MadFox

I ride in 'comfort" mode all the time on low level.. honestly, when I punch it for high speed merging ramps on interstates, long straightaways, 2-lane country winding roads... I can hardly tell a difference.. now watching the PDCC video of a new Cayenne.. there is DEFINITELY a difference with it.. IF I ever decided to get a 3rd Cayenne PANO and PDCC (long way off) would have to be in the mix.... I got PASM mainly for elevating to high setting for 200+ acre farm roads in Tennessee and because when I bought back in Oct. 06, it was a loaded Tit.S on the lot that came with PASM (rare occurance).. plus the extra benefit that wifey who still dislikes the vehicle doesn't complain as much on bumps.

leek

LTC, I was coming out of an Allroad and the manual indicated that you should only tow in setting level of so I asked Porsche dealership if towing should be done in normal position, they indicated not necessary. I did however set it in normal when sizing my hitch. The Pasm does allow the vehicle and the trailer to stay level regardless of the load.
I have used the comfort setting out on the road and it is a little softer than the normal setting. A good option for long distance cruising. Mostly I leave it in normal.
Like I indicated above the PDCC makes the car corner very flat. I seems like it does not weigh as much (almost totally removes body roll)

Cpa4S

the beauty of PDCC is that you have a flat drive but can still be in comfort mode.

Sam CS 05

Love the PASM!
mostly ride in low/comfort mode, my 6 yr old son notices the difference in height, our 80 yr old grandma appreciates the help, looks more aggressive when lowered, self leveling very cool, loading level helps with heavy/bulky objects, can be elevated/lowered to get out of a deep NE snow pile or impress others behind a traffic light, can use compressor to inflate things (never used it)

disadvantage: maybe cost for some and over heard in past... steel suspension does better when cornering... but I am not sure, let the race drivers answer that one,
I am just a soccer dad
Sam

geoff w

I'm thinking about the air suspension for the new Cayenne S we're buying. After reading all the comments, I'm not sure if it handles better with or without the air suspension. Anybody driven both with and without back to back and care to comment on handling and cornering differences between the two

Dennis C

MadFox - I drove in this morning with the suspension set in "comfort" mode to see if I could really tell the difference. My drive is roughly 35 miles, and it is mostly 4-lane blacktop, and fairly straight. In this scenario, I could feel the difference. The suspension was definitely softer, but not in a bad way. It was a nice highway ride. I'll try with a little more driving around town for a comparison to "normal" mode or "sport" mode.

Sam CS 05

I have chased few cars with suspension in sports mode and it surely tightens up the ride, wouldn't drive in it for long commutes. Now in comparing PASM to steel suspension, I don't know, Toby, ltc... any comments?

MadFox

Again, maybe it's just me.. but there is a major difference in the ride of a steel spring vs. the PASM. In sport mode it is definitely close but still better than the steel. In comfort -- again to me -- it is night/day difference. and again, it is still a pretty "sporty" ride in comfort compared to a regular car or my wife's MDX or any of our fleet of college/high school kids' Volvos! Riding around in comfort takes none of the performance away and you feel the lean and hard bumps when you're aggressive in turns. lastly, PDCC to me would be the ultimate "old fart" drive like you stole it feature.. you'd never know how hard you're pushing it until you wear through tires every 5K instead of 10-20K "normal" driving! End of PASM sermon.. you may now decide in Hong Kong?!

p.s. once you go PASM.. you'll never go back.... (quotable quote adapted)

cartoon blue

How about the cornering? Steel or PASM is better?

ALPINE_997

I drove both before I decided for the PASM option. We went down a street with good turns which was the same spot where they took me to test drive the 997TT before I purchased it. First it was an 05 Cayenne Turbo and it felt stable but rolled more than I was initially comfortable with but after a few passes it was pretty amazing how far you can push this PIG and it will still hold the road. We then took out an 06 CS with Steel Springs and it felt harsher on the bumps compared to normal to the Air on the CTT but very close to Sport. The handling was not confident inspiring compared to the CTT. FYI both had the same set of 18" Turbo rims so the comparison was a good one. In the 08 CS with Air that I have currently before the 22" that were put on recently I felt that Sport and Air Susp. combo was a bit stiffer. Now that could be atrributed to being newer but the CTT only had 12K miles on it. The body roll feels less and the suspension can inspire more confidence than in the 05 CTT and much more so than the 06 CS with Steel Springs.

I was initially told the steels would handle better but I would disagree. The ride being firmer in normal might give that impression because it doesn't squat at much in a hard corner but with the AIR set to Sport I feel more confident with the AIR than the Steel.

I pushed the 05 CTT and the 08 CS both with AIR much harder than I pushed the 06 CS with Steel. It just didn't give me the feeling that I could push it as hard. Same roads to test them on. Most likely this is because I lowered the center of gravity of the CTT and the 08 CS that it helped with the cornering.

That is my impression. In regards to the PDCC - I would replace my sways with larger sways to improve on the neutral cornering and see if that would bring it closer to the PDCC. I do not need to auto engage and disengage for offroad feature that it has. Pretty neat stuff and I guess if I had the choice(which I didn't) I would have gotten that feature since I like neutral cornering. Once or twice a year that I go camping would not justify the cost of the option normally. Car camping is not offroading

Thats my .02 cents.

cartoon blue

ALPINE 997,

Thanks vm for your sharing! I think PASM really worth the money after hearing what you said, will talk to my dealer next week! Thx.......

Cpa4S

go back to the old road & track or Car & driver test of the 2004 Cayenne S; you can find it on line. anyway, did a comparo with bmw and a few others.

the S smoked them and much of the trouncing was attributed to the air suspension option.

no brainer imo.

HeelToe

Maybe this is a stupid question for you owners, but I've just started looking, so I'm not sure if all air suspensions are all PASM or if PASM is in addition to the "basic" air suspension.
Since I don't own one yet, I'm not sure what suspension systems are reflected by the 2 following pictures:
(And before someone gives me the "try a @#$% search!" response - I did, but I couldn't find any pics.)

Thanks.

JRCTT

Pic on right shows standard suspension with lever for low range and diff locks

Pic on left adds lever for height adjustment for air ride and 3 buttons for mode

HeelToe

So the pic on the right is from a steel sprung vehicle?
And the air ride (left pic) must not be very common, since I've come accross very few of these, at least in 04-05.
The left picture is from a CTT. I'm going to assume the controls are the same for the CS, but I'm still very surprised at how very few CS's seem to have the adjustable air ride suspension