Air Suspension

 

Is the ride this bad?? I drove the toureg without it and the ride was just fine> that is a expensinve option and really comes into play if you are doing lots of off-roading. I drove the Cayenne v6 and felt just fine...

 

It's all subjective. For many, myself and perhaps yourself included, the standard suspension on the Cayenne is not too harsh; for others, the air suspension smooths it out, and still provides great handling when the road gets twisty. It's the opposite in the Touareg; it has a very smooth ride with the standard suspension, but needs the air suspension to firm it up and handle better.

Personally, I'd rather save money, weight, complexity, and potential reliability issues and go with the standard steel suspension on either vehicle.

 

..to me engine, handling, tranny and perhaps a good stereo and heated seats are all I need. If I want comfort I'll cal la limo or stay at home on my couch. Driving for me is more then getting from point A to B. I'm anxiously waiting for a dealer to receive a trade - a Titanium CS to come in with 20k miles with pretty basic options but good price of 42k. I know I'll keep the car for 3-4 years and since I take care of my cars it will be mine to enjoy for quite some time.
X5 has a generic outdated and rather boring look. Cayenn just like any Porsche has a timeless design and such car will still look good in 10 years from now and I'm sure there will be plenty of them on the road.

 

Air Suspension. This is an expensive option, but it transforms the C into a true all round vehicle. On the freeway or on twisties, the low setting and "sport" suspension mode provides an amazing ride for a vehicle of this size. Then up the suspension to "terrain" and "comfort" for some off-roading. Any iron suspension is going to make a compromise between on and off road.

In our family, heated seats are non-optional, but that's a personal thing and depends on where you live (pretty useless in LA for example).

Parking assistance is a nice to have, again personal choice. I can say it works very well. If you're parallel parking a great deal, it's nice. If you're a suburban type who mostly uses parking lots, you don't really need it.

I also have the nav system. Very useful if you're on the road as much as I am.

Alex