I read so much criticism from most of you concerning this SUV. Frankly, giving the finances, i would love to get one of those. I recently bought a 02'Lexus RX300 and was surprised how comfortable and how nice it keeps me feeling rich. Now, i would love it more if it had an extra 100 horses, handled better, had bigger wheels.............and the Cayenne seems to be the answer!!

I also love the Benz G500, especially after i slap on some 20s and Brabus stuff. I not only wouldnt be surprised if this car will be the best selling porsche, in fact i am SURE that it WILL BE!!
All of you negative people must have 911s as their first and only car. I loved all types of cars, trucks, SUVs.....so maybe that makes me unbiased.
I dont know if any of you owned a benz, lexus, and a porsche. If u do, u will know that the Cayenne seems like the best of ALL worlds!
I just wish i can afford one.....while still keeping my others.

 

John,

First of all, my 993 is not my first & only car and I like many types of cars.

In fact, I also have a 911, a minivan, Fiat 600 convertible (oh yea baby! ) and I recently sold my -75 Chevy blazer with monster wheels (loved it!). I've had Chevy Astro, few big VW enclosed trucks (for hauling motocross bikes) and few beetles & VW 'surf vagons ).

I'm 'mad' because:
If/when I want a minivan, I'll go to Chrysler or Honda (or who ever sells them dealer),
If want a 'monster truck', I'll go to a chevy or Ford dealer,
If I want a pick-up, I'll go again to a chevy or Ford dealer,
If I want a sedan, I'll go to a BMW, Audi dealer, If I want a sportscar, I'll go to a Porsche of Ferrari dealer
If I want a real 4x4, I'll go to a Hummer dealer,
but get this, when I want an SUV, I'll go to a BMW, MB or Lexus dealer, if things were 'right', NOT to a Sportscar dealer! <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

You know, they are only (and I mean ONLY!) building this because they think it'll make them money (which I'm pretty sure it will), not because it's something great (in automotive world) or innovative, like Porsche cars have been.

If Minivans were selling better (than SUVs) they'd be building minivans right now.

Remember the phrase: "...every Porsche is a sportscar..." ?

As soon as C is out, you can throw that phrase out of the window.

Sorry that this is so long, I just didn't have enough time to make it shorter.

 

FF --

Arguably, everything Porsche has ever done -- every race it's run, every new car it's made -- has been to make money. It just so happens that most of what Porsche has done has been great, and a good deal of what it's done has been innovative, too. And greatness and innovation have helped Porsche make money. All the mythic marque spin is warm and fuzzy, but business is and always has been business (and Germans are always Germans).

I'm not so worried about throwing a phrase out the proverbial window; or even changing what the phrase represents. It's semantics and spin. Would it be any better (any less horrible) if they called it a sportstruck? Prior to the introduction of the X5, could you have conceived of yourself ever writing "when I want an SUV, I'll go to a BMW ... dealer"?

The C. will be bait for the STATUS owners out there (thanks, Danno); and nobody gives a ****e about cash for cache pinheads anyway. Why not wish Porsche well (even if it's simply implied by silence) so that the profits from this ... sportstruck can be pumped back into sportscar & racing development. At this point, what's the alternative? Continue to rant and hope the C. is a colossal failure so that Porsche suffers?

JP

 

JP,

I said C is built only to make money, of course I understand every Porsche has to make money, that's not the point.

You're also right about X5, but I don't care if BMW builts a truck, it never was 'pure sportscar company' anyway.

I wish Cayenne is success!
Hopefully they do what you said (but the profit into a racing, at this point, any racing starts to sound appealing, but of course, every Porsche purist wants them to race at Le Mans etc), however, way things have been lately, I'm not so sure anymore... (i.e. VW will race with VW 'Cayenne' at desert races, but Porsche propably not...

Look at what they did with all that profit from 996 & Boxster, built a huge factory to build Cayenne (instead of doing at least some kind of racing), it's not like they haven't been making money before C.

 

What's WRONG with (some of) Us Guys? A little retrospective...

Disappointment came first - Porsche dumps it's racing heritage to build SUVs.

Followed by confusion - why now? why an SUV? Where's the long term vision? Anyone look into a better-cheaper-faster approach?

Next came fright - could they possibly make it any uglier?

Then came anger <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" /> - read, and then re-read Factoid Freddie's speech to U Penn

Then came acceptance <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> - what's done is done

Followed closely by humor <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" /> - but who will laugh last?

So there you have it - Porsche puts SUVs ahead of racing, building a late to the party SUV (that is really ugly and very expensive), brought to you by a guy who never drove a Porsche before joining the company, and who see's us old time 911 owners as being out-of-touch (and lacking any business savvy), which caused long <img src="graemlins/soapbox.gif" border="0" alt="[soapbox]" /> posts and mostly good natured ribbing, thus culminating in beating this thing to death <img src="graemlins/sleep.gif" border="0" alt="[sleep]" />

Welcome and thanks for playing our game...

 

mpm '95 C4, couldn't have said it better myself. good answer!

 

mpm's post really summs up all that has happend lately.

After reading those, is there still someone who thinks there is nothing wrong (with Porsche & this whole SUV, no racing etc.)? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

 

Ok, Finn and others, we all agree car makers are in business to make money, and look at all the cars that Finn has mentioned below......Dont u think the Can is the best of all worlds and the Combo of all??!! I DO!!

