Would you offroad in a Cayenne Turbo?
 

Off and on over the years I have owned some hot cars, including a 911 (which I dropped a new engine with carbs into) and a BMW 5 series. I also like to do light offroading, and currently drive a Jeep GC with some light offroad mods. I was not aware, until recently, that at least some Cayenne's are offroad capable. Because I spend a moderate amount of time at altitude in Denver, I am leaning to the turbo for the extra power. I drove a Cayenne S in Denver, and, for my tastes, it was just a tad slow (probably would have been fine with it at sea level). I don't plan to do the Rubicon trail, but any reason with skid plates I could not go offroading with the Turbo, i.e. anything different about it compared to non-Turbos? Great forum, btw, lots of thoughtful participants.

I'm considering entering an off-road event later this summer with my turbo.. put the suspension up in the off-road-terrain mode and you probably don't even need the skid plates. If you search YouTube you'll find videos of people doing all sorts of stuff with their Cayennes. And nothing really different with the turbos for off-road except they have a lot more power than the other ones - especially at altitude. The turbo plumbing is mostly up on the sides of the engine below the cylinder heads and pretty well protected by the main engine subframe. I believe the turbo is rated for 24" depth water by Porsche.. I'd try to avoid this - but in case it happens.. intakes are up high in the engine compartment. The double-door gaskets aren't only for sound, they keep the cabin dry when water gets up higher than the door sill.

Many thanks, deilenberger. Very helpful. You have owned 50 cars? I am impressed. I can hardly break 10, and I am in my mid-60's. Then again, a friend of mine (who does high-end mods to engines, think dragsters, and once owned an auto repair shop) owns around 10 currently. How expensive to you find maintaining the Cayenne turbo?

It's not "cheap" - but it isn't bank-breaking either. The biggest expense I had - pre-emptively replacing the variocam adjusters was about $3,000 - but I did just get reimbursed by Porsche for that expense under the recall for the adjusters (AH08). While they were doing that - I had them put in a new waterpump - $300 for the part, labor was gratis since the engine was out of the car and the pump was staring them in the face. A few little other issues, one with the HVAC cost me $100 deductible against an extended warranty I purchased when I got the Cayenne. I'm about to have the thermostat housing replaced since the early V8's the pipes going into it are glued in place, and I know one of mine has moved.. the new design housing, the pipes are bolted in place with flanges on them. The estimate for that job surprised me with how low it was - so that is getting scheduled ASAP.

Tires and brakes can be pricey if you really drive the Cayenne hard.. I don't and I seem to get decent mileage out of both. The brakes are DIY items if you're a bit ambitious. If not - I'd suggest using a good independent for that job (I do since I passed 7 decades a number of years ago - I let my mechanic friend put some food on his table.) The brakes will be much higher at the dealer, they'll insist on new rotors - and the turbo rotors are $$$$. You can typically do at least a second set of pads on the rotors when the first set wears out. They're still within spec - and I don't have them cut - I just brake cautiously for a few hundred miles until the new pads wear to conform to the rotor surface. I paid $30 (Free shipping) at Amazon for my pads - but that was a funny and uncommon deal. Factory pads are $$$. There are choices on the aftermarket. Just ask here and you'll get lots of suggestions.

I'd say it actually hasn't been hugely more expensive to maintain than my wife's 2011 Lexus RX350. A bit more perhaps - since I did the brakes on the Lexus.. Dunno what will happen when it crosses the 100k mile mark - but so far - it's been reasonable. Aside from brakes and plugs (more frequent changes needed) - it's basically the same as an S to maintain.

BTW - here is an old version of the car/motorcycle list - since then there are 4 more to add to it.. http://www.eilenberger.net/CarList/Carlist.htm

Great information. Thanks.

My Turbo goes off-road all the time. The turbo model makes for as good of an off-roader as the other models, if not better: it has the greatest ride height of the 958's; it also most frequently comes with PTV+, the locking rear differential, as well as PDCC which in off-road mode permits better suspension articulation by "disconnecting" the sway bars. Additionally, the PDCC and PASM permits handling rough roads in greater comfort. You are limited to 20" wheels and tires, but there are some AT tires nowadays - I run Continental Terraincontact AT's which have held up against some pretty rocky, sharp stuff. The turbo cayennes are great off road - we really enjoy ours on and especially off the road.

As an aside, there are factory "stone guards" that you can order from the dealer and install but they are really just that: stone guards to reduce the abrasion of flying stones, not really impacts against the underside. There are also sill protection covers with or without running boards, but they are extremely expensive. A capable off-road shop should be able to easily fabricate actual impact plates if you find the need, as there are lots of attachment points on the chassis to utilize.

One of the selling points of the Cayenne - in my case, Diesel - was it's offroad chops.

http://www.trucktrend.com/truck-revi...uv-comparison/

Most of the cool scenic trails in Colorado can be done in the Cayenne. Just some of them are loose shale like rock from mining and those can get smacked against your wheels and sidewalls. So a proper AT tire with some side lugs is required to prevent punctures. (FWIW, I wrote for a 4x4 mag for about a decade and have explored Colorado and eta for about 40 years).

The 955 is a wonderful Performace SUV. Had mine for about 8 years and was 100% satisfied with it. Tuned and other performance mods, 265/65/18" AT tires, factory rock rails, dual batteries, etc. Towed 7500lbs with it often from coast to coast and used it for the most brutal of Colorado winter conditions. The ONLY reason I sold it was because a good friend really wanted it.......and after my divorce I wanted one that had no association with my Ex. :roflmao:

I haven't had the 958 turbo for long. It's definitely an evolution of the 955/957. So its expected that its "better".

My 958 has PDCC and PTV+ So in some ways it should be better off road than my 955. Since it will have a sway bar disconnect and rear locker. The only "off-road" tires for the 958TT are for 20" wheels and only about 31"ish tall tires. Not the 18s and 32s like the 955.

The short list of things I think was "better" on "my" 955.
-Real transfer case......no real justification for that.,...just feels right.
-On board air pump for tires.
-dual battery (rare option) for jump start self recovery.
-Ability to run 18s
-Roof rails....
-separate rear window hatch opening on the rear hatch. (great for dogs when parked)
-Far superior cup holders!!

Otherwise the 958 is a better all around Sports car/SUV.

FWIW............GET PDCC!!!!!:thumbup:

.......and Sport seats are almost required for PDCC:roflmao:

Fortunately adding the stone guards and sill guards is easy to any 958 (just buy the parts and bolt on), whereas you can't reasonably add PDCC and PTV+ if your Cayenne doesn't have it originally.