Styling
Dimensionally speaking, the Coupe is, save for height, precisely the same as the more traditionally SUV-shaped Porsche Cayenne Electric. It's identical for length (4,985mm, apart from the S derivatives, which are weirdly 6mm longer than their stablemates), width (1,980mm excluding mirrors) and wheelbase (3,023mm; goliath), and apparently for kerb weight too.
So the only real difference here is the 'flyline'. That's the shape of the A-pillars, roof and sloping tailgate on the Cayenne Coupe Electric, which is supposed to be reminiscent of the
most iconic Porsche model of the lot.
Whether you agree with that bold aesthetic assertion or not, you're going to have to make peace with the front-end styling of the Cayenne Coupe Electric, which has the smoothed-off look and squarish headlamps of all Porsche's EVs, such as the
smaller, zero-emission Macan.
And, like its current SUV relation, the Coupe has active aero: at least opening/closing cooling vents in the nose and a deployable spoiler on the boot's lip for all three iterations, but on the Turbo flagship there are also some Active Aeroblades which pop out of either side of the rear bumper at speed. Due to being 24mm lower than a Cayenne Electric SUV and its more slippery shape, the coefficient of drag on the Coupe improves by 0.02Cd commensurately, to 0.23Cd overall.
For what it's worth, we like the look of the Cayenne Coupe Electric, although there are some remarkable colour combinations available which include outlandish things like red alloys teamed to body-based decals. So order your Porsche EV carefully on the configurator, we'd say.
Interior
So much of what is true with the Porsche Cayenne Electric carries over to the Coupe, so if you want a thorough breakdown of the interior, click the second link in the intro paragraph above. In brief: you have the superb OLED Flow Display centrally mounted, flanked by a whopping 14.25-inch Curved Display instrument cluster and a 14.9-inch Passenger Display, and then layered on top is a vast, augmented-reality head-up display for the driver which has an effective view of 87 inches.
All of this pixel-rich real estate is pin-sharp, rapid of response and easy to use, while Porsche keeps just the right amount of physical buttons and ergonomic goodness in the interior, so that the super-glitzy, showy tech doesn't totally overshadow the driving experience. Also, the few minor quality-control issues we experienced in the standard-body Cayenne only a month or so ago seem to have been eradicated in the Coupe, so this once again is another belting Porsche passenger compartment.
Practicality
What you're really losing here is headroom in the second row, and then boot space right at the back. In terms of rear legroom, the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Electric is just as generous as the SUV, but that rakish roofline, plus the fitment of a panoramic sunroof, does impinge on room for your bonce if you're of the taller persuasion. Also, the Coupe is a four-seater as standard, with the '2+1' arrangement coming as a cost option.
It's in the boot where the Coupe more obviously loses out, though, because even the more-capacious entry-level and S models only have 534 litres of capacity with all seats in use, compared to 781 litres in the SUV. In the Turbo, that number is reduced even further to 500 litres (versus 747), while folding its rear seats down (they are at least split in the most helpful 40:20:40 configuration) liberates up to 1,313 litres; some way behind the Turbo SUV's 1,554 litres.
However, like the regular Cayenne Electric, the Coupe retains the handy 90-litre 'frunk' under its snub bonnet, so it's not without its own practicality merits.
Performance
The same three powertrains in the Cayenne Electric are offered in the Coupe. There's the base model, simply called the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Electric, which has 408hp nominally, 442hp in Launch Control and up to 835Nm of torque. Above that is the Cayenne S Coupe Electric, which increases the same data to 544hp, 666hp and 1,080Nm respectively.
And then there's this nuclear weapon of a car, christened the Cayenne Turbo Coupe Electric. Even in its regular running trim, it's kicking out way more power than the S at 857hp, but press the Push To Pass button in the rotary drive-mode dial on the steering wheel and the output leaps to 1,034hp for ten seconds of sheer overtaking fury. And as if
that wasn't enough, then in Launch Control it doles out its full and frankly ridiculous figures of 1,156hp backed up by 1,500Nm of torque.
Yet, on paper, the Coupe is no quicker (nor slower) than the Cayenne Electric. Its kerb weights are said to be the same, so the 0-62mph and top speed stats for each version are unchanged. This means that no one in their right mind would ever call the entry-level Cayenne Coupe Electric slow, with its 442hp/835Nm capable of a 4.8-second 0-62mph sprint, and no one in their right mind could fail to be astounded by what happens if you fully unleash the mind-blowingly preposterous electrical grunt of the Turbo.
