I've got PASM/steel springs on my '11 Cayenne. honestly I leave it in "normal" setting 90% of the time. If I were to re-order I think I'd skip it. Having driven the non PASM steel springs I'd say they're just fine.

I do like the PTV+ option though. When you push the car on the turns you can feel it kick in and swing the rear end. it's pretty fun :-) Plus the locking rear differential comes in real handy getting to the Tahoe house through deep snow before the plow comes through.

 

I believe you will find the V6 "good enough". We have just returned from Tourist Delivery of our 2012 V6 Cayenne. Getting to speeds of over 200 km/h isn't difficult, and we had no problem keeping up with the left lane traffic of most of the autobahn drivers.
Pulling into the middle lane to allow faster traffic to pass, then kicking it down to get back up to speed was quite quick. It isn't a sports car, but it gets there quick enough for an SUV.
No problems with anything on the highway, the side roads or the city streets (comfort setting was a pleasure on the cobbles of the older city streets!)
We have PASM w/Air, mostly for the loading height setting. Spent most of the time in Normal, but sport was nice in the village to village non highway roads.

 

no worries, i meant 958.. all good tho.

 

Even when in "Normal" setting PASM is still adapting and adjusting to the road surface and your driving style. I'm not questioning your opinion that you could do without it, but thought I'd point out that it's working for you even when you think it's not. BTW, I agree with you completely about PTV.

 

I have had my V6 for about 3 weeks now. The only place that I find it lacking is right off the line. If you are into going from 0-60 in a hurry you may want the V8, but for an SUV I find the V6 to be more than quick enough. I don't do any towing and I'm sure the V8 would be helpful there also.

So far I have been quite happy with the V6. Handles great, extreemly comfortable, solid as a rock. If you are looking for a rocket ship you might not be happy, but if not the V6 is a great car!!

George

 

I'm not impressed by the (Audi) V6 in the Cayenne -- it's nothing compared to the V6 in the Panamera. I'd get the V8.

Local dealers vary from order at MSRP to $1500 off an S or $2500 off of a Turbo. The Cayenne is in demand, but will inevitably fall in line with historical resale and become a horrible resale value proposition, so I'd use a lease to contain the downside.

 

the pana is lighter tho, the pana feels alive because of its stature i feel and maybe more power higher in the rev range, cayenne has more tq down low... engine feels night and day, but i feel since its setup to tow one would want the tq.


Cayenne is in demand but with the increase in production coming up, will even out a little more and we'll see less demand across the board... but lower end builds should retain more value % wise than higher end of course.

 

I was comparing the engines, not the whole cars. The Panamera has PDK, so that's a slam dunk advantage for driving. The Cayenne needs a lot of options checked before it drives as well as my old '05 Power Kit (things like PDCC are not cheap and can't be easily justified on the V6 base price) but if it's about towing, it's still a matter of getting the V8. Anyway, he Panamera prices make the Cayenne look like a bargain.

 

The Panamera is great to drive, but it's a little unfair to compare a sports sedan to a truck. As far as resale value, there is no car that doesn't suck.

 

Get real, the new Cayenne is no where near a "truck". The prior Cayenne could only even be considered a burly SUV by way of having the low range transfer case.

As awesome as it is, the new Cayenne is still clearly a "car" / "crossover".

 

hmmm, deeper wadding depth than a G class MB, better approach angles etc... I can prove you wrong in so many ways. I had water running up my hood when crossing a river a couple of times, been in deep mud and sand, pulled out many many "real offroads" with my "car / crossover" running winter tires...

 

I don't think the Cayenne has a better approach angle on stock tires over a G with stock tires. It definitely does not have better wading depth.

Either vehicle could be prepped to wade very deep. Maybe you could check in with the G owners who use theirs for expeditions and see why a Cayenne would be a poor choice for serious endeavors.

This is not an argument about how capable the Cayenne is in various situations. It's not a "truck". An F350 is a truck in every sense of the word, however it would be entirely unsuitable for some situations where a small car based vehicle like the Cayenne would excel.

The Cayenne is awesome, and it's not a truck. If it were built as such, then it would perform less awesome.

 

I think gte was right, if a little exaggerated to call the Cayenne a truck or even "burly" as you say -- I think a truck has a body-on-frame design with a ladder frame and tows more than 7700lbs. The Cayenne is what some call a "soft-roader" more than an off-roader and it's never been burly to my eye, if anything, it loses potential buyers because of its delicate, feminine and overly pretty design instead of the more square-shouldered, masculine proportions that SUV buyers tend to choose. I think we can see Porsche responding to design criticism (and poor sales relative to direct competitors) by squaring the jaw of the Cayenne, giving it edges, crease lines and more pronounced, distinctive appearance. I think Porsche is 90 degrees out of phase with the market (some might say 180 degrees out ...) For example, just as Porsche goes to the "soft" SUV emphasis of on-road, and a sub-compact SUV, the market is responding to the Japanese SUVs with technology and off-road capabilities -- Mercedes has put the low range transfer case back in the GL and added the cameras and gadgets of the Land Cruiser, while Porsche has dropped the off-road emphasis, gone with muted "middle level management" styling for the office parking lot and now they're building the VW Tiguan as a Porsche Macan ... they're literally years behind the curve on what the customer demands, worse still, they've waited past the window of opportunity for a diesel and the bloody thing they delivered is criticized for being sluggish and un-fun to drive ... if Porsche doesn't bring driving performance to market, what is left in their differentiation and brand value? Sheesh. Porsche today reminds me of Mercedes circa 2000 to 2005 when they were off on a bizarre tangent to the market, as if competing only with their own models and ignoring BMW and Audi. It was 2006 and the CLS before Mercedes got their quality and feature/function/benefit *** into gear ... will Porsche take the next half decade to get the 911 back on track, get the Cayenne up to speed, re-invent the Panamera? They've got a lot of work ahead and a lot of ground to cover. They should start with their internals: fire everyone in product planning and marketing, especially the bozo that killed off the GT1 engine from the 997 GT3 and RS, kick out everyone in sales and country management (worldwide) and start fresh with people from customer-oriented business backgrounds, no more shiny suit car salesmen. Damn ... I should edit this and tidy up the logic/grammar, but this other window on my computer just went "ping" ... we all know how important it is when the machine that goes "ping" goes "ping" so I've got to go ... hopefully this all proved entertaining nonetheless ...

 

Because the current generation cayenne lost so much weight. The previous generation 8 cyl Cayenne S has a very similar power-weight-ratio as the current 6 cylinder.

 

Carrera GT, I am a complete newbie and just ordered my first Porsche (a Cayenne Diesel). I have read many of your posts here and it is clear you are very experienced and knowledgeable in the field of "Porsche". But I am puzzled by your comment that the diesel they delivered is "sluggish and un-fun" to drive. If you are comparing to a TT then sure. But I have to say I have read probably every review done on this vehicle (many, many) and they are virtually unanimous in praising the drivability of the diesel and the fun factor because of the excellent torque. We're talking daily driver here, and nothing more. Again, not a vehicle for a speed fanatic, but not fun at all and sluggish? I really hope not.