Everything is better at a high level.
Crossovers and SUVs generally do not make an enthusiast’s heart beat faster and the same sometimes applies to plug-in hybrids. However, this duo of SUVs proves that everything gets better from a certain level. Even better than before, because the BMW X5 and Porsche Cayenne have both been significantly facelifted and improved.
Isn’t it logical that such expensive SUVs are the ultimate?
Don’t get us wrong, a ‘normal’, more affordable crossover or SUV can also be a nice and good car. When we write about it, we mean it. Yet there is often a ‘but’ to be added. Think of something like this: nice thing, but for less money you get into a station wagon that is secretly more spacious and even nicer. The ‘and more beautiful’ is too personal to write down, so we’ll keep that to ourselves. Something similar often applies to plug-in hybrids. This compromise between electric and non-electric transport has undeniable advantages, but often also results in heavy, less spacious and less pleasant driving cars. All in all, the duo on these pages has enough to be skeptical about, because the BMW X5 and Porsche Cayenne, like so many others, combine an SUV body with a plug-in drivetrain. Yet these are both very nice cars. All-rounders, in fact, and that is precisely due to the combination of a practical, high body and a partly electric drivetrain.
Is it just a facelift that the Porsche Cayenne got?
The facelift of the Porsche Cayenne is a particularly extensive one. The nose and ass have been thoroughly overhauled and almost everything in the interior is different. The new dashboard is very similar to that of the electric Taycan and looks sleek, tidy and modern, but also a bit cold. Especially in the dark, we miss some atmosphere and the Porsche appears a lot more unpleasant than the X5, which treats its occupants to warm-looking materials, beautifully designed mood lighting and less bright screens. Those screens are new, but the base of the dashboard is still visible from the ‘old’ stamp. The result is that the whole looks attractive, but slightly less sleek and coherent. This interior is also of very high quality, but the Porsche looks and feels slightly higher quality.
Did the BMW X5 also improve with the facelift?
What these cars have in common is that the drivetrain has been given a lot of attention during the facelift. At BMW this even results in a new nameplate: ‘xDrive45e’ becomes ‘xDrive50e’. Not without reason, because the system power of 490 hp is almost 100 hp higher than before. The electric performance also gets a boost: the battery pack goes from 21.6 to 25.7 kWh, which theoretically increases the electric range to 110 kilometers. Impressive, and in practice we actually achieved more than 100 kilometers on electricity. The Porsche uses its power less efficiently and gets ‘only’ 74 kilometers from a comparable battery, which we achieve almost exactly. Here too, this represents a significant improvement compared to the previous Cayenne E-Hybrid, which was also improved in 2020. The Porsche also gets more power, although with 470 hp it lags slightly behind the X5. Please note: in this version. Unlike BMW, Porsche supplies several plug-in hybrid versions, with power outputs of up to 739 hp! The ‘normal’ E-Hybrid tested here is the least powerful and, due to its low CO2 emissions, by far the most obvious version of the Cayenne in the Netherlands. The version without a plug has much less power, but costs a good 37,000 euros more. We see something similar at BMW: the xDrive50e is much more powerful, but also cheaper than the xDrive40i that runs purely on petrol. Of the two main players here, the Porsche is – unsurprisingly – the most expensive. The X5 is available with this drivetrain for just under a grand, the Porsche is not available for less than €114,000. On these pages, the Cayenne shines as a Coupé, a more flattened variant that even costs at least €117,200.
Why the Cayenne Coupé next to the X5?
The regular Cayenne would be a better match for the X5, but was not available. This comparison is also not surprising, because the Coupé is very popular at Porsche and its direct rival at BMW, the X6, is not available as a plug-in. In addition to more money, you logically sacrifice space with the Cayenne Coupé. This concerns headroom in the rear, but also luggage space. That is not a good time, because the hybrid drivetrain also eats up space at the bottom. The result: where a Cayenne has, at best, 772 liters of luggage space, this flattened hybrid keeps it at 434 liters. That is really not much in an absolute sense, although it must be said that the large floor space makes this cargo hold more practical than the capacity in liters suggests.