Watch The New Electric Porsche Cayenne Race A 918 Spyder

It’s really not going to come as a surprise to anyone that the new electric Porsche Cayenne is a very quick car. With 1140bhp and 1106lb ft of torque available when you use the little boost button on Turbo models, the German manufacturer says it’ll do 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds.

Not bad at all for a car that is now the heaviest Porsche ever made. There’s a Porker joke in there somewhere, but we’ll let you apply that as you feel fit.

We’re not entirely certain anyone was going to ask “How does the electric Porsche Cayenne compare to a decade-old halo supercar?” but someone, presumably somewhere in Porsche’s marketing department, did. And then quickly found an answer, by wheeling out a 918 Spyder for a good old, visually-polished drag race.

In case you need a reminder, the 918 Spyder utilises a 4.6-litre twin-turbocharged V8, which alone produces 599bhp and 398lb ft of torque. You’ll note that’s about half the power and almost a third of the torque of the Cayenne.

But then there’s an electric motor on each axle too, allowing for a total system output of 875bhp and 944lb ft of torque. It also has weight well on its side at around a full tonne lighter than the Cayenne, and well, it’s a sports car built for this kind of thing.

A couple of handy drivers were wheeled out for the run, too, with former F1 driver and Porsche WEC racer Mark Webber at the helm of the 918. Meanwhile, Formula E development driver Gabriela Jílková took control of the Cayenne.

The result? Well, spoiler alert in case you’re watching yourself, but the Cayenne beats the 918 to 62mph by a tenth of a second, although the roles are swapped by 120mph, with the German member of the holy trinity ousting the SUV.

A surprise? Not really. Still technically impressive for the Cayenne? Sure. Good fun? Absolutely.