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My wife and I finally had a chance to lay our hands on an E3 in motion. We visited our dealer for the first time in several weeks to check on our Turbo order (completed a few days ago, and waiting to head to Emden for the boat ride over!) and hang out / get to know our new SA. Our original guy up and quit, you see. Hopefully that was not our fault.
They had several base E3s laying around that we were able to poke around and drive. We took out a Biscay Blue car equipped with 20" wheels, steel springs, and PSCBs -- the only car they had on the lot with those brakes. It was raining moderately to heavily, which was actually pretty cool, as it allowed us to drive the car in less-than-ideal conditions. Impressions from a first-time Porsche buyer, but serious car enthusiast, are as follows.
Build quality was excellent. Panel gaps were uniform. The interior (base semi-leather black) looked good and felt right in an $80K car, with soft-touch plastics everywhere, and good fits between interior bits.
The touchscreen and PCM overall was responsive and quick, with little to no lag between menus. I'm an IT guy, so slow haptic responses jump out at me. Porsche did a good job of including enough computing horsepower. Cadillac CUE it is not.
Our test drive was around a crappy, poorly maintained section of Dallas. The roads varied from bad to terrible. The car handled it beautifully. There were zero squeaks or rattles, and the suspension, while firm, did a good job of soaking up the pavement irregularities and potholes. (I was in the back seat for about 2/3 of the drive.)
Handling was as good or better than the E2 Cayenne S we test-drove last year. Body roll was well controlled, with responsive steering and quick turn-in, even in the rain.
The engine was far more powerful than the Cayenne Platinum we drove last year as well. Frankly I thought that car was a dog. The base engine has a TON of torque down low. It's not a screamer, and the top end gets a little weak, but overall the car was more than adequate around town for a sporting SUV. It felt like a Porsche should feel, IMHO.
Our test car also had Sport Chrono. Weather conditions precluded me pushing the handling question between modes, but the throttle definitely got more responsive as we dialed up to Sport, then Sport+. The 30-second (or was it 20?) button feature was nice -- you could definitely feel a jump in power and throttle response.
The brakes were phenomenal. Take this with a grain of salt, as I am new to the Porsche brand and do not have experience with other models except for a few quick test-drives (Panamera Turbo, 911 Turbo). But the pedal felt like a damned rock under my foot -- completely solid, with great linearity and spectacular stopping power. I have read a few reports of PSCBs feeling a little oddball, being somewhat grabby at low speeds, but I felt none of that. Just solid, linear, immensely powerful brakes that were all the more impressive considering the car's weight. We switched to PCCBs at the 11th hour due to the PCSB shortage. Unless you track your Cayenne (really?), just want bragging rights, are a fan of the color yellow, or are concerned about the unknown maintenance costs, I don't see any reason to go with PCCBs. PSCBs were that good.
The interior was quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me, concerning engine noise. I'm probably in the minority here. I like sporty cars / SUVs to sound the business. The base Cayenne may as well have been an LS500. Porsche needs to up the noise (the good kind -- engine noise) a little. Having to cough up $3200 for the Sport Exhaust option to get your car to move away from the Prius end of the spectrum is borderline ridiculous. It seems like a punk move by Porsche.
Overall, my wife and I came away completely impressed with the base Cayenne. I kept running the numbers in my head, figuring I could've saved $50K or more by spec'ing a base Cayenne similarly to our Turbo, sans engine and fancy aero wing. But I have no regrets on that front. We can only imagine how mind-blowing the Turbo will be considering how good the base Cayenne is.
Final thing: The dealer had a car with the upgraded Club Leather seats in Cohiba Brown / Truffle Brown. Smelled like heaven. I hadn't been able to find a photo of that anywhere. We picked it for our Turbo sight unseen, like everything else. Photos our attached. (The trim is Red Gum. We went with carbon fiber. The wood was a perfect complement.)
Cheers to all of you with "base" Cayennes. You guys and gals got a helluva car for the money. Well done.
I also picked this interior without having ever seen it. Is it as light as it looks in these pics? I like it but thought it was going to a lot darker.
Saw three base Cayennes today (2 Biscay blue and 1 carrera white). Overall they look similar to the outgoing Cayenne with the biggest difference in the back. Salesguy described it as a big Macan, and he is mostly correct. Very much looking forward to my CT. Salesguy also confirmed that the Turbos will probably sit in the port for a while until they get all of their certifications. He thinks late November/early December is likely to be the time frame.
Yep, it's that light. The configurator renderings are darker. And wronger.
I've seen photos / videos of the Truffle Brown interior in the Cayenne, and noticed it was lighter than presented in the configurator. Photos of E2 Cayennes with Cohiba brown were also a lot lighter. Seeing the interior in person confirmed it.
I'd describe the Cohiba color as similar to a baseball mitt. The Truffle is basic medium brown, but it does look rich.
I also wish they were both about two shades darker. But the lighter tones stand out and work well together. The Cohiba stitching looked sharp against the Truffle.
Other than the Bordeaux Red and (maybe) the Graphite Blue / Chalk, I think this is the only non-custom interior choice that stands out. The rest are pretty pedestrian.
Porsche configurator rendering of Truffle / Cohiba interior with Red Gum trim, and last-gen Cayenne Turbo with Cohiba interior are below.
Thanks for confirming. Baseball mitt is a good image. Too bad that they didn't offer the black/cohiba like above. I'm glad to hear that there is contrasting stitching though. I ordered the standard silver/aluminum trim to give the interior a little brightening up. Looked good against my agate brown in my 911 so fingers crossed on this one.
My X5M has something called Aragon Brown that looks similar but my wife and daughter call it orange. Looks like this will be similar. We'll have to see about glare on the windshield from the Truffle. Good thing I didn't get the heads up display since you can get rid of the glare with polarized sunglasses but then can't see the heads up display.
My X5M has something called Aragon Brown that looks similar but my wife and daughter call it orange. Looks like this will be similar.
I looked up some pics of your BMW’s interior. Looks pretty close. I am happy to say I like it.
Originally Posted by WCH BOS
We'll have to see about glare on the windshield from the Truffle. Good thing I didn't get the heads up display since you can get rid of the glare with polarized sunglasses but then can't see the heads up display.
We skipped the HUD too, even though our SS included one standard and I love it. I just got pissed at Porsche for charging $1700 for a feature that’s standard on a Chevy and decided not to give them our money on that one. Stubbornness on my part.
It is true that HUDs wash out with polarized sunglasses, and maybe light dashboards. But a good HUD keeps your eyes on the road, and offers great info (speed, shift points, redline, audio, climate, etc.) Pride got in the way of this one for me, for no rational reason. Ninety percent of the stuff that was standard on my cheap Chevy is optional on the Cayenne — adaptive suspension / magnetorheological shocks, launch control / “Sport Chrono,” contrast stitching, sport seats, sport exhaust with active baffles, and the list goes on. I finally drew a line in the sand and said: “Porsche! Enough!”
That being said, I think the HUD would be fine with the Truffle dash, based on my experience.
The HUD should be fine with the dashboard. However, light colored dashboards sometimes have glare on the windshield in the sun that you can get rid of my wearing polarized sunglasses.
My X5M has a HUD. I like having the speed and Nav up there but decided that I didn't enough to add $1700 to my loaded up Turbo. Spent the money on the Sports exhaust and PCCB.
The engine was far more powerful than the Cayenne Platinum we drove last year as well. Frankly I thought that car was a dog. The base engine has a TON of torque down low. It's not a screamer, and the top end gets a little weak, but overall the car was more than adequate around town for a sporting SUV. It felt like a Porsche should feel, IMHO.
The interior was quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me, concerning engine noise. I'm probably in the minority here. I like sporty cars / SUVs to sound the business. The base Cayenne may as well have been an LS500. Porsche needs to up the noise (the good kind -- engine noise) a little. Having to cough up $3200 for the Sport Exhaust option to get your car to move away from the Prius end of the spectrum is borderline ridiculous. It seems like a punk move by Porsche.
Overall, my wife and I came away completely impressed with the base Cayenne. I kept running the numbers in my head, figuring I could've saved $50K or more by spec'ing a base Cayenne similarly to our Turbo, sans engine and fancy aero wing. But I have no regrets on that front. We can only imagine how mind-blowing the Turbo will be considering how good the base Cayenne is.
Cheers to all of you with "base" Cayennes. You guys and gals got a helluva car for the money. Well done.
We're looking at a base Cayenne for the family hauler. 100% agree the base motor is terrific for that type of role. While it's now a corporate powertrain (very similar to the Audi S5 we drove earlier in the year) we were impressed. Lots of torque where you want it for real-world driving situations.
Also agree the interior is quiet, which is a positive to my wife and only a minor negative to me. Sport exhaust on a Cayenne (especially a base) makes no sense to me but a bit more personality would be nice. And speaking of the interior we thought the standard interior looked reasonably upscale and would probably be harder wearing in daily use.
My biggest question is whether to pop for PASM with air suspension. It makes the wallet weep...
We're looking at a base Cayenne for the family hauler. 100% agree the base motor is terrific for that type of role. While it's now a corporate powertrain (very similar to the Audi S5 we drove earlier in the year) we were impressed. Lots of torque where you want it for real-world driving situations.
Also agree the interior is quiet, which is a positive to my wife and only a minor negative to me. Sport exhaust on a Cayenne (especially a base) makes no sense to me but a bit more personality would be nice. And speaking of the interior we thought the standard interior looked reasonably upscale and would probably be harder wearing in daily use.
My biggest question is whether to pop for PASM with air suspension. It makes the wallet weep...
Unless you need to lower or raise the car, PASM with steel suspension is sufficient, even the base suspension is very good. It is very comfortable but at the same time, very well controlled body roll due to lower central gravity.
I had one X5 and two X6s, with standard, sport, DHP (like PDCC + Tor+) suspensions, Porsche has done a fantastic job on chassis and suspension tuning that smashes BMW.
