Cayenne driving notes (to save you the boring trip to the dealer...)
03-18-2003, 06:13 PM
#1
Wordsmith
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Thread Starter
Cayenne driving notes (to save you the boring trip to the dealer...)
The Cayenne S is a blast to drive (vigorously) and quite agile despite its 5000lb heft. Brakes are neck-snapping, acceleration is, well, not embarrassing.
The Cayenne Turbo is allegedly a rocket-sled, but not so. I didn't drive it, but I was the passenger to a ruthless dealer and he couldn't get much straight line out of it above the S.
My daily driver is a supercharged Tahoe, around 420hp and more weight, but more torque and about the same as the Cayenne in acceleration, maybe a bit more of a neck-snapper in the Tahoe, but the Tahoe doesn't wind out past a 100mph speed-limiter while the Cayenne was calmly accelerating past 120mph before discretion slowed down the procession.
The air suspension with PASM (I drove this on an S) makes a huge, huge difference to the handling of the car ... the steel springs work very well and keep the car tied down tight, but the air springs make this "not-a-Porsche" much more Porsche-like.
Those amongst you doing the same research will be quick to say "no way, the PASM option is not available yet!" and indeed it isn't here, maybe 'til June, but this one car (a Lapis Blue over Beige car at Anderson Behel) arrived as an '03 factory pre-configured with PASM. Rare, but real.
The build quality is poor but not so bad for a very new car -- for example, trim around the rear curve of the cargo side window simply doesn't match the curve of the body or the glass.
Every Cayenne I've seen (about ten now) had the same problems, so this is a systemic QA and manufacturing problem. Another example is a funny, thin flap of rubber under the centre console (under the a/c fan/temp buttons) that just doesn't sit flat. It's easy to smooth it out with a credit card or whatever, but it obviously goes unnoticed by the QA folks.
Overall, the paint, especially the Crystal Silver is very nice and the quality of the body and paint is excellent in all cases (although durability of the $3200 smooth leather was a worry in one Turbo I saw today.) Smooth leather seems to stain and the sticking between the smooth and perforated (sp?) parts doesn't seem to like the wear and tear of being the seat part of the driver seat.
Space for me (230lb, 6 foot) is fine for hip and head room. I'd like to see the Cayenne Sport seat, maybe it would fit.
The rear seat fold-down mechanism is a joke and will surely be redone soon -- the front seats must be well forward for the rear seats to fold down, the head rests are clumsy approach and the holes to hold the head rests are just holes cut in the foam seat padding and, in every car I tried, the holes were not aligned, so getting the head rests secured was a problem.
The folding procedure for the rear seats is, well, less than the best work Porsche could have put in. I would defy anyone to walk up to the car and lower the rear seats without a struggle, even with practice.
As a dad, I am put off by the absence of child safety seat latch points for the centre rear seat (the safest seat in the house) and Porsche has designed two new child seats but expects you to use the out-board seats in the rear (it apparently disarms or reprograms the window airbags) but nobody can confirm exactly how this all works just yet ... I wish Porsche would one day just make it possible for their less-than-best sales staff to know or be able to learn everything about the cars ... not all Porsche sales people are created equal ... some are less equal than others ...)
The cargo space is large enough and nicely functional.
No spare is maybe an odd compromise but Porsche offers some options.
Many of the options list items are not available and not even orderable (early days and same ol' same ol' for Porsche with any new model.)
At the end of the day, I don't expect I'll ever stand and admire this thing parked in the driveway, but I can see past its appearance and appreciate the engine, especially the transmission and nobody can ignore the suspension and off-road capabilities ... not even Ford with the Range Rover (which is also in the driveway ... and I do stand and admire it ...) Ironically, the Cayenne lacks some obvious stuff like a DVD as a baby-pacifier and if you hit the options list and try to spec one to the same level as a Range Rover (or, yes, an FX45 with "Technology" package) then it costs more than the Range Rover (over $74K) so, once again, I wonder if Porsche isn't getting it's prices out of step (meaning the 964 prices of the early 90's) and seeing local dealers discounting new '02 and '03 Carrera Cabriolets by $10,000 ... maybe the writing is on the wall for the Cayenne. It's hard not to notice every dealer has ample stock and ample unallocated Cayennes arriving weekly. This alone makes me pause on the trigger. Certainly anyone "first in line" getting an '03 should consider their resale value compared to the '04 cars (already sitting in the dealers' lots) ... those first few cars are asking a premium for the cachet of being first to "arrive" in the new Porsche.
Well, please take this post as being from an enthusiast for the brand, perhaps my enthusiasm waned as the 993 disappeared, but nonetheless, I'll wear my "colours" and get a Cayenne soon enough.
