I Tested Porsche’s Most Powerful Car (It’s Not a 911)
▼ Summary
– Porsche provided travel and accommodation for Ars to drive the electric Cayenne Coupe, but Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
– The Cayenne Turbo Coupe is Porsche’s most powerful production car, producing 1,139 hp and 1,106 lb-ft of torque.
– It accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, making it one of Porsche’s quickest vehicles, second only to the Taycan Turbo GT.
– Unlike the Taycan Turbo GT, the Cayenne Coupe is designed as an everyday hauler for passengers and cargo.
– The Turbo model’s rear motor uses a cooling system between stator and rotor, a technology derived from Porsche’s Formula E program.
Porsche flew me from Albany, New York, to Munich, Germany, and put me up in a hotel so I could test drive the new electric Cayenne Coupe. Ars does not accept payment for editorial content.
MUNICH, GERMANY,Picture every high-performance Porsche you’ve ever spotted on the road,the ones draped in flashy paint, fitted with massive rear wings, and riding on staggered wheel setups. Now brace yourself for a surprising truth: Not one of them packed more horsepower than the SUV sitting in front of you. This is the all-new Cayenne Turbo Coupe, a fastback, dual-motor, upgraded version of Porsche’s electric SUV.
Under the sculpted bodywork lies a staggering 1,139 horsepower (850 kW) and 1,106 lb-ft of torque (1,500 Nm). That muscle is enough to propel this 5,637-pound (2,557 kg) machine,along with its 113-kilowatt-hour battery pack,from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in just 2.4 seconds. That makes it not only the most powerful production Porsche ever built, but also one of the quickest, trailing only the Taycan Turbo GT in sheer acceleration.
Yet unlike that stripped-down, track-focused version of Porsche’s sleek electric sedan, the Cayenne Coupe is designed to serve as a practical, everyday vehicle for friends, family, and cargo stowed beneath its hatch. Does it pull off that balancing act? That’s the question I traveled to Munich to answer.
Formula E Inspiration
Automakers love to boast about racing technology trickling down to road cars. For SUVs, such comparisons often feel like a stretch, but the Cayenne Electric’s top-tier Turbo trim genuinely draws from Porsche’s Formula E program.
Porsche has competed in the all-electric racing series since 2019, racking up multiple championships. Much of Formula E is spec-based, meaning manufacturers cannot alter chassis or bodywork. They can, however, develop their own electric motors.
For its Formula E racer, Porsche engineered a cooling system placed between the stator and rotor. This innovation allows for greater and more consistent power output without overheating. That same design now lives inside the rear motor of the electric Cayenne’s range-topping Turbo model.
(Source: Ars Technica)
