Background
First Porsche ever. Always wanted to have the experience of ordering a bespoke Porsche. Enjoyed researching the options in the vehicles. Rennlist helped IMMENSELY with research, so much so I paid for the 2 year membership.

It’s predominantly my wife’s SUV but has turned into the default vehicle we drive. Work-from-home has us both driving very little, mainly for errands or evenings out. She has had leased X5s since 2001 and decided it was time for a change.

Order experience
I did a lot of research, mainly for my own entertainment, but justified the time by being an “informed consumer” of the myriad of Porsche options. Some of the online options weren’t very well described on the Porsche site, e.g.: leather wrapped vs. painted air vents, rear comfort seats 2+1, what is painted for internal color options vs left “chromed”. Insulated noise glass and radar detector placement were just a few of the time sinks.

Decoding the package options wasn’t efficient (premium vs premium plus). I created an Excel sheet to details the option we cared about because the flipping back and forth into the description was challenging.

What we ordered
2022 Cayenne Coupe GTS

• Jet black metallic
• PDCC
• Rear axle steering
• Premium Package plus
• Assistance Package
• Sport chrono
• Sport design package in high gloss black
• 21” Satin wheels
• Leather steering column in leather
• Exterior mirror lower trim and base in exterior color
• Interior trim in leather
• Smartphone with wireless charging
• Soft close doors
• Remote park assist
• Under door puddle lights – a waste
• Door-sill guards in black brushed aluminum & illuminated
• Thermally & noise insulated glass
• Interior grab handles in leather
• Air vents slats and air vent surrounds painted – see comments below
• Brake calipers in black
• Cargo management system
• Power rear window sunblinds
• Under door puddle light projectors
• Logo & model in satin black

Delivery experience
Our SA was very knowledgeable about the delivery of our new SUV. The car was ready when we arrived at the dealership. The SA knew I read much of the manual already but he still walked us though what was important to immediately know (AC settings, air distribution, how to program favorites) vs. what could be learned in time (parking assist). It’s clear he has delivered a lot of cars in his day and I found the experience informative and entertaining.

The dealership finance people were a pleasure to work with, though we didn’t use Porsche financing so we can’t speak to their financing. Normally the finance people are more “combative” in pushing their tint, service plans, etc. We did prepurchase additional years of scheduled maintenance and the tire warrantee, however I did not feel pressured into doing so. The dealership finance people made the transaction a smooth and easy process.

We missed out on the the SUV-under-a-tarp delivery experience. I saw a car under a tarp and asked why we didn't get an unveiling too? Answer - too many cars being delivered and their being moved around the showroom. Oh well.

Overall, everyone at Porsche who directly helped us with the delivery did a great job and made the delivery experience very positive.

First two weeks of driving, experience so far, and did we order correctly?
Thermally & noise insulated glass was worth every penny. It is a night and day difference driving the Cayenne on hot, sunny days versus our other cars. I drove a 2021 Cayenne without that option and there is a significant different in both the heat that comes through the glass and noise level in the vehicle.

The significant time we spent figuring out what is trim is black vs. optional high gloss black vs. painted exterior color was worth it. We had a couple of trips to the dealer, wandering around the scarce new car lot and extensive vehicles in the service lot looking at the different options.

Door-sill guards in black brushed aluminum & illuminated we worthwhile because it hides shoe scuffs after only a week.

Interior grab handles in leather. A very pricy option but I’m glad we did it. With such a warm interior having plastic grab handles would have been the wrong place to save money.

The ventilated seats work incredibly well. We’ve had them before in several other vehicles and weren’t impressed with how quickly the cooled the seat. We live in a very hot state and on the Cayenne the seat cooling time is refreshingly quick after startup.

Lane Keep Assist isn’t anywhere near a Tesla in terms of following the lane markets. I know the Cayenne is not promoted as level-anything autonomous. The car slowly “seeks” between lane lines on well-marked highways, feeling the vehicle is ping-ponging to keep in lane. It's subtle, but noticeable. A Tesla does not seek within the lane.

The adaptive cruise control is spectacular; it accelerates at a rate that doesn’t feel sluggish and decelerates at a rate that isn't urgent or late. I have it set for 2 bars away from the vehicle in front and the Cayenne does a nice job maintaining that relative distance from highway speeds to in town driving.

The 18-way adaptive sport seats are incredibly comfortable and hold us in place well. We’re both thin and feel very supported. Finding an 18-way seat in the dealership to sit in was challenging. We had to sit in an older 911 to compare, making that decision a leap of faith. Would definitely reorder in the future.

Cargo management system – A lot to spend to have some floor-movable “lashing points”, a telescoping metal divider and a 4” tall nylon curtain. Would not order again.

