visitador, I've driven the CD a bunch. Dealer had them as loaners for awhile. They're nice, but not $15k nicer than a Touareg. Same chassis, same power train, same brakes, basically the same features. Interiors are a bit different, swaybars and shock/springs may be different, but they're far more alike than they are different.

 

 

I had a 2012 Touareg TDI that got bought back and got me into the 2016 CD.

Back in 2013, when shopping for a family vehicle that could tow my 7,000 lb boat/trailer, and get me 28 mpg on the highway, the Touareg was the one for me as I was not hot on how the Cayenne looked back then and I could not justify the premium for the Cayenne at the time, never mind that the 2013-2014 Cayenne's still didn't look good at all. The 2015+ are much better. If the buyback didn't happen, I would not get a Cayenne. Because I only had to pay $1,500 out of pocket for a 2016, I did it and can't be happier with the Cayenne as it is better than the Treg in every way.

 

Having a 2011 Touareg TDI form new, I can tell you it is a great SUV.
130,000 miles. Best vehicle.

However, our 'NEW' 2016 Cayenne diesel is much better.
Suspension, interior, design, etc. Much better.

I believe the Porsche is worth the extra over the Touareg.

You can't go wrong with either. Porsche is just sooo much nicer.

 

Thought I read somewhere (can't find the link now) that they only shared about 30% common parts. Platform, engine and doors, basically. I do know the suspension and engine tune are completely different and the brakes; the Cayenne uses Porsche brakes... the VW does not.

Is the Cayenne $15K nicer than a VW? That's a completely subjective evaluation.

 

The VW doesn't have porsche branded brakes but they look like the same calipers. Not sure about that tho. Same chassis, engine, transmission tho. With Porsche doing the options a la carte its hard to do a straight comparison between the two. The Touraeg "Lux" is basically loaded, compared to the Cayenne, which you have to piece meal together. Since you can't order these new anymore, I'm at the mercy of buying whatever the dealer has on the lot. That's harder with the Cayenne, as the trucks may not have the options I want, or have options I don't want. For instance, I really don't want the pano roof....

I can buy a brand new 16 Touareg TDI for about $10k less than a 15 Cayenne diesel with ~20k miles on it. It's enough money to make me pause and not just automatically buy the Cayenne. Cost differential between a 16 Touareg TDI with ~20k miles on it compared to the 15 Cayenne diesel with ~20k miles is $15k. That's a pretty substantial delta, buys a whole lot of Hoosiers for my M3!

I remember the issues you had with the VW dealers Mark. Denver has quite a few VW dealers and I live centrally located to most of them, I'm 15 minutes away from 3 for instance. So I've got a good chance of finding a dealer I like. I do like my local Porsche dealer, convenient and $8 loaner cars makes it easy.

I'm going to check out both the Treg and Cayenne diesel back to back again, then make up my mind...

 

If I never drove the CD, I would take the Treg all day, especially at the deal that is in front of you right now.

It is true that the Treg only comes in three trims, maybe 4, that is; Sport, Sport with Tech, Lux and Exec. Exec gets keyless entry and start, heated wheel and rear seats, Dynaudio.

Many with Treg's put the green dot Cayenne sway bars on and are happy with the improved handling but even without, the Treg handles a lot better than every other SUV out there, save for the Cayenne.

 

Drove them both today. Drove the VW first. I was pretty impressed with it, had keyless entry, heated/cooled seats, leather, etc, etc. Drove well, nice large touch screen NAV, well appointed. Was a 2016, with the CPO warranty it had about 3.5 years of bumper/bumper warranty left on it. Had the Pano roof, which I'm not all that keen on, but all the Lux package cars have it. No heated steering wheel. Had a brand new set of Blizzak snow tires, winter mats, cargo mat, roof rack/bike rail. White with black leather interior.

Drove the 15 Cayenne next, really dark blue color, almost black looking in some lights. Had the leather 14 way heated/cooled seats, premium package, Turbo wheels, tow package, roof rails and Pano roof. Really wish it didn't have the Pano roof. Didn't have the keyless entry that the VW had but did have the heated steering wheel. Definitely could tell a difference in the ride quality and handling. It didn't have the air suspension, unfortunately, which is something I'd really like to have. Cargo mat, winter mats, new all season tires, which I'll have to replace to replace with snow tires. I liked the feel of it better, nicer seats, gauge display etc. Warranty on it is about 3.5 years, bumper/bumper. They want $58,5 for it, so just a bit over a $10k difference.

So this is the break down for me, the VW is a very nice package, very well equipped, keyless entry, etc. Had all the options the Porsche had with the exception of the heated steering wheel, but did have keyless, which the Porsche didn't have. Also had snow tires vs all seasons. Really it was the feel of the Cayenne that won me over. I liked the way it handled and rode, I liked the interior better. I've had good experiences with the dealer, I have a service writer and tech there that I like. I also really liked the color of the Cayenne, you just don't see many in that dark, dark blue color, especially with a black interior.

So I worked out a deal, dealer is going to move my trailer brake controller from my Cayenne over to my new Cayenne diesel and I'm keeping the summer wheels/tires of my current Cayenne. Will remove the all seasons and put on a set of snows and call it a day. Will lose some performance compared to my current 955 Turbo S, but will get more than twice the fuel economy and have a much newer, lower mileage truck.

Picking it up tomorrow after work, excited!

 

Well done. CD FTW!

 

Thanks! Usually I'd go with what seems like the better bargain, ie the VW. But I really liked the way the Cayenne drove, transmission also seemed to not get flat footed the way the VW did a few times. I also feel that the Cayenne will hold its value better over time compared to the VW. I'm a sucker for dark blue cars too, the VW was white and kinda reminded me of a refrigerator...

 

Congrats! See, not almost the same 😉

 

Yeah, yeah!

The Cayenne rode and handled better for sure. Honestly I'd say the Treg was 85-90% of the Cayenne. This is really more about treating myself and getting the Porsche (dark blue!) vs my usual going for what seems like the better buy. There are some things I'm not enamored of on the Cayenne, I wish it had keyless and had the normal sunroff and not the Pano one. All the manufacturers seem to be moving to the Pano roof tho, the VW had it, the Jeep I looked at had it, etc....

 

Congratulations...you made a good choice. I owned a Touareg TDI Exec for over 5 years until VW bought it back. The engine is great and never really found it to lack power until over 80 mph. An average of 26 mpg over 69k miles wasn't bad either. My original goal was to replace the Touareg with a CD. I was planning to order one since the vast majority of CDs sold are comparable to the base. I wasn't going to have a Cayenne without PASM, air suspension and full leather. Imagine if we could get a CGTS with the European V8 diesel! I really like the GTS I have but do miss the gas mileage. A recent 1700 mile trip averaged around 20 mpg but much of that was in very cold temps.

 

I really wanted the air suspension, but I just couldn't find one with it. I had to deal with what the dealers had in stock and none of them had the air suspension. A few did have the full leather package, which was beautiful, but were on heavily optioned trucks and would've cost another $15-20000 to purchase, so I passed.

I ended up with one option I didn't want (pano roof) and missing one option I did (air suspension), otherwise the truck is what I want...

 

Don't think they offer it in the GTS trim - just the S - but that European V8 diesel? :drool: