KPAD

Hi All,

I am looking for a little advice on an upcoming purchase of an early (2011-2013) 958 Cayenne.
I am having trouble deciding on whether i should buy the V6 Petrol or V6 Diesel.

The car is for my wife who only travels around 100-150km (62-93miles) per week, with most trips being quite short. I have heard that the regular maintenance costs are a little higher with the diesel engine and that they do not perform as well with short drives.
With this said, it is hard to ignore the greatly improved fuel economy of the diesel. Furthermore, the reviews of the time that I have read, seem to recommend the diesel engine as being a better package than the pertrol engine.

I guess my main question is whether I should be concerned about additional maintenance costs due to the type of driving my wife does?

dollarlongnecks

With the diesel, short trips where the engine doesn't get a chance to warm-up probably won't be as fuel efficient as when the engine is warm. Not to mention that the driving characteristics are quite different from cold to warm.

But having said that, I drive to work in the mornings, it's about 8 miles of mostly highway and I don't have any issues. By the time I get to work, the car it just about up to normal operating temperature, even on the coldest days. The only thing I might be concerned about would be the emissions system, and specifically catalytic converter(s) not getting up to temp during the short trips, causing it to be inefficient. Good thing for the Cayenne Diesel is that the emissions warranty is crazy long because of the dieselgate scandal at VW, so any issues with that system would be under warranty for years to come.

In terms of maintenance costs, I don't know if that sort of driving style would make a difference. Maybe you switch to time vs distance to decide on when service needs to be done, but I can't think of any negatives off the top of my head.

mafpolo

Fuel in the USA is cheap, and it sounds like you live elsewhere, since you refer to "petrol." If fuel is expensive, diesel will be more efficient, and it does allow you long trips without stopping much to refuel.
I bought my diesel for a variety of reasons. I wanted the torque it provides, the longevity, and I had wanted a diesel before "dieselgate" shut stopped the sale of diesel Audis and Porsches over here. I did not want a base Cayenne. if I was going to spend the money buying and maintaining a Cayenne, I wanted better performance, so it was either an S or a diesel. It will be interesting to see the responses you get, as some people have strong opinions on this subject.

coffeeisgood

i picked up the diesel because that is what I wanted
that said, you should check with your wife to make sure she gets what she wants

a couple of comments...
diesel engines have a different "sound" then petrol engines, make sure she is ok with that
that said, you wife might like this.... i believe all 958 diesel Cayenne's came with the "extended" fuel tank (100 liters / 26.2 gallons) as standard which combined with the better mpg, it makes for a lot less trips to the fueling station.

Carmen214

I just went through that process and bought a '13 diesel with 33,000 miles. I liked the milage of the diesel better and since I knew I would not have a warranty I was concerned about the transfer case issue on the gas Cayenne. There are numerous cases of failures and I personally know someone who bought a '16 base Cayenne CPO and the transfer case went out at 30,000 miles. He was under warranty so no cost to him but I didn't want to have those worries. From everything I read the diesel uses a different transfer case and is not problematic. The diesel has the 10 year emissions warranty so that provides some piece of mind. I would have found a newer CPO diesel but didn't think a $15k premium was worth it to me but that's a personal call. That said, diesels have very complex emissions systems which I hope do not cause me a problem. I love the car as it is.

KPAD

Thanks for all the feedback.
I am in Australia and the diesels are much more common in V6 form (and therefore more plentiful on the used car market). The petrols are not all that common until you get into the Cayenne S, GTS and Turbo models.
In Australia, diesel is cheaper and less susceptible to price volatility than petrol. Fuel costs are about 65% that of petrol.

We will take a diesel for a drive to see what we think. We have driven a V6 petrol and loved it.

mafpolo

Let us know what you end up doing

chsu74

I believe the older model years '11-'12 do not have adblue? There may still be DPF and EGR but one less emission component to breakdown. CDs have proven to be reliable vehicles so I would not hesitate buying an older car if maintained correctly.

BenCD

I love many things about the diesel.

1. 20 city 28-29 mpg hwy. Impossible to beat the mpg on the highway, other than the offerings from Ford/Chevy/Ram 3.0L V6 full sized pickup trucks.

2. Towing 7,000 lbs or less, is a treat. I get from 13 to 17 mpg towing either the boat or the enclosed snowmobile trailer using what full sized trucks/SUV's get empty.

3. The diesel is quiet as it only turns some 2,000 rpm on the highway. Of course, it helps that the entire truck has been designed with luxury, and sport-in mind.

KPAD

Deposit placed on a 2013 Cayenne Diesel. Will be picking it up in a couple of days.
Has Porsche factory warranty remaining.
Very excited. Thanks for everyones input/advice.

dollarlongnecks

I take it the test drive was good? What were your thoughts on the difference between how the two drove?

KPAD

To be honest, both the diesel and petrol drove nicely.
The main factors that lead to me deciding on the diesel were:

1. Fuel economy. There is ~40% annual fuel cost saving in Australia.
2. Smoothness.
3. Availability on the second-hand market. Here in Australia, the diesels are much more common for the 'entry-level' 92A (Series 1) Cayennes. This meant it was easier to find a good one.

The only (minor) negatives with the diesel, in my opinion, was that the exhaust/engine did not sound as 'sporty' and the engine felt a little lazier (takes a fraction of a second longer to get moving after pressing the accelerator/gas pedal).

mafpolo

Are the service intervals on the CD in Australia every 5,000 miles or every 10,000?

Mrturbo16

The name of the game is torque

virkdoc

Resurrecting an old thread but am confused between a Cayenne S and Cayenne Diesel V6. Both similar years, similar specs and similar mileage.
Ahhhh the attraction of owning a V8 once in my lifetime versus common sense.......