The fully electric Porsche—the Taycan—is not yet with us. Sales in the U.S. will begin next spring. But in the meantime we can have a good sense of what battery Porsche driving is like, because the company has fully embraced the best-of-both-worlds plug-in hybrid. I just spent a week behind the wheel of a 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, and found it very livable. The car starts at $79,900, but with options and delivery, the test car was $96,790.
These plug-in hybrids have Jekyll and Hyde personalities. The electric driving range is only 13 miles, but that gives the car a miles-per-gallon equivalent (MPGe) of 46. When that’s exhausted, the car relies on a 335-horsepower turbocharged three-liter V6, which offers only 22 miles per gallon combined. Together, and mated to an eight-speed automatic, they deliver a mighty 455 horsepower and 516 pound feet of torque to the road. That’s 21 horsepower (and 110 pound feet of torque) more than non-hybrid Cayenne S. But the S costs $3,000 more.
This being a Porsche, there is of course the option for more power. The new-for-2020 Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid upgrades to a turbocharged V8 for 670 horsepower and 663 pound feet of torque. Also for 2020 and available this fall, Porsche is offering Cayenne coupes with a racier roofline but compromised rear headroom and a loss of five cubic feet of storage. The styling is indeed slightly better, but it’s not worth the sacrifice. If style is a consideration, get a 911—they still look cool and modern after 56 years.
The test car drove very well with the 134-horsepower electric motor. I was able to drive around town for a day, with no complaints about the power on tap. The electric range really should be more, but the battery pack is only 14.1-kilowatt-hours. The good news about that is a three-hour recharge time on 240 volts—what’s likely to be offered by the in-garage charger you’ll want to buy with this car.
The E-Hybrid SUV weighs more than 5,000 pounds, but these German engineers know how to move mass—it will reach 60 miles per hour in just 4.7 seconds. Again, it’s faster than the Cayenne S. My guess is that this is Porsche’s subtle way of edging its clientele toward electrification.
On the road, the Porsche felt like…a Porsche. Despite the weight, it handled exceptionally well, and cornered without the wallow that’s usually part of the SUV package.
The car’s cabin seemed austere to me, especially compared to the very designed Lincoln Aviator I had just prior. But it was comfortable on a long drive, with a nice stereo from Bose, and was made of rock-solid, hard-wearing materials. There’s plenty of room in the back seats. The programmable Sport Chrono stopwatch was a nice feature, and useful should I want to take this family hauler to the track and record lap times.
There’s a reason the Cayenne and Macan—the two SUVs—are the best-selling Porsches; they’re by far the most practical. Last year, Porsche sold 86,301 Macans and 71,458 Cayennes globally. The Panamera was next in sales, but it moved only 38,443. The 911 may have launched 1,000 magazine cover features, but it found only 35,573 buyers in 2018.
I actually drive less than 13 miles on most days, so like many Chevy Volt owners I could pretty much stay in battery mode most of the time. That’s cool, but would you really want to pay large money for one of these cars and not avail yourself of that oh-so-Porsche three-liter V6? If electric is your thing, and your last car was a Tesla, better to wait for the Taycan.
"fast" - Google News
December 11, 2019 at 12:51AM
https://ift.tt/2E3uvPU
Fast Times in the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid - Barron's
"fast" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VRmxBz
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment