When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have spent the last few months trying to decide what to buy. Mostly I debated between a Panamera Sport Turismo and an M-B E63S wagon. The Panamera is terrific to drive, but was just a bit on the small side when it comes to interior space (the 2+1 back seat is very tight if you try to put 3 people back there, even kids; the cargo hold is nice but not huge). The E63 is amazingly fun and it has huge storage, but...well, it’s not a Porsche. It seemed to only have one mode: hard core. If it were just for me, that would be great. But we live in Manhattan, so we have only one car for my wife and I to drive. I reluctantly concluded that the E63S is just a bit too hardcore to be our do-it-all car.
I’d briefly driven the new Cayenne, an S. But I didn’t do it justice because I drove it immediately after a Panamera. So I decided yesterday that I really owed it to myself to give the Cayenne S a fair chance. But when I got to the dealer, they had just put a Biscay Blue Turbo on the floor. After I looked at how it was built, I realized it was a good build for me. They offered to let me test drive it; it had less than 10 miles, and I was the first person to drive it.
And today I took delivery of it.
It was a revelation. The Cayenne S is great. But with the instant-on torque of the Turbo motor, this is something else entirely. Do I need this kind of power? Absolutely not. Do I want it? All day long! It makes the Cayenne feel very special. And I’m absolutely amazed at how the Cayenne can have multiple personalities. In Normal mode it can be docile and comfortable. And in Sport +, it’s a completely different beast. I have never understood how Porsche does it, but it makes this a supremely versatile vehicle.
Here are 2 quick shots...I’m going to try to get it out tomorrow morning early and take some photos. Just delivered....17 miles. Time to drive! I think the GT3 RS in the foreground would be a nice complement to it.
Congrats, beautiful! A turbo is a turbo and is simply the best! If I could part with some of my 911’s, I would have gotten a turbo, but the S is excellent too. All good.
I'm impressed you managed to land a Turbo that was just sitting around on the sales floor. Our dealer, the premier seller here in Dallas-Fort Worth, has a long wait for an allocation. You are one lucky guy!
We went through the exact same thought process you did when we finally decided to order our Turbo last year. The Panamera was too small. The E63S wagon was actually my first choice, but this was my wife's car. She strongly disliked the styling -- thought it belonged in a funeral home's fleet. That left the Cayenne Turbo, which she fell in love with. We've had ours a little over three months now. You are absolutely right about the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality of the car. Her Individual settings are Normal engine / transmission; Low air suspension; Sport chassis; PSE enabled; and raised wing (she thinks it looks "cute" with the little winglet poking up). It's docile but slightly sporty ride then, a car in which you can cover a ton of miles and arrive thoroughly relaxed. Dr. Jekyll would approve.
Flip the Sport Chrono to Sport / Sport Plus, or press the Go-Baby-Go button, and here comes Hyde. What a scary beast of a car it becomes. Those twin turbos spool up instantly, and you're suddenly being launched off an aircraft carrier. The brakes are astonishing, and the car handles like one half its size sitting six inches lower. Porsche can make some serious magic happen.
Thanks, OC. And if I had any of your 911’s, I’d be super happy with an S level Cayenne. I miss my old 911 a lot, but the Cayenne is fun in a different way. Cheers!
Aab, I have been alternately wowed and underwhelmed by this color when I see it in photos. In real life, I really like it.
In photos, it sometimes comes across looking a bit “flat,” almost like the grayish steel blue that BMW used in the early 2000’s. But in person, the blue is deeper and more intense. After I picked it up, I parked on the street an took my wife to see it. Her first comment was that it looked like her mom’s Le Cornue range in her kitchen, which is a deep French blue. And she has a point - it’s an interesting color that can go from a rich blue in direct sun, to more of a carbon grey with some green tones in dim light. But so far it’s not been flat at all, and I really like it.
(And of course, color balance in these photos can be all over the place. I’ll try to take some today with good white balance correction to see if I can capture it.)
Plus, the agate grey interior goes nicely with it. Again, that’s a color combo that I initial thought, “meh” about, until I saw it in person. But I love the combo now.
