Porsche isn’t the first German automaker to shove a who lot of power in its SUVs. But over the last 20 odd years, it has become one of the go-to choices who want their high-riding wagons with a lot of grunt.
That brings us neatly to the Porsche Cayenne Turbo e-Hybrid. It’s a long name, yes, but it’s also the most powerful production SUV to roll out of Stuttgart. Their words not ours.
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The electrified Cayenne Turbo made its world premiere in late 2023. Now, it has made its way to local showrooms. Per the usual with Porsche in the Philippines, prices are ‘on application’, which suggests that it won’t come cheap. But for those lucky enough to have an undisclosed amount of cash to spend on a high-performance luxury SUV, what will they get?
From the outside, the casual passerby might mistake it for any other Cayenne, not that it’s a common sight in the first place. But a closer look reveals green brake calipers, a hint of its hybrid powertrain. The Cayenne Turbo script on the tailgate is the only other giveaway. It’s also worth pointing out that the Cayenne Turbo e-Hybrid is offered in two flavors in the Philippines. The first is the standard model and the other being the more rakish Coupe body.
Inside, it’s what one would expect from a megabuck performance SUV with loads of leather and premium materials. The Turbo e-Hybrid models do get a racier set of seats to set it apart from the more pedestrian models. The interior colors depend on what batch lands in the country. The triple-screen layout is standard on this model.
The main highlight is, of course, the powertrain. Before you ask, yes, it’s coding exempt as it’s a plug-in hybrid. It combines a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 to powerful electric motor and a 25.9kWh battery. The result is a total system output of 729hp and, wait for it, 950Nm of torque. It may be a large SUV, but Porsche claims it can do the 0 to 100kph sprint in 3.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 295kph.
Other noteworthy mentions? It comes standard with adaptive air suspension with two-chamber, two-valve technology. It works in conjunction with the wide array of drive modes from Comfort to Sport Plus and tries to keep mass and physics at bay the best it can. There’s also Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) to make it go around bends even quicker, which is quite an achievement given that the standard Cayenne is already a competent handler.
This being a plug-in hybrid, you’re probably curious about fuel economy. Despite the massive power output, Porsche claims up to 58.8km/L, but we reckon somewhere 10 to 20km/L sounds more realistic. It has a twin-turbo V8, after all, and who wouldn’t want to poke it from time to time? As for its battery range, it can travel up to 82km on a full charge before the engine kicks in.
