Il_Valentino

Hello all,

My fiance currently drives a 2013 Land Rover Range Rover HSE and we are currently looking for a new car. We both believe that the Range Rover is the best luxury offroading SUV, with unmatched potential in terms of luxury and capability (maybe the G-Class is the best competitor). She wants to try something new, and being a Range Rover lady that means something that isn't a Range Rover substitute. A friend of the family recently offered to sell his pristine condition 2015 Cayenne S in Carmine Red with a full Saddle Brown leather interior and a boatload of options (mostly leather options to be honest, but options nonetheless) and 18500ish miles for $50k USD. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures at this time, he literally offered to sell the car last night.

So here are the options for which I have questions:
Soft Ruffled Seat Centers i.c.w Leather Interior - How are these ruffled seats in terms of wear, do they still look good with 50k miles? They look fantastic and from what I've experienced in a 2013 Cayenne S, very comfortable.

Here is a group of options I don't understand completely:
Extended Interior Package, Dashboard Trim in Leather
Front Seat Console in Leather
Steering Column Casing in Leather
Grab Handles in Leather
Door Lever Surrounds in Leather
What exactly do these cover since the car already has the full leather interior and what do they look like (especially the last 3 - steering column-door lever)? Please post pictures of your Cayennes as examples.

Dark Walnut Interior Package incl. Gear Selector - Is the leather on the gear selector in the interior color Saddle Brown when the option is checked, or is it black?


Thanks for all the help and I am very interested in this car, so I might become a lot more active on this site if we end up buying it. I wish I was on this site when I had my 997...

Lexlthr

I can't answer about the Soft Ruffled seats but, I can about the leather interior. The only thing leather in a Cayenne are the seats, steering wheel and shift ****.

The Extended Interior Package, Dashboard Trim in Leather adds stitched leather to the dash were it was otherwise plastic. It also adds leather to the whole front lower dash including glove box, console lid and the sides of the center console.

I believe Front Seat Console in Leather is leather where the seat controls are.

Steering Column Casing in Leather Is leather where leatherette would be on the column casing.

Grab Handles in Leather Is leather grab handles where plastic would be.

Door Lever Surrounds in Leather Is leather trim on the doors that would usually be plastic.

You can always build a Cayenne on the Porsche website. It will show you the differences. Better yet, why not go to a Porsche dealer and look at a basically optioned Cayenne S then look at a Turbo or Turbo S? You will clearly see the differences in a Cayenne with a plastic and leatherette interior trim versus one with a real full leather interior as Turbos come with full leather interiors standard.

Il_Valentino

I am going to my dealership this morning. I just wanted to ask first so I knew exactly what to look for since a lot of options on the Porsche Configurator have really bad descriptions. I had no idea that the grab handles and door levers were plastic until just now.

Thanks

Lexlthr

Fill free to comeback and ask anymore questions once you get back from the dealership.

Good luck!

wkearney99

The HSE drives like a lumbering cow compared to a Cayenne. I was looking to replace my Grand Cherokee and spent a fair bit of time in a demo HSE (and every other up-market SUV sold today). Ignoring the wretchedly bad diesel turbo lag, the handling was nothing at all like the Porsche. It drove like a school bus in comparison, the Mercedes was even worse. As for 'off-roading', well, you have to honestly ask just how much genuine off-roading is anyone doing in vehicles this expensive. More like mall-crawling than rock-crawling. Which is fine, really, but with similar tires you're not likely taking an HSE anywhere you can't also take a Cayenne. If you're talking more like the occasional steeplechase-parking-on-the-grass, just about anything can handle that.

The HSE has a bit of an edge on having a bit more cargo area, but that's what comes with being designed like a rolling box.

I'll direct you to the 12/16 PCA club magazine, where one member's Cayenne participated in the winter Alcan expedition. Also discussed here on Rennlist.

The best thing would be to have the fiance focus on what she really likes about the HSE; what she really likes having. Then tally up a list of what she doesn't like. Armed with that, get some demo time in a Cayenne and focus on those critical items. Wouldn't make much sense to switch to something only to have it come up short.

wkearney99

Personally, I really tried to like the HSE diesel. But the step-on-the-gas...tick,tock.. lag... accelerate was unacceptable. I did like the overall interior feel. I didn't fully appreciate how much better the Porsche handled because I hadn't yet spent much demo time in a Cayenne.

