WHAT SHOULD I BE PAYING?
The Cayenne starts at £70,400 for the base model and its 3.0-litre V6 offers 0–62mph in 6.0 seconds and 23mpg. Standard equipment includes eight-way electric seats, keyless start, cruise control, reversing camera, road sign recognition, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a 10-speaker hi-fi.
One tech highlight worth mentioning is the fiendishly clever Matrix LED headlight system. Yes, you’ve seen them before: the car can ‘cut out’ oncoming traffic or cars ahead to avoid dazzling them but keep the main beam on elsewhere. The Cayenne now takes that stage further by spotlighting pedestrians on dark lanes and even strobing a warning if the car thinks they’re in danger of being biffed into.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT MODELS LIKE?
The E-Hybrid is the next model up the list at £79,800, dropping the 0–62mph run by a second and offering a frankly meaningless 157mpg thanks to its electric assistance. The e-range of up to 46 miles is a decent slug if you’ve got charging at home and there’s only a Type 2 plug here, no CCS rapid charging option. The V8-powered Cayenne S starts at £84,400, while the S E-Hybrid is another few grand on top of that. The wild 729bhp range-topper, the Turbo E-Hybrid, costs a jaw-dropping £130,200.
WHAT ABOUT THE OPTIONS LIST?
As ever with a Porsche, the optional extras are endless. The standard passive suspension is very impressive on the base model (perhaps helped by 20in wheels, rather than the 22s of more expensive cars), but the adaptive air suspension of loftier Cayennes – with new settings for a wider differentiation between Comfort and Sport mode – has great wheel control and blends low-speed pliancy with high-speed stability. It’s great especially when you’re carrying the extra weight of the plug-in models.
If you want to go crazy, then Porsche offers paint to sample for £7.5k, 22in wheels at £4k, or a night vision package at £1.8k. And bizarrely, the £1,325 rear-wheel steering that’s central to controlling this much mass so well is an option on every model. Even the quick ones.
