Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid named Towcar of the Year

The Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid has been named Towcar of Year 2024, beating a wide range of competitors including the Ford Puma and Bentley’s Bentayga.

The plug-in hybrid Porsche was one of 28 models tested by the Caravan and Motorhome Club for this year’s awards. The SUV scored top marks ‘in virtually every category to bag the overall title’, and it also won the caravan weight over 1,700kg class.

“As well as seeing the advances in EV technology this year, there was also a good representation from traditionally fuelled vehicles plus a great mix of big-engined SUVs and pick-ups.”

Aside from the Cayenne winning the overall gong and its weight category, the electric Volkswagen ID.Buzz won the lightest category, caravan weight under 1,100kg, and Skoda took home two awards – the 1,100kg to 1,300kg class went to the sporty electric Skoda Enyaq iV VRS Coupe, while the Octavia Estate 2.0-litre TDI 150PS DSG bagged the 1,300kg to 1,500kg category.

Two new categories were added to this year’s gongs – Luxury Towcar and a special Judges’ Award. Bentley’s long-wheelbase Bentayga EWB took the spoils in the luxury class while the Ford Puma, in ST-Line trim and fitted with a 1.0-litre mild-hybrid engine and six-speed manual gearbox, was praised by the judging panel for its great value for money, and how it ‘debunked the theory a good towcar must have a large engine and automatic gearbox’.

The judging took place at the world famous Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, which comprised several hundred laps of the two-mile high-speed bowl and ‘alpine’ hill route. Tests included hill starts on a 17 per cent gradient, a 26 per cent downhill brake test, and acceleration tests from a standstill to motorway speeds.

All cars were ballasted and were hitched to caravans ballasted to 85 per cent of the cars’ kerbweights, or towing limits if lower, to both create a level playing field and replicate accurate real-world towing conditions.