hamiam

I have a 2005 Cayenne S WITHOUT PASM, 18" all season tires on the turbo look tires. Im used to my 4runner where the settings were 2WD, 4WH, and 4WL. The CS is fulltime 4WD and the switch allows me 2 other options. Can anyone explain to me? Regards HAM

philg3

I'd suggest you read the manual as a start, as it would provide much more accurate info than anything I could provide. BTW, what are "turbo look tires"?

mudman2

You will not need to change the settings at all just remember that your in a heavy vehicle and should take yr time and get used to the stopping distances.

Get in a parking lot and practice flooring it and hard braking to get the feel of it.

Have fun but be carefull

BobbyB

You should not have to change settings at all. Full Time AWD or 4WD is all ready to go. Good Luck

ajauch

I think you're talking about the switch on the center console. The one that has the icon of a road at the top and the mountains at the bottom.

This switch progressively engages more and more offroad ability. One click back engages low range. The second click back locks the center diff. The third click back locks the rear diff.

This is my first winter with the Cay, but so far I haven't used any of that stuff. Just regular AWD setting works just fine for everything I've taken it through.

Alex

hamiam

I am indeed talking about that switch. Now, hopefully, I can get someone with a clue to answer my questions.

mudman2

Well the manual says.....

But really, the only time you would use them is if you were climbing hills or going over very rough terrain where large holes and rocks are an issue.

In deep snow switch off PSM, this will allow the wheels to keep moving so you avoid getting stuck, same with sand, it does not reduce the systems effectiveness in protecting itself and will kick back in if it thinks your being silly.

but really really RTFM

JeffES

Be nice. The previous poster answered your question.
There is no "2wd" setting. With your Pepper, the settings are Normal (4WD), Low Range (first setting), Locked center differential (2nd), then adding a locked rear differential (3rd). These functions allow the Cayenne it's incredible off road capabilities. The Owner's Manual gives an excellent writeup (in good English, no less) and description of each function.
Hope that helps.
J

mudman2

OK jeff your way does sound better but says the same

bullbear

I might have ome input here... I have a 04' CT which I have been driving for about two weeks. I used to have an 01' S4. We just had three pretty big snowstorms in about two weeks up here in Toronto. And I was driving my CT in all three. Here are my observations:

- overall, the S4 with Quattro (and even lowered with coilovers) feels much more sure-footed in the snow. Anyone else who has had Quattro feels the same?

- I was caught in some pretty heavy stuff one night. Basically about a foot of snow had fallen and none of the roads were plowed yet. So I used that opportunity to test out its snow performance. In reg. hi-range mode, the truck handles ok but I did get some tire spin from the rear (I have never had any tire spin from the S4 in the 4yrs of ownership. In fact, one year I was late getting my snow tires on and I had to drive thru a snowstorm in my 18" Proxies T1-S and still it handled great and no wheel spin!)

Anyway, I then tried low-range mode where basically the gearing is reduced. Obviously, the whole truck "feels" a lot slower but the lower gearing offers much better engine braking. However, the wheel spin from the rear was still there and when that happens, the tail-end would "waggle" a bit.

Next, I tried locking the centre-diff. Now the truck is even slower (obviously) but the truck tracked much better. No wheel spin and no waggle! If only we were able to lock the centre diff in high-range mode!

So I'd say I do miss Quattro but the Cayenne is more than capable in the snow.

Brent 89-GT

The single best thing you can do is to run a real snow tire, not what came on the car, if you need regular snow traction. Otherwise do not fiddle with the console switch. Porsche Stability Management (PSM) is all you should ever need in an on road situation. As mentioned, if you get into a very low speed, deep snow (over one foot) locking the center diff may be a good idea. Generally though, the truck is factory programmed to keep you out of trouble. I just run 235/60-18 Scorpian AT's and let it rip. We get more than our fair share of snow and I have never felt the need to change any settings.

bullbear

Sorry, just to clarify. I used Pirelli 210s snow tires on my S4 and I have 235/60-18 Scorpian AT's on the CT.

BobbyB

bullbear -So far I haven't had wheel slip in the snow in my CT. I would expect some slipage from most AWD when 1st taking off from a stopped position. Usually the CD divides the power between frt & rear but not side to side so I would think if you had rear wheel slip, you would continue to get it. We still have snow down today so I will go out and play a bit and see if I notice any slip. So far I'm still enjoying my CT

ajauch

bullbear:

On full snows (Scorpion Ice & Snows) I can get the CT to spin the wheels if I romp on it, but I'm not too suprised. The thing has gobs of HP and torque. If you work at it, you can get wheel slip on dry pavement with summer tires.

I think the variable you're feeling is the level of slip that PSM allows before it cuts in. PSM's limits are a tad higher than the ones on other AWD's I've driven and I think that's a good thing. Gives the control back to the driver.

I bet that if you turned off stability control on your S4 (is that possible?) you might see similar results to your Cay with PSM off.

Alex

Renn 951

The great thing about Quattro is it's a purely mechanical system, so it starts responding to any slipping before you are even aware of it. With the electronic AWD systems, I believe most of them are programmed to wait until some slip is occurring before they lock things up.

The drawback to Quattro is it tends to be heavier than electronic systems and there is a resulting penalty in fuel mileage.