2021 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Interior Review | What $12,190 worth of options gets you

It can be easy to be dismissive of Porsche interiors. Sometimes the standard cabin feels like an afterthought compared to performance. That’s fine, I’ve told myself, just think of Porsche as a sports car maker rather than a luxury brand. You’re paying the big bucks for a super-dynamic car or SUV. And, sure, you can get a swank interior in a Porsche, but you’re going to have to pay rather dearly for every little bit of it. What do you expect from a company that regularly strips its vehicles of sound deadening and uses nylon door pulls in order to make its cars lighter and more agile?

When this 2021 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid slunk into my driveway, I expected either a fairly spartan interior, or one optioned to high-holy-hell with an equally lofty sticker price. What I got, to my surprise, was something in the middle, with a nice chunk of luxury without sending the price tag to stratospheric heights. The Cayenne E-Hybrid starts at $83,150 with $1,350 in destination fees included. The final sticker price on my tester was $101,650. By Porsche standards, that’s actually reasonable.

Some of the added options were functional, like the rear-axle steering ($1,620) and adaptive air suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management ($2,170). Others addressed exterior styling, like the Moonlight Blue Metallic paint ($800), 20-inch Cayenne Design wheels ($1,720) and the deletion of Acid Green accents ($0). The rest of the upcharges address the interior either partly or in full.

The Black/Mojave Beige leather interior was $4,180, and replaces the standard black interior with a richer two-tone leather that covers more of the interior surfaces. It’s an expensive upgrade, to be sure, but it goes a long way in turning this sporty hybrid ute into a proper luxury vehicle. The ventilated front seats cost another $850. The smartphone compartment with wireless charging is an extra $690. The Premium Package ($6,470) adds more interior goodness, like ambient lighting, a Bose surround sound system, panoramic sunroof, 14-way power front seats with memory and heated front seats. Also included in the Premium Package are more functional features like auto-dimming mirrors, Lane Change Assist (fancy lingo for a blind-spot warning system), comfort access (opens the power liftgate with a kick motion), Power Steering Plus (speed sensitive power steering), and LED headlights with automatic range and cornering adjustment. Porsche added in a complimentary smoking package to make it feel especially European. That wraps up the options list on this particular Cayenne.

So let’s take a look around.

The front and rear seats are inviting, and the panoramic sunroof combined with the lighter leather upholstery makes the cabin feel bright and airy.

The rear seat was happy to accommodate my son’s high-back booster seat. Furthermore, I was perfectly comfortable in terms of legroom when sitting behind my own seating position. I’m 6-foot even with long legs, for what it’s worth. The reinforced seatbacks are great if you’ve got a kid swinging his legs around behind you.

If you’re going to use the lower LATCH anchors to install a car seat, you’re going to have to find a place to stash the plastic covers. Don’t lose ’em!

The mobile charger’s storage bag takes up some room in the rear cargo area, but it’s easy enough to pull out and stash in your garage. While it’s in the vehicle, clips on the bag attach to cargo tie-downs to keep it from sliding around. You can see how this space compares with the Cayenne E-Hybrid Coupe cargo area here.

Moving back up front we find pleasant touch points, from the leather steering wheel, to the sturdy switchgear, to the touch-capacitive buttons in gloss black plastic. The latter are quite prone to fingerprints, so keep a microfiber cloth handy if that sort of thing drives you nuts.

Really the only touch points that don’t feel sturdy are the various stalks behind the steering wheel, of which there are three. They control the wipers, turn signals and cruise control.

This is the drive mode selector, and you twist the outer ring to switch between modes. In the E-Hybrid, the “H” is for Hybrid Auto. It’s the default mode wherein the vehicle will choose between electric power, gas power or a mixture of both depending on the situation. “E” stands for “E-Power,” an electric-only mode. “S” is for Sport, and “S+” is an even more aggressive sport mode. That little button in the center of the module primes the engine, transmission and electric motor for maximum output for 20 seconds before reverting back to the previous drive mode, helpful for when you need to make a quick pas or turn out onto a busy road. Overall, I quite like having the drive mode selector in such a conspicuous and easy-to-reach place. It sure beats having to gawk and reach over to the center console. It also helps put the car’s sportiness and versatility on display, a constant reminder of its various personalities and an invitation to make full use of them.

For less-then-perfect roads or conditions, you can also select various off-road settings in the infotainment screen.

Smoke ’em if you got ’em! This car had the $0 Smoking Package, which is absolutely bizarre, since we sign loan agreements saying that we will specifically not smoke while inside press vehicles. As such, why put a Smoking Package into a car specifically built for the purposes of being a press car? This isn’t the only Porsche press vehicle like this. We’ll need to ask a Porsche rep about this someday. 

Finally, I’ll point out the instrument cluster. It features a prominent central, analog tachometer with a small TFT display showing speed, gear and drive mode. It’s flanked on each side by a pair of smaller digital gauges than can show you a variety of content.

Anyway, those are the main talking points here. You can check out more interior features and details in the gallery at the top of the page.

Of course, Porsche dangles an enormous amount of additional options in front of you. Considering the deep pockets of some of its customers and the actual luxury some of them demand, why not? You want an $11,430 custom paint color and $6,630 wheels with body-color wheel arch extensions? You can have that. Want even nicer leather, carbon fiber, colored seat belts, fancier tech and Burmeister sound? Just keep ticking boxes in the configurator. It’s easy enough for the E-Hybrid to reach above $120,000, but that will feel downright opulent and quite custom. 

Suddenly, my tester’s $18,500 in options — with $12,190 of that somehow affecting the interior — seems almost austere, at least when looking at what else is available. In person, however, it sure doesn’t feel austere … even for a Porsche.

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