The HSE had a much more pleasant ride than my Jeep, but then that was 10 years old and not even close to being in the same league, comfort-wise. But it was only just 'more pleasant', it didn't have any better actual 'handling' performance. I had the Jeep a few more months after I bought the Cayenne. When I took it out for a run to pickup some tools I was shocked how wretchedly loose it felt compared to the Porsche. It was almost frightening how badly it handled. This at the same speeds I'd gotten used to tearing around. The Cayenne is just *planted* on the road, at *any* speed. Made me glad to have gotten the Porsche. Do I really 'need' this better handling? Well, as long as I drive like something out of GTA, probably.

What really swayed me was having the demo HSE home. It got me a few e-mails from neighbors asking if I'd bought a new car. Having a demo Cayenne Turbo had two of them knocking on the door asking for test rides.

The kid in me liked my quirky little Land Rover matchbox car, but it was a Porsche poster I had on the wall. The neighbor kids, meanwhile, still shout they like the Porsche when I drive by. Bright blue, loud and fast seems to invite that.

Likely none of this would matter to the fiance.

1FlossedM3

This made me LOL hard.

Il_Valentino

We have the 3.0 Supercharged V6 HSE which is very smooth. We have used it on camping trips before, where we climbed up a few mountains on roads that had recently been flooded and the car was very impressive. Neither of us do this often, so that's really not an issue. Since both of us are from the Lake Tahoe area in Nevada (where they have gotten about 15 feet of snow in the last month and according to the weather it has been raining non stop for two days) and visit it a couple times a month to see family or go skiing, the capability of the Range Rover has gotten us out of more than a couple really sketchy situations.

Back to the Porsche however, one thing that we both love about the Range Rover is the vast amount of space for stuff + the two dogs without obstructing the visibility, so that is one thing we will have to get used to and the Cayenne in question does have a roof rack that I would mount a Thule on.

That's all I can really say for now, as today is the first time either of us have spent any time with a Cayenne other than just getting a ride. Haven't driven one yet (Tomorrow afternoon I will and I will follow up with my thoughts in the evening). I still prefer the Range Rover's interior design and seats a lot more, and I think my fiance is in the same boat. It will be hard trying to get used to using buttons since I daily drive a 2015 Mercedes S550 which, like the Range Rover, has at least 3 times less buttons (my 2008 997 C2S had no where near as many buttons on the console) than the Cayenne. Even my 1998 Mercedes SL600 and 2015 F-Type Coupe R have less buttons. Other than those two things, I really like the Cayenne so far and knowing that it is a Porsche I will like it even more when I drive it tomorrow. The fiance doesn't act to impressed, which is fine, because she is paying for the majority of the car anyways and I wouldn't mind another Range Rover.

wkearney99

I don't find the buttons to be an issue. They're purpose made. You don't have to turn on all seat warmers or vents, each seat has their own control. Adds buttons, sure, but you get fine-tuned controls. That and other features would have to be buried under touchscreen menus. Or stuck with one mode of air flow instead of individual options.

My advice would be come at it with your typical 'worst case' scenarios, ones that the HSE handles for you. If it doesn't meet those, and the 'driving experience' isn't more important then stick with the RR.

Tahoe's really had some weather this year! The wife/son just spent a week out there and loved it.

wkearney99

Well, I first wrote pig, but that's a different issue...

wkearney99

As for the leather options, get the VIN and pull a build sheet. That'll tell you what's there.

There's a ton of ways you can configure a Porsche. You can spend you way into the stratosphere with interior changes. A lot of stuff comes in a package and that covers quite a lot. The added leather bits the top vents, the center cover, steering column and the like are pretty pointless. The materials they use standard are pretty good. This isn't cheap Japanese plastic or Detroit vinyl here.

Porsche is 'infamous' for the level to which you can spend to customize just about all appearance-related surfaces. Which won't make a damned bit of difference when it comes to resale value. The added $8-15k that get spent to put leather/wood in a few places will translate to pretty much zero added value down the line.

Il_Valentino

I already know the options on the car, the seller is a family friend and sent me the spec sheet when he offered to sell the car. It is equipped with those leather options which don't really have a good description on the configurator.

Tahoe has had quite the winter this year indeed. Reminds me of my childhood and it obviously is quite the pain in the rear for people who were expecting a winter like the past few years (my parents and the private snow removal companies hahah).