ROAD TEST: Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid
By: Jamie Merrill
London - The vast Porsche Cayenne luxury SUV has led to bumper profits for the German firm as well as a smaller spin-off Macan baby SUV, which in turn has led to ever greater profits.
In some ways though, the future is bleak for performance car makers such as Porsche. Even before the VW emissions scandal, European and American regulators were circling.
So, though this new plug-in hybrid was on the drawing board well before the scandal, it comes at a good time for Porsche and its parent company Volkswagen. In theory it's a way of highlighting that diesel isn't the only game in town and that the firm is working on new plug-in hybrid technology for its petrol-powered luxury gas-guzzlers.
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The Cayenne promises a fuel-consumption figure of 3.4 litres per 100km and emissions of 79 grams per kilometre but, as always with plug-in hybrids, these figures are entirely irrelevant in the real world. This car is greenwashing of the worst kind.
Driving around London in purely electric mode (having charged the battery from a road-side socket provided by my local council) I was able to cover a little less than 20 kilometres before the petrol engine, and the environmental crime, kicked in.
The chief culprit is the petrol engine (which can also be used to charge the battery on the go) which is borrowed from the Audi range, where, in cars such as the Audi A7, it returns a dismal 9.6 litres per 100km and pumps out a polar-bear suffocating 190g/km.
In the heavier Cayenne E-Hybrid, where the battery cuts into boot space, the results are even worse, with the computer suggesting fuel-consumption returns in the mid-elevens. Dare to use the engine on the open road to charge the battery and this will drop further.
All this matters because Porsche has the largest range of plug-in hybrids on the market and in the wake of the #Dieselgate scandal the push to petrol hybrids will only grow. It's a great shame that it's such a poor eco-performer, as the Cayenne remains a lesson in technical brilliance and the ability of German car makers to make a vast SUV that is nearly as compelling to drive as a sports sedan. The thing is, while I wanted to throw the Cayenne into every bend at full chat, it wasn't really doing anything to save the planet. - The Independent
FACTS
Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid
Engine: 3-litre supercharged petrol V6, 70kW electric motor
Gearbox: 8-speed automatic
Power (combined): 306kW @ 5500rpm
Torque (combined): 590Nm @ 1250-4000rpm
0-100km/h (claimed): 5.9 seconds
Top speed (claimed): 243km/h
SA Price: R1 254 000
Maintenance plan: 3-year Driveplan
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