Ucube

Whoa...those look like the innards of a Terminator. Congrats on the new Cayenne and thanks for the pics.

Blaine S

OK - 400mi and one significant observation about the hybrid drive design. What Porsche has done adding the electric motor is to provide a system which generates a bunch of torque to get the big car moving. Once it is moving it is basically like driving any other gas car. This is not a hybrid that uses the electric motor as a primary system. It is really integrated in a manner to take advantage of 221 ft-lbs of additional torque at basically O rpm to get 5000 lbs. moving. Very interesting approach and is all about using an electric motor to address inertia - not MPG.

rodsky

Congrats - she's a beauty. Would appreciate more observations as you break her in - as I'm thinking about the Hybrid or the S.

Blaine S

Drove about 6 hours yesterday on a lot of two lane roads mostly in sport mode. Passing is no problem and when you give it full throttle the electric motor kicks in too. You couldn't tell unless you have the display up. The power seems about right for the car and is in no way lacking. Sure you could have more, but this thing is not wimpy. Again, I wish the exhaust note was a bit better but that may just be my personal preference. If I average 70 mph on the highway I am getting 24-25 mpg (on my first tank I just edged 500 mi and that was combined). Mixed driving I'm getting 22 mpg. What is interesting is that when it is cold (below 30F) and the car is first started it doesn't seem to be using the electric motor as much. Maybe it is just me. I've also noticed that on my commute to work after 6 miles city driving the oil temperature is still down at ~155F at the bottom of the gauge. It really takes some time for the oil temp to come up. During this first 5-7 miles in city driving the mileage also is much lower around 16 mpg.

Dudley

Dr. Pepper

PETER838

I bought a 2011 model Cayenne Hybrid in July 2010, since then I've had every conceivable warning light on the dash problems with Hybrid System....failed 3 times, steering failed, brake system failure the list goes on....Great Car when they work but its spent more time off the road than on!!!!!

See video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReY4s6dczlM

Mike in CA

They installed the steering wheel and instrument cluster on the wrong side! There's the root of your problems right there....

PETER838

Thanks, I'll get them to change

Blaine S

Peter - sorry to hear about your poor experience with the hybrid. Hopefully Porsche was able to sort out the issues you were encountering. My experience thus far (~800 mi) has exceeded my expectations with regard to how good the hybrid system is. Not a single problem, but I understand that true reliablity can not be established in 800 mi.

Abby Normal

Actually the combustion and electric engines start working in unison to provide torque to the wheels at the 80% throttle position.

You're spot on about the exhaust note. Absolutely nothing to be excited about. It's the only Porsche that doesn't sound like one.

The vehicle will not use the electric motor when first started in all ambient tempratures. The engine and various systems must reach a certain temprature before the parallel hybrib system can work, so that will continue to happen even when the outdoor tempratures are higher. One of the reasons a supercharger was used (rather than turbo) was it's ability to better optimize heating for the system in addition to instant manifold pressure.

Blaine S

Abby - 80% throttle sounds about right based on my driving now that you mention it. However, the notion the the supercharged V6 is the only Porsche that doesn't sound like a Porsche is a bit off base. What should a Porsche sound like? I've owned several over 25 years and none of them have sounded the same.

Abby Normal

It just lacks that throaty sound that hints to the performance heritage built into every Porsche...However the Hybrid by no means is under powered or slow. But you know that. All I meant was that it just doesn't sound like a "performance" vehicle. IMO it sounds very 'normal' (for lack of a better term).

Blaine S

I was thinking about what I initially said about describing the pros and the cons of the Hybrid, and yes, most of my experience has been very positive. But not wanting to be a Hybrid Pollyanna, I thought I'd share my experience with "e Power". Basically, I still don't know why Porsche has that setting. Is it to sneak up your driveway so the dog doesn't know your home and insist on a walk? e Power prioritizes use of the electric system and in doing so emphasizes how small the capacity of the battery is with respect to the size of the car. With a light touch on the throttle at low speeds, e Power will allow you to drive mainly using the electric motor. Encounter a hill or a situation where you need to catch up with traffic and you will likely still transition over to the V6. Even so, using e Power it still rapidly drains the battery over a fairly short period. I really don't understand why it is there. In the owners manual it even states that the best gas mileage is obtained with e Power "off" and it isn't really helping with performance. Does anybody else have any ideas? Basically, the hybrid system seems to be there for performance, increased fuel economy, and lower CO2 production, but it can't drive the car around town by its own.

Blaine S

Abby - I totally agree. No throaty sound that you get from a Porsche V8, and I think the V8 will play a big role in future Porsches both on and off the track - which I agree should define the "sound of a Porsche". I was just thinking about the Porsches you could recognize blindfolded without hesitation, and while I think the supercharged V6 is one, I also think there are more.

Nemic

Thanks for all the info Blaine :-)

Can you post some more photo's please?

Classic Silver is one of the colours I am thinking seriously about.