snow/sleet tomorrow and the x is letting me use her cayenne v6. the other time i drove it there were these other two drive modes (cannot shift to on the fly, must be in neutral to shift) which were real slow, perhaps designed to get out of tough areas.
the question is whether the cayenne, in its' normal driving mode, is a 4wd or is a 2wd and in order to utilize 4wd has to switch to one of the other modes?

TIA

 

always

 

It's actually full-time AWD, which is the best application for on road driving. My old Ford Bronco was 4WD!

 

Sometimes refereed to "AllWheelDrive" vice on something such as a F-350 which is "4WheelDrive" where you have lockers on the wheels - either manual or automatic from inside the cabin....

 

Porsche AWD generally sends about 5% to the fronts under normal driving and will automatically adjust as needed, sending up to 40% to the fronts. (I think those #s are correct for the Cayenne, or I might be getting it confused with the 4S).

 

Curious, does PSM Off change any of this?

 

PSM is "Please Save Me " and will come on by itself if your trying to do something outside the safe operating envelope. The only time things change is when you start locking things up but thats more 4 wheel drive and not less

 

I meant does turning PSM off change the front to rear bias?

I've only used low range (a transfer case function) a couple of times, once was getting a neighbor's truck un-stuck.

 

No the system operates the same with PSM is on or off

 

There are two different systems on the 911 and the Cayenne. The one you are refering to is on the 911.

The system in the 911 is more aimed towards stability for sporty driving on wet surfaces than offroad use. While the Cayenne have a proper offroad system. The standard ratio is 38/62 (ref MY 06 manual).

If you push the handle on the Cayenne one more time after selecting low range you will lock the center differential for a fixed 50/50 front/rear ratio.

 

I thought my 996tt had 35% going to the front wheels all the time? The car is unbelievable in the rain.

Some of the Cayenne's have an additional lock - mine is just the standard two step and I almost never use it. The reduction is a bit high for snow.

 

I thin the standard ratio for the Cayenne is a little different for MY '11 (more along the lines of the Carerra), with power going to the FWD, "as needed." It is discussed here: http://press.porsche.com/vehicles/11...eup_update.pdf

 

Thanks Beer!

I hope I can remember how to lock the diff when I actually need it.