However, there
is a benefit to the Cayenne Coupe Electric's flowing lines and that's marginally improved range, model-for-model. We're only talking a handful of miles in each case, but the Turbo Coupe Electric can apparently go up to 395 miles in its most efficient format, while the Cayenne S Coupe Electric is the one-shot champ with a 415-mile claim. Anyway, in reality we don't think there'll be much discernible difference between the two body formats, while the Coupe charges just as fast as the plainer SUV, thanks to 800-volt architecture resulting in 400kW DC peak rates, 22kW on AC, and then 11kW via inductive (wireless) charging as an option.
Ride & Handling
Again, we're not talking any vast chasm of dynamic ability brought about by the Coupe's lower roofline and slightly slicker aero. This might not be good news to you, if you were hoping that the extra expenditure involved (see below) and marginally reduced practicality were going to be tempered by sharper dynamics as a means of compensation.
But when an electric SUV which weighs well in excess of 2.5 tonnes in all formats is as scintillating to drive as this one, it doesn't matter that the Coupe is dynamically identical too. Because it's fabulous. True, our test car had the full gamut of chassis tech bolted onto it: not just the air springs with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) adaptive dampers and Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) electronically controlled rear diff-lock which are standard kit on the Turbo anyway, but also Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB), agility-boosting Rear-Axle Steering, and the fancy trickery of Porsche Active Ride (PAR) as well.
Thus equipped, the Cayenne Turbo Coupe Electric is not what you'd call cheap, but it is sensational. The steering is direct, accurate, majestically weighted and even replete with some meaningful feel. The body and wheel control is, as you'd expect from Porsche, right out of the top drawer, to the extent you're barely ever aware of the unsprung mass of mammoth 22-inch alloys hanging 'dead' at all four corners. The deftness of touch it has, plus its gorgeously adjustable balance, completely defies the idea of its kerb weight dominating the kinematics. And, of course, it has instant-access, continent-destroying pace available at the merest flex of your right foot. Even the Porsche Electric Sport Sound (PESS) tunes, which mimic V8s, are phenomenally well-judged, so they don't end up getting on your pip and instead add something meaningful to the overall experience of going down the road
really sodding fast.
Special credit for the PAR, which appears to have been tuned to offer just a little bit of informative squidge to proceedings, when the system is in operation, to make the weight transfer and self-levelling magic of the active set-up feel more organic than it did when we first sampled it in a
Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, where the car merely felt eerily detached from reality. Genuinely, for handling, the 2,720kg Cayenne Turbo Coupe Electric is an utter delight.
And yet it remains thoroughly civilised, cosseting, comfortable and quiet when you just want it to be an SUV, and not something that feels like a car-sized RPG sizzling down the road at what could be close to the speed of sound. The Porsche cuts through the air with a dismissive disdain, while the supple suspension with immaculate vertical control ensures the ride quality never deteriorates any lower than the level marked 'exceptional'. It's as lovely and luxurious in day-to-day operation as it is engaging and entertaining when you're stretching its dynamic limits right out.
Value
At £2,400 (for the Turbo) to £3,200 (for the S) more spec-for-spec, the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Electric perhaps doesn't look like great value when compared to its stablemate with the longer, higher roofline and more upright tailgate. As we've said, both offer up a supreme but indistinguishable-from-each-other driving experience, and while the Coupe is said to go further on a charge, its on-paper gains in that regard are marginal in the extreme. Whereas the SUV's additional boot space and rear-passenger headroom are anything but.
Therefore, you're only picking the Cayenne Coupe Electric because you prefer its rakish visuals. There's pretty much no other reasoning behind its existence than that. And when you're only talking about a 1.83 per cent uptick on the Cayenne Turbo Electric to get into the equivalent Coupe, on a car which is £131,000 as it is, then we don't think the price increase is terminal to the Coupe's chances of winning a few showroom sales.
Verdict
Another brilliant electric SUV from Porsche arrives on the scene, even if it is largely almost identical to the existing Cayenne Electric. If you don't need the most voluminous cargo bay going and you think you can see traces of 911 in the profile of the big Cayenne Coupe Electric, then go for this newcomer wholeheartedly. And if you choose the 'regular' Cayenne instead, all power to you. Either way you go here, you're getting one of the best electric SUVs, and one of the best EVs, and one of the best physically sizeable, heavyweight performance cars of any propulsion type, that money can possibly buy.
