PORSCHE CAYENNE PHEV
In advance of the diesel – which may or may not come at all! – we will get the E-Hybrid version of the all-new Cayenne
Do you even need a diesel?
A QUESTION BEFORE WE START. WHY do we buy diesels? Running costs, obviously. Though it has narrowed over the years there is still a significant enough difference in the cost of fuel, added to which is the lower fuel consumption of diesel engines, making it lighter on the pocket – even to people spending close to a crore of rupees on their car. Or SUV. But what if a petrol motor can match the running costs of a diesel? Would you then bother with the grumble and clatter of a diesel?
The question plays on my mind as we hug the Cote d’Azur in the South of France in the third-generation Cayenne. Not that it will strike you as being all-new, especially when viewed from the front, but this really is a ground-up revamp of what was once a very, very controversial car. Nobody is screaming about a Porsche SUV anymore though, now that Bentley and Rolls-Royce are also making SUVs, with Ferrari soon to join the party. And compared to those visually… err… arresting SUVs boy does the Cayenne look fantastic! I particularly like the full-width taillamp treatment, the single-biggest visual differentiator to the earlier generation, along with the motorsport-
I’D LIKE TO BELIEVE SOME OF THE LE MANS LEARNINGS WENT INTO THIS SUV
inspired elements to the lighting. The four-spotlight DRLs in the LED headlamps – those were first seen in the rear view mirrors of Audis, Ferraris, Astons, Corvettes and other race cars as the 919 Hybrid blitzed to victory at Le Mans – a first by a petrolhybrid at the endurance classic.
I’d like to believe that some of those Le Mans learnings went into the powertrain of the SUV I’m driving today, after all what is motorsport if not a proving ground for technologies of the future. There is of course one crucial similarity in the powertrains of the Le Mans racer and the new Cayenne – the hybrid is a performance-enhancing tool. Efficiencyenhancing too, of course, but none of those efficiency gains have come at the altar of performance.
The E-Hybrid system in the new Cayenne is a parallel hybrid with the electric motor and combustion engine directly feeding the drivetrain. Sitting in the boot is the fluid-cooled battery comprising eight cell modules with 13 prismatic lithium ion cells in each. Weighing 138kg it is no heavier than the one in the previous Cayenne E-Hybrid but has 30 per cent more capacity at 14.1 kilowatt hour. It adds 134bhp to 3-litre turbo-V6 motor’s 335bhp in the nose of the Cayenne for a combined system output of 455.5bhp. Of even
greater significance, especially for those who enjoy the prodigious torque of diesel motors, is the 700Nm of peak torque. What you are looking at is the horsepower of a petrol motor with the torque of a diesel.
And the eerie silence of a full electric.
Keep the E-Hybrid plugged in for 7 hours and 45 minutes and you get a pure electric range of 44km from the batteries. Realistically the real-world range is around 34km but no matter how many electric or plug-in hybrid cars you’ve driven, rolling away in absolute silence is still very cool. The four driving modes, accessed via the Manettino-like dial on the steering wheel are Electric, Hybrid Auto, Sport and Sport Plus. The Cayenne E-Hybrid always defaults to Electric, in the hope of course that you’ve plugged in the Cayenne at every opportunity to juice the batteries. There’s even an E-launch function where you keep the brake pressed and accelerator depressed till the pressure point (not all the way down, else the V6 kicks in) for a 6.3-second full-electric 0-100kmph sprint. Top speed on the batteries is 135kmph before the petrol V6 kicks in.
The Hybrid Auto mode lets the Cayenne’s brain calculate the best strategy for efficiency based on the driving profile, battery charge status, terrain (via navigation data) and speed. The distance to the destination from the navigation is also taken into account so you make the best use of the electric range. If you want to charge the batteries so that the last bit of your run in the city is purely electric you have an E-Charge button, plus an E-Hold that will maintain the current charge state. And then you have the sport modes.
In Sport mode the battery’s charge is kept at the minimum required level to provide sufficient boost for when you shove the accelerator into the firewall. In Sport Plus mode the batteries charge faster (throwing fuel economy out of the window) enabling more frequent and longer periods of full boost and max performance. And at the centre of the mode dial is a boost button that, when engaged, primes everything for max attack for 20 seconds.