I’m heading out this morning to take some photos. I have a limited time window, so I’m not sure how scenic a spot I’ll find, but I’ll try to post some later.
JCWLS3, your wife and mine would probably get along great! I showed my wife an E63 on the street, and he first reply was, “That?!? It looks like a funeral hearse!” So right then and there I knew that it would have to be a silver or red E63 if I went that route! But I really wanted to rejoin the Porsche “club,” since I sold my 911 (here on Rennlist) a few years back. And so far, I’m happy with my choice. My wife loves the look of it, and really appreciates that I got an SUV so she can go back to sitting up high; she tolerated our BMW 540ix but never loved it.
And I truly did luck into this car. When my sales person came down to get me, he told me that they had just hours ago parked a Turbo right next to his desk on the 3rd floor. We spent some time looking at available Panamera ST’s, but I kept looking over at the Cayenne. He said they typically didn’t allow test drives on Turbo’s when they were brand new and in high demand, but he’d go ask the dealership owner. He came back a minute later and said let’s go. After a drive, I gave him a deposit and asked if he could lock the doors and let me think about it overnight. There were a lot of people coming in on a Friday afternoon and this turbo was a fair amount of attention.
He said he’d lock it, and he’d have it taken off the floor for detailing first thing Saturday morning, “just in case” I decided I wanted it. Do you think he knew I’d be buying it before I did?! LOL
To be fair, I’ve been talking to him for a few months, so he knew what I wanted in my next car. He probably knew this was a great fit for me before I did. And maybe they were just making me feel good, but several of the sales consultants said they’d pick the Cayenne Turbo over the Lamborghini Urus. It’s certainly rarer at this point - they delivered a few Uruses (Uri??) while I was there.
Anyway, thanks for the comment, and I’m glad your wife loves it. My wife will probably drive it next weekend for the first time, and I’m sure she’ll love it, too.
Thank you, PTS. I posted some photos in the sticky thread at the top of the forum. I’m still not convinced I captured the depth of the color, but as you said, it’s great in person. (And it’s somewhat amazing how dull it looks in the official Porsche press photography! I think they seem to under-saturate many of their photos. I also think that Purpurite is more amazing in person than on the Porsche website, for example.)
Thank you, PTS. I posted some photos in the sticky thread at the top of the forum. I’m still not convinced I captured the depth of the color, but as you said, it’s great in person. (And it’s somewhat amazing how dull it looks in the official Porsche press photography! I think they seem to under-saturate many of their photos. I also think that Purpurite is more amazing in person than on the Porsche website, for example.)
We noticed the same thing. Biscay Blue wasn't even an option for us -- my wife disliked it from the start. However...
We ended up in a 2019 base-model Biscay Blue loaner several weeks ago. Our teenage daughter is learning how to drive, so we took her to the high school parking lot and let her wheel it around. (So sue me. We never topped 15 mph, with my left forefinger on the e-brake the whole time.) It was a nice, sunny day. My wife got out at one point to take some video. When she got back in the car, she said, "That color is really pretty, you know? It looks so much better in person."
I agree 100 percent. Photos do not do Biscay Blue justice. You've got a really nice color there.
I have seen two that color, Turbos, on the floor here in DFW, both sold within ten days. That is a compelling color, in my opinion, and your description of concluding on the CTT is very common. Take some more pics when you can--they will not fall on unappreciative eyes. Congrats.
Photos do not do Biscay Blue justice. You've got a really nice color there.
On Monday I picked up a Biscay Blue Turbo from the dealer in Delaware. It was the only Turbo anywhere near New Jersey that had the options that worked for me, I frankly would have taken any color. I saw the photos of the Biscay on the dealer website and thought it was fine and would do. When I got to the dealer I was surprised how much I liked the color, I've been getting compliments on the color for the last two days. The interior is Trffl Bwn/Cohiba Club Lth, I think it mates perfectly with the Biscay Blue.
Here are photos, they still have the car on their website, but I have it in my garage.
03-30-2019, 07:57 PM
New turbo!