Cheers,
ps. Whatever you do, go drive the Cayenne, it's worth the time just to experience some of the miracles Porsche has achieved to make a 5000lb off-road capable SUV handle like a sports sedan.
The Cayenne Turbo is allegedly a rocket-sled, but not so. I didn't drive it, but I was the passenger to a ruthless dealer and he couldn't get much straight line out of it above the S.
My daily driver is a supercharged Tahoe, around 420hp and more weight, but more torque and about the same as the Cayenne in acceleration, maybe a bit more of a neck-snapper in the Tahoe, but the Tahoe doesn't wind out past a 100mph speed-limiter while the Cayenne was calmly accelerating past 120mph before discretion slowed down the procession.
The air suspension with PASM (I drove this on an S) makes a huge, huge difference to the handling of the car ... the steel springs work very well and keep the car tied down tight, but the air springs make this "not-a-Porsche" much more Porsche-like.
Those amongst you doing the same research will be quick to say "no way, the PASM option is not available yet!" and indeed it isn't here, maybe 'til June, but this one car (a Lapis Blue over Beige car at Anderson Behel) arrived as an '03 factory pre-configured with PASM. Rare, but real.
The build quality is poor but not so bad for a very new car -- for example, trim around the rear curve of the cargo side window simply doesn't match the curve of the body or the glass.
Every Cayenne I've seen (about ten now) had the same problems, so this is a systemic QA and manufacturing problem. Another example is a funny, thin flap of rubber under the centre console (under the a/c fan/temp buttons) that just doesn't sit flat. It's easy to smooth it out with a credit card or whatever, but it obviously goes unnoticed by the QA folks.
Overall, the paint, especially the Crystal Silver is very nice and the quality of the body and paint is excellent in all cases (although durability of the $3200 smooth leather was a worry in one Turbo I saw today.) Smooth leather seems to stain and the sticking between the smooth and perforated (sp?) parts doesn't seem to like the wear and tear of being the seat part of the driver seat.
Space for me (230lb, 6 foot) is fine for hip and head room. I'd like to see the Cayenne Sport seat, maybe it would fit.
The rear seat fold-down mechanism is a joke and will surely be redone soon -- the front seats must be well forward for the rear seats to fold down, the head rests are clumsy approach and the holes to hold the head rests are just holes cut in the foam seat padding and, in every car I tried, the holes were not aligned, so getting the head rests secured was a problem.
The folding procedure for the rear seats is, well, less than the best work Porsche could have put in. I would defy anyone to walk up to the car and lower the rear seats without a struggle, even with practice.
As a dad, I am put off by the absence of child safety seat latch points for the centre rear seat (the safest seat in the house) and Porsche has designed two new child seats but expects you to use the out-board seats in the rear (it apparently disarms or reprograms the window airbags) but nobody can confirm exactly how this all works just yet ... I wish Porsche would one day just make it possible for their less-than-best sales staff to know or be able to learn everything about the cars ... not all Porsche sales people are created equal ... some are less equal than others ...)
The cargo space is large enough and nicely functional.
No spare is maybe an odd compromise but Porsche offers some options.
Many of the options list items are not available and not even orderable (early days and same ol' same ol' for Porsche with any new model.)
At the end of the day, I don't expect I'll ever stand and admire this thing parked in the driveway, but I can see past its appearance and appreciate the engine, especially the transmission and nobody can ignore the suspension and off-road capabilities ... not even Ford with the Range Rover (which is also in the driveway ... and I do stand and admire it ...) Ironically, the Cayenne lacks some obvious stuff like a DVD as a baby-pacifier and if you hit the options list and try to spec one to the same level as a Range Rover (or, yes, an FX45 with "Technology" package) then it costs more than the Range Rover (over $74K) so, once again, I wonder if Porsche isn't getting it's prices out of step (meaning the 964 prices of the early 90's) and seeing local dealers discounting new '02 and '03 Carrera Cabriolets by $10,000 ... maybe the writing is on the wall for the Cayenne. It's hard not to notice every dealer has ample stock and ample unallocated Cayennes arriving weekly. This alone makes me pause on the trigger. Certainly anyone "first in line" getting an '03 should consider their resale value compared to the '04 cars (already sitting in the dealers' lots) ... those first few cars are asking a premium for the cachet of being first to "arrive" in the new Porsche.
Well, please take this post as being from an enthusiast for the brand, perhaps my enthusiasm waned as the 993 disappeared, but nonetheless, I'll wear my "colours" and get a Cayenne soon enough.
Cheers,
ps. Whatever you do, go drive the Cayenne, it's worth the time just to experience some of the miracles Porsche has achieved to make a 5000lb off-road capable SUV handle like a sports sedan.
