I recently bought my first Porsche Cayenne, a 2009 V6 with 94K miles. After 4 months, I love pretty much everything about it. I did a fair amount of research, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into. With that said, the 6 speed transmission shifts a little differently than any car I have ever driven. The shift timing is VERY sensitive to hills. When driving up a moderate hill (on the street, not offroad), it will hang in 2nd or 3rd gear until almost 4,000 RPM before shifting, even under light acceleration It is very consistent, so I am hopeful that this is just a characteristic of this particular transmission. But I occasionally shift with my thumb just because I am bothered by how long it takes to make a shift. (I am NOT in Sport Mode - it might redline before shifting in that mode...)

The V6 does not generate a lot of horsepower for such a heavy vehicle, so maybe this is a way for the Porsche engineers to compensate for a lack of power? If so, I can relax and not worry that I'm getting ready to be replacing a failing transmission. All cars do this to some extent, but this is extreme by comparison. Anyone care to put me at ease or scare the hell out of me? Are these transmissions pretty reliable and would a failure at under 100K be unusual?

 

Porsche usually goes for the performance. Allowing the V6 to get some rev's on before shifting when under a load (as going up hill is) gives it a feeling of performance.

I'd say it's normal. It may change over time as you drive it - since the transmission ECU is adaptive and changes the shift points in response to how you drive the vehicle. It doesn't sound like a transmission "issue" to me - just sounds normal.

 

I would only worry if they shifts themselves are hanging and taking too long or happen way too firmly and jarring. Those are generally the signs of a valve body giving you some woes which is well documented on here. At 94k miles you may want to get the tranny flushed and filter changed if this has not been done yet to avoid having the valve body solenoids gumming up.

 

Turn the PSM off and drive it in manual mode for 5 or 10 miles. This will reset the trans learning and probably help shifting. Seems like when you pussyfoot around (like in heavy traffic) with these things they learn to be lazy, in a sense.

I also agree with having the trans fluid and filter changed, that definitely made mine feel better between big temp swings.

 

Ok, thanks for the advice! I will definitely be scheduling a transmission flush soon and I'll try turning the PSM off for a while.

 

I live at the top of a long steep winding road. My Cayenne holds 3000 rpm up much of the climb. With 500hp it doesn't need to. It doesn't seem like it takes nearly as much throttle application as other vehicles to stay in the lower gear, and it doesn't upshift right away if you lessen throttle pressure. I like this. My biggest complaint about my previous domestic pick up was horrible trans programming. It would shift 20+ times on the same hill where the Cayenne shifts 2 maybe 3 times. This also allows quick access to the whoosh too.

 

What your describing is exactly something I asked about six months ago. I had an uphill on my way out of my neighborhood that always seemed to exaggerate the situation but usually 3rd gear was odd.

Consensus was is that it was completely normal. I had 40k on my 09 CTTS.

I didn't know the trick to turn of PSM and drive in manual to reset the shift patterns though, going to try that myself now.