Both the powertrains combined give the E-Hybrid a 0-100kmph time of 5 seconds flat and a top speed of 253kmph. That’s really fast. The transmission is the 8-speed ZF, not a PDK like in the Panamera Turbo; this ensures the Cayenne can tow 3.5 tonnes. You also get the option of a sports exhaust to get the petrol engine to sing throatily through the quad exhausts, the Sport-Chrono package is standard and measures your lap times, while 22-inch wheels are optional. None of the namby-pamby kill-joy nature of hybrids here. The Cayenne is a sports-SUV, and the E-Hybrid definitely goes like a sports-SUV.
Underpinning the new Cayenne is the Volkswagen Group’s new MLB platform that is also used on the Bentley Bentayga and Audi Q7 but with two crucial differences. The first, this is the short wheelbase
MLB with 100mm less in the wheelbase than the Q7, though it is still longer and wider than the outgoing Cayenne with ample rear leg room (but no third row of seats). The second is the infinitely variable torque split front to rear and left to right is provided via a ‘hang-on’ type electronically controlled multiplate clutch, not the Torsen on the other two. This is claimed to offer quicker response and better performance – both on and off the road – and is an example of the independence that Porsche gets to forge their own engineering path in divergence to Group cost targets.
Porsche also get to do their own interiors with no common parts to other Group SUVs. Sliding behind the steering wheel – a half-carbon ’wheel on our test Cayenne! – puts you in the mood for enthusiastic driving what with that big analogue tacho front and centre in the speedo console, just like every single Porsche. Flanking it are high-resolution screens that are massively customisable with a night vision camera, navigation maps and even a g-force meter, while the rest of the cabin is utterly stunning with the centre piece being a massive 12.3-inch touchscreen with 4K-like resolution and near-zero physical buttons. The fascia now has pressure-sensitive switches that are jet-black and nearly invisible when not in use and lends a high-tech air to the cabin.
Advertising your eco-consciousness to the world
is the acid green outline on the badges as well as the brake callipers. While enthusing the child in you are dynamic add-ons like 4D chassis control that includes torque vectoring and electric rear-wheel steering. The optional three-chamber air suspension has seven different ride heights and is allied to four off-road modes of Gravel, Mud, Sand and Rocks. Clearly saving the planet doesn’t mean you leave your enthusiasm and man jewels at home.
The way the Cayenne defies physics while going round corners is an old story and this thirdgeneration SUV only enhances that reputation of being the best driver’s SUV. It’s absurd, the kind of speed you carry through bends, the air suspension and PDCC working wonders in terms of body control even with the g-force meter registering 1-g. And when you run out of grip the Cayenne’s electronics don’t just shut everything down unlike in other SUVs; instead it starts shuffling torque to steer the Porsche towards the apex. Exiting corners with vigour you feel it hunkering down on its rear wheels with a faint hint of oversteer, rather than dreadful understeer to drive you off the Cote d’Azur and into the Mediterranean. There’s also the helm that is precise and well-weighted, and together with the rear-wheel steering it makes the Cayenne fabulously responsive and eager. The steering is so quick and the front end so darty that a heavy right foot very early in the corner will require a dab of countersteer. There’s a naughty side to this 2-tonne SUV, an agility and a feedback loop that you just do not expect in something so vast.
If there’s one area that could do with better feel it is the brakes. Though a marked improvement over the regenerative brakes on other electrics and hybrids, it is still difficult to drive the Cayenne E-Hybrid smoothly in stop-go traffic what with the artificial feel of the brake pedal that’s always calculating when to regenerate energy and charge the batteries.
So would you take the hybrid over the diesel? What if I told you the claimed fuel economy is 31.25kmpl? Of course this is under standard test conditions and with the batteries juiced up. Intercity driving, like Mumbai-Pune, will not deliver the kind of efficiency that a diesel will. But for the most part of your driving – which is office to home and back – the E-Hybrid will actually deliver the same running costs as a diesel. Plus you have that giant performance for the weekend drive to the hills. And to top it all when the E-Hybrid is launched in India this September it will not be priced at much of a premium to the diesel – the diesel that may or may not come at all.
Now do you still want that diesel? ⌧
SAVING THE PLANET DOESN’T MEAN
YOU LEAVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND MAN JEWELS AT HOME