Driving Porsche's most powerful car—and no, it's not a 911 - Ars Technica
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Porsche provided flights from Albany, New York, to Munich, Germany, and accommodation so Ars could drive the electric Cayenne Coupe. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.<br>MUNICH, GERMANY—Think about every fast Porsche you’ve ever seen on the road—the ones with big wings, bold colors, and wide wheels. Now get ready for an uncomfortable fact: None of them had more horsepower than the SUV you see pictured here. This is the new Cayenne Turbo Coupe, a fastback, dual-motor, upgraded version of Porsche’s electric SUV.
It makes a whopping 1,139 hp (850 kW) and 1,106 lb-ft of torque (1,500 Nm), enough to drive this 5,637 lb (2,557 kg) machine and its 113-kilowatt-hour battery pack from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 2.4 seconds. That makes it not only Porsche’s most powerful production car ever but also among its quickest, bested only by the Taycan Turbo GT.
But unlike that pared-down, performance-oriented take on Porsche’s sultry electric sedan, the Cayenne Coupe is meant to be an everyday hauler for friends, family, and whatever else you can fit underneath its hatch. Does it succeed? That’s what I went to Munich to find out.
It’s not really the most handsome car, but there are reasons to like the Cayenne Coupe other than its looks.
Credit:<br>Tim Stevens
It’s not really the most handsome car, but there are reasons to like the Cayenne Coupe other than its looks.
Credit:
Tim Stevens
Formula E-inspired
Manufacturers love trumpeting any track-bred technology that finds its way to the street. With SUVs, such comparisons are generally strained at best, but in its fastest Turbo form, the Cayenne Electric has a legitimate link to Porsche’s efforts in Formula E.
Porsche has been a competitor on the world’s biggest stage for emissions-free motorsport since 2019, winning multiple championships. Much of Formula E has historically been spec-based, meaning manufacturers can’t modify things like chassis or bodywork. They can, however, develop their own motors.
For its Formula E racer, Porsche found a way to insert a cooling system between the stator and the rotor, enabling greater and more consistent power output without running temperatures into the red. That same design is now used on the rear motor of the electric Cayenne’s top-shelf Turbo model.
This is the rear drive unit.
Credit:<br>Tim Stevens
This is the rear drive unit.
Credit:
Tim Stevens
Again, that model delivers 1,139 hp through all four wheels. If that’s a bit more than you need, Porsche will instead gladly sell you a 657 hp (490 kW) Cayenne S or 435 hp (325 kW) base electric model. Unlike on the electric Macan, there is no single-motor, rear-drive version here.
All versions are powered by the same 113-kWh gross battery pack, which charges at an impressive 400 kW. That’s not just a flashy peak. Porsche’s SUV can maintain that rate up until the pack is half-charged, and it doesn’t drop below 250 kW until you hit the 75 percent mark. Many major EVs, like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, struggle to do half that at peak.
For slower, at-home charging, Porsche offers the best implementation of wireless charging I’ve yet seen on an EV. Buy a wireless charging pad from Porsche (which costs around $8,000), install it in your home, and your Cayenne will automatically identify it as you approach. You’ll then get a visual indicator on the touchscreen to guide you to the correct position. Once there, just walk away, and the car will charge at 11 kW, losing 10 percent efficiency over a wired connection.
Design decisions
In addition to your motor configuration, you can choose your body style: either the more traditional SUV shape or the swoopier Coupe you see here. The Coupe’s coefficient of drag is slightly lower, 0.23 vs. 0.25, which Porsche says results in about 3 percent more range.
Play “spot the difference” with a non-Coupe Cayenne electric to see where that 0.02 improvement in drag comes from.
Credit:<br>Tim Stevens
Play “spot the difference” with a non-Coupe Cayenne electric to see where that 0.02 improvement in drag comes from.
Credit:
Tim Stevens
EPA figures are not yet available, but on the European WLTP cycle, the base Cayenne Coupe is rated for 411 miles (661 km), while the S does 415 (668 km) and the Turbo 390 miles (628 km). They should rate somewhere just south of 350 miles in the US, but we’ll have to wait and see.
In exchange for the slight range and style boost of the Coupe, you get a roughly one-third reduction in cargo capacity...