Porsche Cayenne 3.0 S E-Hybrid

Remember the days when an SUV was something for people who had to haul their horses to a show? Big, clumsy, with a diesel engine that sounded as if it had to be convinced all over again every morning that waking up was worth the effort. And then Porsche came along. First greeted with the furrowed brows of the purists, who felt Stuttgart shouldn't dirty its hands with something so crude.

Twenty years later, that same purist drives a Cayenne to the golf course and pays his clubhouse membership with the money Porsche made on precisely this model. Without the Cayenne, there would never have been so much budget for the 911 love we all daydream about. Sometimes you rescue your finest dreams by making a practical decision.

Jot that one down.

Because that is exactly what this generation of Cayenne does so well: it earns its place not by showing off, but simply by being capable. You step in, you press the button, and the first few miles pass in complete silence on electric power. As though you'd left a loft in Chelsea via the parking lift. And then, when you join the motorway and plant your right foot a little more firmly, that civilised silence is interrupted by 519 bhp of combined system output.

Not some modest hybrid that keeps reminding you to go easy, but a machine that goes from nought to motorway pace with the ease of making a cup of tea at home. Civilised, right up to the moment you no longer want it to be.

Right, back to this particular example. A Porsche Cayenne 3.0 S E-Hybrid from 2024, of the very latest 9YA generation with Coupé DNA in its genes. The colour is Chalk, that soft, almost matte grey-white that looks, in any car park, as though it has just driven off the dealer's forecourt. Inside, smooth black leather, and not just a bare base specification either. This one was carefully put together by someone who took the options list seriously.

Because take a look at what is on that options list. Panoramic roof system. An electrically deployable tow bar, for anyone who wants to take their boat out to the Lake District or simply tow a trailer full of garden waste to the tip. Rear-axle steering plus Servolenkung Plus, so that this hulking-looking thing suddenly becomes as nimble in the multi-storey as something far smaller.

HD-Matrix LED headlights that turn night into day. Head-Up Display, Porsche InnoDrive, and a BOSE Surround Sound system on which you can relive Creamfields all over again while stuck in the jam on the M25. The comfort seats are 14-way adjustable with memory, so whether you're tall or short, the seat remembers exactly how you like to sit.

And then the 21-inch RS Spyder wheels with a staggered tyre setup, 285 at the front, 315 at the rear, because the width of those rear tyres tells you straight away this is no school-run SUV.

The history is clear and tidy. First owner in Germany, delivered by Porsche Leipzig itself, after which the major service with oil service, inspection and fresh brake fluid was neatly carried out at Porsche Centrum Amsterdam. Imported to the Netherlands in early 2026. A car driven the way Porsche intended: used, cared for, and maintained by people who understood what they had beneath them.

Granted, a Cayenne isn't the sort of car you roll up in at a classic car club to a round of applause. That will come later, in thirty years' time, when the last generation of purists finally admits that this too is a proper Porsche. But for anyone who wants a car today that carries their family, their dog, their trailer and their ego all at once, without compromising on speed or comfort, there is little that does it better. It is the Swiss army knife of fast cars, only with a pedigree from Zuffenhausen.

This is the car you buy when you're done with compromise and not yet done with fun.

Dare you admit the purists were wrong?

Special features

• Porsche Cayenne 3.0 S E-Hybrid, year 2024, 9YA generation
• 519 bhp combined system output, hybrid with all-wheel drive
• Exclusive Chalk (Kreide) colour with smooth black leather interior
• Panoramic roof system (3FU)
• HD-Matrix LED headlights (8IU) and Head-Up Display (KS1)
• Rear-axle steering plus Servolenkung Plus (0N5)
• 21-inch RS Spyder wheels (57Q) with staggered tyre setup
• Electrically deployable tow bar (1D3)
• BOSE Surround Sound (9VL) and Porsche InnoDrive (PY3)
• Comfort seats, 14-way with memory (Q2J)
• Major service carried out at Porsche Centrum Amsterdam
• Pirelli summer tyres all round

Somewhere between a silent start and a loud motorway

Nick Slinger

Copywriter · HooG Selections