I have the following list of cars:
88'Range Rover
88'930
00'Audi A4
00'Maxima
02'Lexus RX
also a 01'C320 that a family members own.
If i am not so attached to my cars or enjoy driving a different one every other day, i would get rid of the range rover, Lexus, A4, and the maxima to get a twin turboed Cayenne. Maybe thats is what i'll do.....

[quote]Originally posted by Flying Finn:
<strong>If/when I want a minivan, I'll go to Chrysler or Honda (or who ever sells them dealer),
If want a 'monster truck', I'll go to a chevy or Ford dealer,
If I want a pick-up, I'll go again to a chevy or Ford dealer,
If I want a sedan, I'll go to a BMW, Audi dealer, If I want a sportscar, I'll go to a Porsche of Ferrari dealer
If I want a real 4x4, I'll go to a Hummer dealer,
but get this, when I want an SUV, I'll go to a BMW, MB or Lexus dealer, if things were 'right', NOT to a Sportscar dealer! <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />
</strong><hr></blockquote>

 

[quote]Originally posted by Johns930:
<strong>Ok, Finn and others, we all agree car makers are in business to make money, and look at all the cars that Finn has mentioned below......Dont u think the Can is the best of all worlds and the Combo of all??!! I DO!!</strong><hr></blockquote>


Maybe it is, but it shouldn't.

It should be a sportscar and Porsche should be racing!

 

Guys,

For me, regardless of Porsche putting out another models Cayenne or/and Carrera GT, Porsche SHOULD NOT put off racing for its development of these models. I think we could careless of how much they charge for a car/suv etc., we bought Porsche because of their racing heritages and the cars' durabilities and all these come at a price that WE all accepted and paid. There are always alternetives, other brands to consider IF you find the price of a P car is too high.
For Porsche to give up racing and put on newer models is unthinkable and stupid. No racing means no testing means no durability means inferior quality cars means losing its edge in the long run, and that's the reason I keep an aircooled car and its old technology...
So, how confident do you think I have for the new Cayenne as a Porsche???

 

K C,

Exactly!

Also, everyone always talks about racing that if it's good for advertising etc. Porsche should/could be do it, don't you guys remember that many (most) inventions & safety aspects have come from racing (safety belts, four disc brakes etc.).

Now that Porsche has dropped racing (& if it doesn't start it soon), do you think Cayenne will give to Porsche new and innovative ideas?
All those moms racing to the mall & back is really good car development/improvement plan, right?

Porsche is not a great car (company) because it has made money, it's great because of it's racing heritage. All of those hundreds of thousands of miles at the track have made the difference.

Have you forgot that?

 

[quote]Originally posted by KC993:
[QB]
For Porsche to give up racing and put on newer models is unthinkable and stupid. No racing means no testing means no durability means inferior quality cars means losing its edge in the long run, and that's the reason I keep an aircooled car and its old technology...
<hr></blockquote>

Sorry, have to disagree here. The link between motorsport development and road car development has become less and less recently, to the point where it is almost negligible at the moment. About the only area where there is transfer is on engine technology - safe bet that Porsche will return to racing at some stage with a V8 .....

Nearly all other areas are motorsport specific - chassis, suspension, hydraulics, tyres etc, bought off the shelf from specialist third party manufacturers.

Ferrari, Audi, Toyota, BMW are getting minimal R&D feedback for their money in their motorsport programmes if you analyse it on a "bangs per buck" basis. Motorsport is currently a marketing exercise only to car manufacturers.

If you want to see Porsche back racing, instead of complaining bitterly about it to Porsche, instead start battering the ACO, FIA et all to make a series that is SO relevant to high performance car manufacturers that they HAVE to race.

It doesn't exist at the moment - Le Mans should not have "Sports Prototypes" that are glorified F1 carbon fibre chassis with wheel-enclosing bodywork, instead it should have as it's lead class lightly modified supercars such as the forthcoming Carrera GT - thus giving us something to aspire to driving and owning and having some connection with "real" motorcars, not souped up gokarts......

A series that allowed very similar to road version Ferraris, Lamborghini's, Mercedes, BMW's and Porsches might actually encourage other Manufacturers (US, Japanese) to go down the route of the Carrera GT...... Now that would be a step forward.

Personally I don't see any benefit for Porsche to pour money down the drain of the utterly irrelevant Sports Prototypes - they are just so far away from any normal vehicle to be completly soulless....

Apologies for rant!

 

I should add to the above that the other reason technology transfer is not happening at the moment from motorsport is the level of restriction in rule making for the relevant series - give us a relevant series designed around road going vehicles that are only elegible when numbers are on the roads and that might change......

 

Christian,

Unfortunately, you are right about FIA, they only have interest about F1 and that is a problem.

But still I have to disagree about racing, even with prototypes, Porsche should do that and there are other classes too, GT class is close to road cars and would for sure give feedback to Porsche.

Look at Honda (huge company, I know), they also use racing for training their designers, engineers & mechanics with thier racing teams. Sounds pretty good training (for young car designers, engineers etc.) to me.

And even though racing might give less to manufacturers these days, no car manufacturer should (or can't afford, in long run) just dumb their decades of Racing heritage & start building trucks instead.

 

Christian,

You know 996tt is a direct beneficiery of the GT1 of 98'LeMans prototype. Some of the technologies don't transfer down to the road car as quickly because the little use of it until later days. The 996 GT2 brake is one of the technology that came down from racing and modified for street use.

I am sure there are more of these in the cars that Porsche produces over the years, just some of them are not as obvius as some others.