New Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe Electric 2026 review: fast, but pricey

Verdict

Bar a slight drop in spaciousness and a price rise, the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Electric impresses in almost all the same areas as the full-size Cayenne Electric. It’s comfortable, hugely quick and there’s the underlying dynamism you’d expect from a Porsche. But we don’t think the Turbo justifies its price tag, even with its ‘most powerful Porsche ever’ tagline. The S, on the other hand, feels like the sweet spot for the Cayenne Electric. 

Porsche really tapped into the zeitgeist with the original Cayenne luxury SUV in the early 2000s, and since then we’ve seen the model change with the times thanks to plug-in hybrid technology and as of 2019, a Coupé variant.

A higher price tag and less space (like most coupé versions of SUVs) seemed like a tough sell, but the sleeker model has accounted for a third of total Cayenne sales since it arrived, so clearly it’s been a fruitful endeavour for Porsche. 

Now the Cayenne has gained an all-electric model, available either with the conventional SUV bodystyle or as a Coupé. The EV was originally intended to replace the combustion-engined Cayenne, but sluggish take-up of all-electric luxury cars has prompted Porsche to develop an all-new ICE Cayenne, which is due later this decade. 

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When that petrol-powered, next-generation Cayenne does arrive, it might look a bit redundant next to the Cayenne Electric, because the EV offers some astonishing technology. 

We first drove the Cayenne Electric in standard guise, but now it’s the turn of the Coupé in mid-spec S and full-fat Turbo trim, the latter still likely to rile Porsche purists seven years after it was introduced on the Taycan.

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Like the full-size Cayenne Electric, the Coupé gets a whopping 113kWh battery within its three-metre long wheelbase. That powers a dual-motor set-up in all versions with 402bhp (435bhp on overboost with Launch Control) in the standard car for 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds and 143mph top speed. The mid-spec Cayenne S comes with 536bhp (657bhp in overboost) and lowers the 0-62mph time to just 3.8 seconds.

The Turbo goes several stages further. There’s 845bhp here or 1,140bhp with the 10-second overboost function in play – making it the most powerful Porsche ever. Initial acceleration from standstill is ferocious, taking 2.4 seconds to reach 60mph, but it’s a sensation we’ve experienced in plenty of fast electric cars before. Where the Turbo’s punch really stands out is at higher speeds. Where some sporty EVs tail off, the Turbo’s 7.4 seconds to get from 0-124mph is properly relentless. 

Alongside that exceptional power, something else Porsche has done pretty well ever since the Taycan arrived is augmented noise. Yes, if you’re used to the unmistakable sound of a flat-six, the synthesised bass of Porsche’s EVs might disappoint, but we think it suits the Cayenne Electric’s nature. 

Those straight-line figures are all the more impressive when you factor in the Cayenne Electric Coupé’s weight. There is a Lightweight Sports package bespoke to the Coupé which replaces the vast panoramic sunroof with a carbon roof, and features 22-inch wheels with performance tyres, a sports steering wheel and various bits of carbon trim, removing 17.6kg in the process. It’s a mere drop in the ocean when you consider the Cayenne’s 2,650kg total, though, and at £13,190 can’t be recommended.

Porsche insists the Cayenne Coupé Electric is still a “true Cayenne” when it comes to comfort and dynamics and “one of the most emotional SUVs” you can buy. To deliver on this, it has slathered the Cayenne Electric’s chassis in technology. For a start, there’s a new version of Porsche’s hydraulic Active Ride system. A £6,799 option on the S and Turbo, Active Ride looks to offset lateral force on wheels in place of a traditional anti-roll bar. 

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On our car it works in tandem with the rear-wheel steer (another option at £1,389) to provide stability, although in Comfort driving mode in particular we found the big Porsche occasionally feeling fidgety, such as when going over creases on long, curving slip roads or even just changing lanes on high-speed stretches of the Autobahn. It’s worth pointing out that our car was fitted with ultra-wide Pirelli P Zero R high-performance tyres and most of the nervousness occurred in the wet. 

Once the roads dried out, the Turbo did feel much more planted and even more so with the driving mode switched past Normal and into Sport and Sport Plus. The swish dual-chamber adaptive air suspension – standard on all electric Cayennes – maintains an excellent level of comfort in sportier, stiffer modes. We prefer it on smoother roads compared to the slightly too wallowy nature of Comfort mode, although our definitive verdict on the Cayenne Electric’s ride will only come when we get the opportunity to drive it on the UK’s more pitted surfaces. 

This might be a heavy, electric SUV, but alongside the expected high levels of comfort, the Cayenne needs to drive better than any of its rivals. It’s still a Porsche, after all. Show it a series of bends, and you’ll find it’s worth turning the drive mode dial on the steering wheel to Sport or Sport Plus to get a suitable suspension set-up. 

Power delivery is instant and more than sufficient to overload the incredibly fat rear tyres, although there’s a predictability to it all that gives you plenty of confidence to hustle the big Cayenne around. It’s all helped by the brilliantly calibrated steering, too. In Comfort mode, there’s a slight hesitation off-centre where you sense the Cayenne is thinking about how to control its mass, but in the firmer modes it becomes much more cooperative with your inputs. 

Having swapped between the Turbo and the S, however, we didn’t notice a tremendous amount of difference in the way they felt in corners, and there’s certainly not much more fun to be gained from the extra power. The output of the S, or even the standard car, is enough to explore the Cayenne’s limits of composure. 

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The braking force is managed mostly by the regeneration system, although if you do need to slow the huge mass of the Cayenne in an instant, overall stopping power is surprisingly good. Try to modulate the brake pedal and occasionally you’ll notice the crossover between your input and the regenerative braking, but it’s never too disconcerting. There are only three levels of brake regeneration – ‘on’, ‘off’ or ‘auto’. We’d recommend keeping it in ‘on’ mode, as it somewhat replicates engine braking. ‘Auto’ can be a bit of a guessing game as to when it’ll regenerate power. 

‘Auto’ mode is the ideal setting for maximising the Cayenne’s range, but we’re doubtful if buyers – Turbo ones especially – will care about this. As with the regular Cayenne Electric, the Coupé has active shutters in the front bumper and blades in the rear bumper that extend to reduce drag at higher speeds. The Coupé bodystyle lowers the drag coefficient by 0.02 for a 0.23 figure, which is amazing considering the size of the thing. It also means range improves by seven miles to 390 miles in the Turbo, although if this really matters to you, the S has the most at 414 miles. On our test route, the Turbo gave us a predicted total range of 309 miles after a mix of motorway, city and country driving.

A maximum charging speed of 400kW is the same as the regular Cayenne Electric, so while the range is easily beaten by smaller, cheaper EVs such as the 500-mile BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60, the Porsche can at least recover 10 to 80 per cent of its battery in 16 minutes. There’s also the option of wireless inductive charging of up to 11kW; pricing for that hasn’t been confirmed yet, but expect it to cost north of £5,000.

In daily use, the Coupé shouldn’t be noticeably less practical than the full-size Cayenne. Yes, the roofline lowers the height by 24mm and rear headroom is impacted slightly, but a pair of six-footers will be more than happy in the back. The boot’s 500-litre capacity is way down on the full-size car’s 781 litres, but should still be large enough for long family trips.

Pricing for the Coupé follows the Cayenne Electric in terms of the difference between the models. The Turbo costs a chunky £133,300, with the S dropping to £103,100 and the standard car £86,200, representing a premium of up to £3,200 over the SUV model. 

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