The Range Rover comes on all-season tyres, which underline Land Rover’s characteristic focus on genuine dual-purpose, any-surface capability; the Porsche sits on Pirelli P Zero road rubber, with even more focused Corsas available as an option. That says a lot all on its own.
The Porsche’s hybrid powertrain predictably gives it the upper hand on power and torque, but does it also penalise it on weight? Well – thanks to Porsche’s optional GT Package – not by nearly as much as you might expect.
This is the consolation prize that the company offers us Europeans because we are denied the forbidden fruit of the top-of-the-shop Cayenne Turbo GT that’s available in markets with a currently more liberal attitude towards CO2 emissions.
Go for a GT Package Cayenne Coupé and you get various goodies from the Turbo GT, among them a carbonfibre roof and rear diffuser, a lightweight titanium sports exhaust, lightweight front wheel hubs that give the car more negative wheel camber, a lightweight starter battery and a few other incremental weight-shaving features besides.
The whole thing saves this Cayenne a little over 100kg and means the Porsche’s homologated kerb weight is just 10kg greater than that of the Range Rover – batteries, electric drive motor and all. So the Range Rover Sport is actually the lighter car in this comparison, at least on paper (and that doesn’t happen often) – but Stuttgart’s entrant is perhaps the moral victor.
Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid Coupe GT vs Range Rover Sport SV: Performance
If you think hybrids are sanctimonious, goodie-two-shoes kinds of cars about as likely to excite as a wholefood salad in a cardboard box, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid has got news for you.
It starts and moves off quietly under electric power, and typically keeps quite a low profile as it goes. But turn that drive mode selector on the steering wheel around to Sport mode and this car grows horns.
The titanium exhaust starts to below enticingly; the engine and gearbox develop a wonderful preference for revs; the body sits down on those air springs; and the formerly only gently tactile steering starts filtering new levels of positivity and road feel through to your fingertips.