Unless you need to lower or raise the car, PASM with steel suspension is sufficient, even the base suspension is very good. It is very comfortable but at the same time, very well controlled body roll due to lower central gravity.
I had one X5 and two X6s, with standard, sport, DHP (like PDCC + Tor+) suspensions, Porsche has done a fantastic job on chassis and suspension tuning that smashes BMW.
We expect to be doing some towing. The leveling feature is one thing of particular interest with the air suspension.
My biggest question is whether to pop for PASM with air suspension. It makes the wallet weep...
Don't know how it affects the handling in a .3 model, but in my '17 .2 having ride height makes a noticeable difference for handling. Nice to be able to bump it up for snow/grass/grave/dirt conditions, but great to drop it low to get better higher-speed handling. Make lane changes are significantly snappier on the Low ride height setting.
My hands-down favorite option in the '17 is the cargo management system for the rear cargo area. The tracks and adjustable bar are fantastic for keeping things from rolling around back there. Well worth the $420 configuration add-on option. I don't use the net or the hooks, just the rails and the bar.
My wife and I finally had a chance to lay our hands on an E3 in motion. We visited our dealer for the first time in several weeks to check on our Turbo order (completed a few days ago, and waiting to head to Emden for the boat ride over!) and hang out / get to know our new SA. Our original guy up and quit, you see. Hopefully that was not our fault.
They had several base E3s laying around that we were able to poke around and drive. We took out a Biscay Blue car equipped with 20" wheels, steel springs, and PSCBs -- the only car they had on the lot with those brakes. It was raining moderately to heavily, which was actually pretty cool, as it allowed us to drive the car in less-than-ideal conditions. Impressions from a first-time Porsche buyer, but serious car enthusiast, are as follows.
Build quality was excellent. Panel gaps were uniform. The interior (base semi-leather black) looked good and felt right in an $80K car, with soft-touch plastics everywhere, and good fits between interior bits.
The touchscreen and PCM overall was responsive and quick, with little to no lag between menus. I'm an IT guy, so slow haptic responses jump out at me. Porsche did a good job of including enough computing horsepower. Cadillac CUE it is not.
Our test drive was around a crappy, poorly maintained section of Dallas. The roads varied from bad to terrible. The car handled it beautifully. There were zero squeaks or rattles, and the suspension, while firm, did a good job of soaking up the pavement irregularities and potholes. (I was in the back seat for about 2/3 of the drive.)
Handling was as good or better than the E2 Cayenne S we test-drove last year. Body roll was well controlled, with responsive steering and quick turn-in, even in the rain.
The engine was far more powerful than the Cayenne Platinum we drove last year as well. Frankly I thought that car was a dog. The base engine has a TON of torque down low. It's not a screamer, and the top end gets a little weak, but overall the car was more than adequate around town for a sporting SUV. It felt like a Porsche should feel, IMHO.
Our test car also had Sport Chrono. Weather conditions precluded me pushing the handling question between modes, but the throttle definitely got more responsive as we dialed up to Sport, then Sport+. The 30-second (or was it 20?) button feature was nice -- you could definitely feel a jump in power and throttle response.
The brakes were phenomenal. Take this with a grain of salt, as I am new to the Porsche brand and do not have experience with other models except for a few quick test-drives (Panamera Turbo, 911 Turbo). But the pedal felt like a damned rock under my foot -- completely solid, with great linearity and spectacular stopping power. I have read a few reports of PSCBs feeling a little oddball, being somewhat grabby at low speeds, but I felt none of that. Just solid, linear, immensely powerful brakes that were all the more impressive considering the car's weight. We switched to PCCBs at the 11th hour due to the PCSB shortage. Unless you track your Cayenne (really?), just want bragging rights, are a fan of the color yellow, or are concerned about the unknown maintenance costs, I don't see any reason to go with PCCBs. PSCBs were that good.
The interior was quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me, concerning engine noise. I'm probably in the minority here. I like sporty cars / SUVs to sound the business. The base Cayenne may as well have been an LS500. Porsche needs to up the noise (the good kind -- engine noise) a little. Having to cough up $3200 for the Sport Exhaust option to get your car to move away from the Prius end of the spectrum is borderline ridiculous. It seems like a punk move by Porsche.
Overall, my wife and I came away completely impressed with the base Cayenne. I kept running the numbers in my head, figuring I could've saved $50K or more by spec'ing a base Cayenne similarly to our Turbo, sans engine and fancy aero wing. But I have no regrets on that front. We can only imagine how mind-blowing the Turbo will be considering how good the base Cayenne is.
Final thing: The dealer had a car with the upgraded Club Leather seats in Cohiba Brown / Truffle Brown. Smelled like heaven. I hadn't been able to find a photo of that anywhere. We picked it for our Turbo sight unseen, like everything else. Photos our attached. (The trim is Red Gum. We went with carbon fiber. The wood was a perfect complement.)
Cheers to all of you with "base" Cayennes. You guys and gals got a helluva car for the money. Well done.
10-13-2018, 02:50 AM
Newbie drives an E3
