Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid 2025 review: Work, rest and play
Book a Porsche press car and there’s a good chance it will be delivered by a Cayenne. The vehicles often travel inside a covered trailer, which is hauled to all corners of the UK by this particular workhorse. “I love them. They’re just so capable and comfortable,” says the driver as he unloads my showroom-fresh SUV. His Cayenne looks a little more careworn, but I get the sense he wouldn’t swap.
With a kerb weight of around 2.4 tonnes, the Cayenne E-Hybrid isn’t exactly a light load. Yet a maximum (braked) towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes means the plug-in Porsche can easily pull its own weight. To underline the point, its less powerful predecessor won the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Towcar of the Year award in 2024.
Who thought we’d start a Porsche review with talk of towing caravans? However, the Cayenne has always been a very different proposition to a 911 or Boxster. This is a Porsche fit for family life: a car to drive daily rather than save for special occasions. It has a broad brief, but has proven hugely successful. Over 23 years and three generations, the Cayenne has evolved from controversial arriviste to a part of the establishment. Does it still deserve its benchmark SUV status?
A powerful plug-in hybrid
The last Cayenne I drove was a Turbo E-Hybrid with GT Package, the lowered and lightened 739hp flagship that replaced the brilliantly bonkers Turbo GT. This time, I’m towards the opposite end of the range with a Cayenne E-Hybrid. Positioned one rung above the entry-level 353hp petrol V6, it’s the most popular model in the UK – and one of Porsche’s best-sellers worldwide.
Let’s talk numbers. Priced from £86,300, the Cayenne E-Hybrid combines a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 engine with an electric motor integrated into its eight-speed automatic transmission, plus a 25.9kWh battery pack. Combined outputs are 470hp and 479lb ft of torque – good for 0-62mph in a brisk 4.7 seconds and 158mph on an empty German autobahn.
The E-Hybrid also achieves nearly 180mpg and CO2 emissions of 44g/km in the official WLTP economy test. Are those figures realistic in the real world? Absolutely not, but they do result in a much lower tax liability than the Cayenne V6 or the V8-powered GTS. An electric-only range of 46 miles seems unremarkable (a BMW X5 xDrive50e manages 67 miles), but will be sufficient for many daily commutes if you charge the battery overnight at home.
Inside the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid
The original Cayenne looked like a badly bloated 911, with a face only its mother could love. Thankfully, the current car (a facelift of the third-gen ‘E3’ model, first launched in 2017) is a far more handsome beast. It has a square jaw and muscular stance, but avoids the overly aggressive aesthetic of some large SUVs. There is also a Coupe version, which sacrifices some rear headroom and luggage space for a sleeker roofline. I’d save £3,300 and stick with the standard SUV.
Clamber inside and you’ll discover a classy cabin built to Stuttgart’s usual high standard. There is an abundance of screens, including a curved display that can digitally simulate Porsche’s classic five-dial layout, yet they don’t dominate your experience. Physical controls are retained for the heating and ventilation, along with a variety of shortcut buttons on the steering wheel – including one to switch off the bleeping and bonging driver assistance systems, now mandatory on every new car. Gears are selected using a toggle on the dashboard, rather than a conventional lever, or you can override the auto ’box with the paddles.
My test Cayenne also had the 10.9-inch passenger-side screen, which allows your other half to scrutinise your driving performance and efficiency data or (preferably, perhaps) simply watch a movie or YouTube. A reflective covering means the display is only visible when viewed straight-on, so it can’t distract the driver.
Unlike some rivals, including the related Audi Q7, the Porsche isn’t available with seven seats. However, it offers generous space for five, along with a plentiful 627 litres of luggage – expanding to 1,563 litres with the rear seats folded. On cars with adaptive air suspension (a £1,760 option, fitted here) you can lower the ride height via a button in the boot to make loading easier.
Plenty of boxes ticked
Standard equipment on the Cayenne E-Hybrid is comprehensive, including 20-inch alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights, eight-way electrically adjustable and heated front seats, surround-view parking cameras, soft-close doors, a powered tailgate, Apple CarPlay connectivity and wireless smartphone charging (with a clever cooling element that prevents your device from overheating).
Nonetheless, as per any Porsche, you can easily get carried away on the configurator. This particular press car had around £35,000 of extra-cost options, lifting its price to £120,043. The boxes ticked ranged from Goodwood Green metallic paint (£7,536) and a premium Burmester sound system (£4,620) to thermally insulated glass (£1,287) and eucalyptus wood interior trim (£371).
Arguably the only must-have option is air suspension instead of steel springs. This eases progress over British potholes and also enhances the Cayenne’s off-road ability, raising its body by 45mm when required. Granted, it still won’t trouble a Land Rover on the rough stuff, but having active four-wheel drive and up to 235mm of ground clearance could make a real difference on flooded or snow-covered roads.
Horses and forces
There’s no escaping the Cayenne’s sheer size, which can curb your enthusiasm on country lanes and deter you from even entering multi-storey car parks. However, unlike the almost-as-wide Taycan, a high driving position makes this Porsche relatively easy to place on the road. And larger tyre sidewalls mean its expensive alloy wheels aren’t so vulnerable.
Used as a family wagon, the Cayenne is as comfortable and practical as you’d hope. You can cruise around in near-silent electric mode, enjoying the relaxed ride, luxurious interior and effortless electric torque. Communicative steering, crisp throttle response and taut body control are there as subtle reminders that you’re driving a Porsche, but the E-Hybrid doesn’t shout about its sportiness.
It’s there when you want it, though. Take the long route home from the office and the Cayenne can respond accordingly, turning in sharply, gripping hard and gamely resisting roll. Its brakes (six-piston calipers at the front, four at the rear) feel immensely strong and the air suspension never seems overwhelmed by the forces at work.
Equally, while it corrals 269 fewer horses than the Turbo E-Hybrid, and lacks its snarling V8 soundtrack, this Cayenne doesn’t exactly hang around. The V6 and electric motor work together to deliver seamless acceleration and suitably Porsche-like pace. Even after all this time, and the many SUVs that have followed in its wake, it still impresses how the Cayenne shrugs off its weight and raises its game.
Verdict: Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid
Eight years after launch, you’d expect this generation of Cayenne to be feeling its age. Instead, some well judged updates keep it ahead of the pack. If you enjoy driving – and your budget doesn’t stretch to an Aston Martin DBX707 – this is the large SUV of choice. Whether you’re trundling to the shops, blasting along a B-road or, erm, towing other Cayennes around the country, very few vehicles cover so many bases so well.
As many UK buyers will confirm, the E-Hybrid is the pick of the range, too – particularly for company car drivers. Its combination of low tax and high performance is a tempting one. And while the faster Cayennes might be more fun in fleeting moments, it’s a game of diminishing returns. Just go easy with that options list.
Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid
PRICE: £86,300
POWER: 470hp
0-62MPH: 4.7sec
TOP SPEED: 158mph
FUEL ECONOMY: 176.6mpg
CO2 EMISSIONS: 44g/km