- The Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid replaces the non-plug-in Turbo
- Up to 42 miles of range, according to this gauge
- It’s $148,550 for the SUV, $153,050 for the Coupe
If you want a luxury car, you’ve earned it—but let’s be adults here. It’s time to make some concessions to efficiency.
The new wave of plug-in hybrids in the offing have bigger batteries and more electric range, backed up by gas power. They’ll permit a daily drive on electric power with gas backup when absolutely necessary. How’s that for compromise?
We still hold space for the late, lamented Chevy Volt. Today’s Toyota plug-in RAV4 and Prius and a host of others fill most of that bill, too. But for the well-heeled, the plug-in hybrid of choice might look a lot like—hear me out—the Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid.
Why? It has the knack to act like three different cars. For long stretches of interstate and the ramps that lead onto them, it’s a corner-wringing V-8 howler. It’s a clever utility vehicle that runs in hybrid mode to drag home flat-pack furniture and big-box luxuries. And tucked discreetly into the same unibody wrapper, it’s also a plug-in car, one with up anywhere from 24 to 42 miles of electric range on tap, according to the EPA and to the gauge on the model I drove over the holidays.
2025 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid test drive review
Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Turbo: a corner-wringing V-8 howler
It’s as frugal as you’ll let it be, but make no mistake. This Cayenne wears its V-8 heart on its sleeve much of the time, clipping along interstates like a hydrofoil powered by pure fury.
It sports one muscular powertrain beneath the hood. The Turbo E-Hybrid, which Porsche sells in both the SUV and “Coupe” shapes, connects a 25.9-kwh lithium-ion battery to a 174-hp electric motor that integrates with a 591-hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 for a road-rattling 729 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque. It’s so brutally quick, Porsche’s dropped the plain Turbo edition. It drops 0-60 mph times of 3.5 seconds and can claw to a 183-mph top speed—and it does the former with such ease that it’s easy to look like a complete jackass when you’re just trying to merge with moving traffic.
Whipped around an exit ramp or four—it’s the only source of driving entertainment here on the rim of the Gulf of Mexico—the Cayenne taps its two-chamber, two-valve air suspension and continuous damping to dance as if it wasn’t toting around more than 5,000 pounds of self. Fitted with that setup as well as a torque-vectoring system and rear-axle steering, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid never betrayed its excellent damping even on its big 22-inch sport tires. Porsche doesn’t dial in too much lateral stiffness like some other German SUVs, and that leaves this pricey Cayenne relaxed when it should be—and not high-strung when its suspension’s twirled into Sport mode.
2025 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid test drive review
Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Turbo: A clever hybrid hauler, too
The Cayenne lives up to its SUV destiny without much trouble, too. It strains at the reins as it performs its list of tasks and chores—but it’ll do it, and do it well.
The sleeker Coupe style cuts into some of the inherent utility baked into its body, but both Cayennes can flip, fold, and finesse their way home with people and cargo intact. A raft of upgrades touch up the Cayenne’s interior comfort, ranging on my test vehicle from 18-way white leather sport seats to wireless smartphone charging and an amazing teal paint job tinted like a gulf storm in winter.
The ride’s a serene one, and getting comfortable’s a cinch for front-seat passengers. A cinch, in that the standard sport seats might be too constrained for some wider frames, in which case Porsche sells 14-way seats with flatter cushions. In the burrito-snug sport seat, surrounded by digital displays and a touchscreen that wirelessly accessed deep disco cuts and beamed them throughout the cabin, I couldn’t discern a reason I’d choose a conventional sedan over the taller but equally refined Cayenne.
Second-row seats support two big passengers with plenty of space, while a third should be trim and in good spirits. But when they’re not invited, and when interior space’s needed for stuff instead, the Cayenne meets the task. The Cayenne SUV has 27.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seatbacks, which can expand to 60.3 cubic feet with them folded down. That’s large enough to haul home a new home-office setup, drop-shipped to a nearby warehouse, no sweat broken, while a cheery synthetic voice pointed us out of the parking lot and onward to brunch.
2025 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid test drive review
Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Turbo: The EV skinflint
Not everyone needs this much power, so the Cayenne E-Hybrid or Cayenne S E-Hybrid might be enough for most drivers that want better economy all the time. However, in my specific use case, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid acts just like those lesser models.
That’s because my daily routine rarely takes me beyond 20 miles in any direction—and because the cost of charging is zero. I live in a complex where lower-power Level 2 EV charging of about 6 kw remains free to all residents—so, OK, maybe not free, but socialized among all us neighbors.
So thanks to those factors, and a better 11-kw onboard charger, I pushed the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid up to an indicated 42 miles of range before I left on the day’s errands. I wanted to drive as far as I could without tipping into the gas engine’s power, which I took to mean a trip to find Borgonzola cheese and Mamitas corn chips and other delicious snacks at the nearest Aldi, 16 miles away by Apple Maps’ reckoning.
At first, it proved a false start. I plugged the J1772 connector into the E-Hybrid’s charge port and nothing happened. I tried a second time, and the port glowed red with green blinks. Was it working? It was, but something about that interface choice doesn’t register correctly, not when most EVs glow green or blue while charging.
From the 42 miles on the dash when I unplugged and hit the road, the Cayenne dipped immediately to 39 miles as I turned out of the complex. Its constant recalculations of range smoothed out as I drove the beach road, and at near zero elevation and constant 60-degree temperatures, the route eked out the absolute maximum range from the powertrain. It moved along quietly at an average speed of about 42 mph, with just some tire roar and artificial car sounds dubbing in some background vocals. Prior plug-in Cayennes could only muster about 15 miles of electric range from a smaller 17.9-kwh battery, but I cruised all the way to the grocery store with more than half of the anticipated range still on the clock when I parked.
The EPA pegs the E-Hybrid at just 24 miles of electric range, but I was able to drive to Aldi and back, a total of 32 miles, and emerge with a suggested 15 electric miles left.
I could drive the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid for free, then, if I just used it on my regular driving cycle—and if I plugged it in every day. Not every driver can afford such a luxury, or wants to take up the logistics of charging once they’ve spent about $160,000 for the privilege of driving something so outrageously powerful and so richly rewarding.
But I’m that kind of driver. I’d charge it daily, and drive it in a miserly way.
Want proof? Avocados were three for $2, but I only got two. Because that’s all we needed.
_______________________________
2025 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Turbo
Base price: $158,995, including a $1,995 destination fee
Price as tested: $192,910 (including carbon-ceramic brakes, Burmester audio, and more)
Drivetrain: 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 plug-in hybrid, 729 hp/700 lb-ft of torque
EPA fuel economy: 19 mpg combined, 24 miles of range
The hits: Triple-threat powertrain, whippet handling, bedazzled with tech
The misses: So expensive; owners who get pouty when asked to conserve even just a little
