vman4639

Hey all,

I have a 997, a BMW 535, and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Right now, I spend a few days a week traveling (600 miles a week) and use the BMW exclusively for that. I drive the 997 when I am in town.

I want to sell the BMW (175,000 miles) and Jeep and replace them with either a Cayenne or X5. The SUV would be for all my highway travel including winter (so I want 4x4). I often bring a guitar, bike, etc so am looking for some space.

I drove both the Cayenne and X5 (6 cylinders)- I think I like the drive feel of the Porsche more, but the electronics (wide screen GPS, iDrive etc) of the BMW more.

I was also thinking the MPG in a diesel X5 would make sense....

So a few questions for those that have owned either:

- "true" long term highway use MPG (X5, X5d, and Cayenne)
- maintenance / reliability
- which would you recommend (knowing this is a Porsche board ;->) / why?

much thanks!

endless_corners

the cayenne is better offroad

phojes

Cayenne Diesel?

1pcarnut

Might do a search. A member here recently went through the same question. If I recall he ended up buying the X5 in part due to better dealer response.

deilenberger

iDrive over the Cayenne interface? Zowie.. first time I've heard that (iDrive is one of the reasons I'm not driving an X5... I've never seen a more poorly done user interface.)

vman4639

Yeah - I don't mind it. I know it has it's faults but Porsche has seemed to go in the other direction and placed every possible button for every possible action in the center console / dash. I also really like the BMW wide screen display - but - I also like the Porsche instrument panel nab screen also......

I keep going back and forth in my mind......

Budget M3

I've owned two Cayennes (V6 and current Turbo) and two X5's (3.0 and 4.6is).

- "true" long term highway use MPG (X5, X5d, and Cayenne)
The 6-cyls averaged around 18-19mpg highway...occasionally touching 20mpg
The 8-cyl BMW averaged 17-18mpg
The CTT averages 18-19mpg, dropping 1-2mpg if you rely on the Turbo too often for passing
The X5d will do much better than any of the above, but not enough to pay back the price premium in less than 5 years

- maintenance / reliability
IMHO, they are about the same in this dept--I would call them average by Consumer Reports standards. As a general rule, however, Porsche parts tend to be more expensive when they have to be replaced. X5 maintenance is built into the base price for the first 50k miles, while Porsche is pay as you go.

- which would you recommend (knowing this is a Porsche board ;->) / why?
tomato/tomahto...I love my 4.6is which is an absolutely outstanding SUV. The CTT is also outstanding and has a little more interior space, is better off-road (locking center diff), and handles better on-road. Stylling is subjective. but I like them both.

The older iDrive was the first of it's kind in an automobile and got a bad rep for being cumbersome to use (and it was!). I don't think the newer iDrive is any more or less intuitive than PCM. Both take some learning/getting used to, and either should be fine once you know how to use them.

vman4639

Good info - thanks.

Hey - since you owned both - did you notice a difference in headlight power / alignment? Some of my trips start early (4:30am) on some rolling hills 2 lane highways. I have noticed that my 535 headlights are aimed a bit low - I even had them raised. When I take the 997 out for the occasional business trip there is a stark difference in headlight performance. The 997 is brighter (whiter even?) and has a much better spread. My BMW does have xenon - Porsche is just much better.

Between the X5 and Cayenne did you notice any difference in headlight overall performance?

big thanks.

RESP

Hey vman4639,

I have had nothing but HID vehicles since 2001 (Honda, BMW, Lexus, Porsche).
I have found the Cayenne lights to be far superior to the rest.
I live in the North, so we get more dark than light during the winter.
My driving usually is more than 50% in the dark, in many cases without any street or supplemental lighting. Lots of highway and rural roads as well.
You see the moose long before he sees you. You see stuff on the side and far down the highway on low beam I would never see with our other vehicles. On high bean exceptional visibility.
Even the fog lights are better and operate even if you have your high beams on.
The cornering lights on the adaptive lights are excellent as well.
I think I am starting to sound like I have been converted.
Oh, and just did my 30K service today! Over 300 hours of enjoyment in the driver's seat so far!

endless_corners

I had bi-xenons on my 07' X3 and they werent bad but not amazing. I installed a $50 55W HID kit in my ML and the light output is superior. I have porsche bi-xenons with corner peak around and they work great. However, I have no context for x5's which may be next generation.

Budget M3

My pleasure. I had xenons in both of the 8 cyls and they were both outstanding. Had regular halogens in both 6 cyls. Both were fine when new, but IIRC the plastic covers seemed to hold up better on the Porsche units. If you do any significant driving at night, you should spring for the xenons if they are not already standard equipment on the model you are looking at.

ApeKillApe

While your X5 E53 4.6is has been known to have pretty solid reliability and drivability records, E70 or the current X5 is anything but impressive in that respect (e.g., multiple known electrical and mechanical issues). With my LCI X5 50i, I have never been able to get anything above 16mpg, regardless of how careful I modulate the gas pedal. Maybe I have a lead foot. While many have complained about oil consumption issue on the twin turbo V8 (the 50i), mine has not sipped a drop from day one. My other gripe about my X5 is the absence of any sort of engine temperature gauges (e.g., no coolant nor oil temp and what not). As a result, some of the postings I have read indicated that the drivers only get a short timeframe to react once something goes wrong with the engine (e.g. minutes between a solid CEL, to flashing one, and to shut off).

As a old timer, I find that the lack of any of monitoring gauges disconcerting. Before we took delivery of our V6 Cayenne this April, we had also driven the S, and the S we drove felt surprisingly faster and smoother than my 50i. In the end, due to our budget, we took delivery of the V6, which has been giving us pretty good gas mileage (e.g., solid 19 mpg and around 22 mpg with a combination of city and highway). More surprising is that the gas mileage is achieved without any manipulation or modulation of the gas pedal.

One more surprise finding about my cayenne is the servotronic option. Compared to the twitchy active steering on my X5, for 230 dollars, this thing is far more accurate, responsive, and progressive. Overall, since I am a pretty annal person - excuse me, Cayenne is extremely well built and put together. On the exterior, body panels are lined up evenly - good use of metals rather than lots of plastics on the X5's whole front end. Inside, the cabin is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop when you are driving (okay this is an exaggeration) and no rattles (Yes, NO RATTLES and no imaginary marbles rolling in your window sills!!) Everything inside spells refinement. One other thing to consider is that the redesigned X5 (F15) is due out next spring as a 2014 model. Current X5 will take a major hit in depreciation.

deilenberger

One other thing.. the Porsche paint is FAR superior to BMW paint. Porsche paint chips much less, and bird poop doesn't immediately etch into the clear coat. I spend a lot of time polishing out etch (as best I can - you can't get all of it out unless you go through the clear coat) on my BMWs.

FWIW - I spent a few hours yesterday cleaning my interior, including washing down the seating.. I'm amazed at how good the leather still looks for 70,000 miles. No wear through, no pulled seams, no frayed edges. ALL of those are a problem with BMW seats before 50,000 miles, especially their "nappa" leather (which costs extra.)

ApeKillApe

Porsche's paint is softer and thinner than BMW; I am not expert about Porsche's paint process but it seems to me employs a better paint process, which minimizes the orange peel compared to the other German manufactures that sometimes are forced to cut short on their paint process to crank out as many cars as possible (e.g., BMW sometimes even mix the clear coat with the paint itself to save production time). However, Lexus still has the best paint work in the mass market - a very thorough multi-stage paint process.