drive it hard and spend a lot of time in Sport Plus, watching that enormous power being delivered, you'll see the range diminish rather rapidly. So storming the Autobahn at full chat will see the range disappear rapidly.
The clever thing is that you don't have to drive it like a performance car. There's no reason it can't spend most of its time quietly and comfortably transporting the family around, with all that performance sitting in reserve for the occasional moment when you fancy reminding yourself what you're driving.
The family verdict
Our trip to Budleigh Salterton was a fun opportunity to experience the Cayenne in a way that many owners would actually use it. A mixture of country roads, open A-roads, a little town driving and time spent with the family on board.
My son was thoroughly entertained by the passenger display and, unsurprisingly, the acceleration. Grandpa had a slightly more eventful experience than he might have anticipated, but I think he enjoyed it too! He’ll likely never be a passenger in anything faster.
What I find interesting about the electric Cayenne is that Porsche hasn't simply created an electric car with a ridiculous acceleration figure. It's attempted to combine that performance with the comfort, technology, space and everyday usability you'd expect from a luxury family SUV.
And it really does feel like a Porsche. That might sound like an obvious thing to say, but it's quite an important distinction. The driving position, the materials, the way it rides and the way it responds to your inputs all contribute to something that feels pretty special. It's a world away from simply being a big electric SUV with a lot of power.
Of course, there's the rather significant elephant in the room: the price. The particular car we drove came in at around £153,000 with its options. That's a lot of money for any car, and particularly one that will spend much of its life doing the school run, business trips, popping to the shops and heading off on family adventures.
But then I suspect the person buying a Cayenne Turbo Electric isn't necessarily looking for the most sensible or cost-effective way of getting from A to B.
They want something special. A swiss army knife of a car. Something that can do pretty much everything, in considerable comfort, and still deliver a performance experience that leaves the passengers wondering what on earth just happened.
And on that front, I think Porsche has certainly delivered.
One thing I am looking forward to is making a comparison with its smaller sibling. I've got a review of the Porsche Macan Turbo Electric coming up soon, which should make for an interesting comparison. Two very different sizes of Porsche SUV, both electric and both wearing that rather significant Turbo badge. It'll be interesting to see how they compare in the real world.
Thanks again to Erin and the team at Porsche Centre Exeter for letting us take the Cayenne Turbo Electric out for the day. It was a rather memorable family trip, and I'm not sure Grandpa will be forgetting that acceleration in a hurry!