Remote Park Assist is very helpful for spaces I’d like to hug the wall to pull into, but not have to crawl out of the passenger seat. The pucker factor is high when the car is driving itself so close to the wall though. I’m still not used to it. The app is a little kludgy with how it responds to holding your finger on the button - it’s very touchy. Given the hate I see about the Android app I’m surprised this feature works at all.

Sending directions from the My Porsche Android app is easy, since it uses Google Maps in the backend, but it takes 10s of seconds for the car to receive the destination when sent.

Programming the HomeLink remote was surprisingly quick. The range is significantly further than the X5s.

Rear seat cooling with the 4-zone climate system is incredibly quick to cool the cabin down. Our dogs appreciate the improved rear cooling immensely.

Puddle lights remains a silly feature, but I still laugh when I see their ground illumination. I won’t be ordering another Porsche with them though.

Smart phone with wireless charging isn’t worth it. Because it’s inductive charging it is s-l-o-w. It’s not Porsche’s fault, it’s just how inductive charging works. We don’t drive long distances often to give the phone time to charge, so I wouldn’t order this option again. It’s also very pricy for limited value.

The Cayenne Coupe doesn’t have a sunroof that opens. That was surprise to us when we took delivery. We rarely opened the sunroof in previous SUVs so it’s not a dealbreaker, but I’m surprised I missed that fact in the research I did. As the supply chain catches up, and Cayenne Coupes are in stock in the showroom, I believe I would have caught it.

Why can’t I cycle between favorited radio/satellite presets from the steering wheel? I’ve reread those sections in the manual several times and played with the settings in the car too. The left thumb wheel toggles between the trip meter, nav current position/next instruction to turn, cruise control follow distance, then back to the trip meter. The right thumb wheel has more options to toggle through (love seeing my g-meter for doing figure 8s in Costco parking lot, very helpful and fun – once, but hardly useful) but none indicate adjusting the audio preset selection. Am I missing something here?

Spotify works, but there is occasional buffering in selected songs. Is that my AT&T data plan? I might sign the Cayenne up for the Verizon data plan and see if that resolves the buffereing issue. Overall Spotify is "OK", but nowhere near as responsive in the UI as on your phone.

I have always disliked Android Auto when forced to use it in rental cars without navigation. Aside from testing if it works, I will not be using it in the Cayenne.

Compared to the X5 HUD, the font in the Cayenne’s HUD is not very large. It is customizable for what is shown though which is a bonus. Did I mention the font is very small? Much too small IMO.

The air vents slats and air vent surrounds painted came with the center air vents painted jet black, however both A-pillar vents are chrome. Our SA has a question out to Porsche on why that is.

Closing thoughts
Print to PDF your build sheets! When, not if, Porsche changes the configurator it’ll break your build.

We are an Android family and the app works surprisingly well even with both of our phones paired in the car at the same time. Text to speech for SMS is very good. I shouldn’t be surprised by this but some of the hate coming across in messages had me writing off using it. I was pleasantly surprised.

Get the SUV PPFd ASAP. I had an appointment 9 days after delivery and I already have a rock ding in the door. I’m very annoyed with myself.

Starting up the Cayenne in sport mode, hearing the exhaust note, in the garage I am sure will bring smiles for years to come.

Thank you to the Rennlist members for SO MUCH information just a search and scroll away. You saved me hours of research, proactively answered questions I didn't know I even had. So a big THANK YOU to the community.

 

Nice writeup and congratulations on your new GTS. Lane Keep Assist is a lane departure system and will bounce back and forth between the stripes as you noted. It's still good for people who aren't paying attention and need help getting back in their lane. Active Lane Keeping, on the other hand, will keep you dead center in the lane but is only active if you are using ACC or PID. And if the system doesn't detect input from you every 10-12 sec, it will beep you to take control. Finally, the lack of a way to cycle between favorites has been discussed many times and no one's happy that we don't have it. Congrats again and GL with your new GTS.

 

Not trying to sound cynical but you wrote an essay about all the various options (mostly interior) and I dont see anything about handling characteristics. GTS is all about corners and handling

 

Not being able to easily change presets on the newer PCM is ridiculous.

But congrats! Best way to do your first Porsche is a custom order for sure!

 

Loads of options, so lots to enjoy, have fun

 

Thank you for the clarification. I won't edit the original post so to keep the context of your correction above correct.

I should have said when using ACC. I am using ACC and still find the Cayenne subtle seeking in the lane at highway speeds.

 

Do I really need to say it's the best SUV I/we have driven ever? Come on, it's a Porsche. That's the baseline where the discussion starts from.

It is an amazing experience. Just tight enough on the highway to enjoy the drive, subtle enough to enjoy spending hours in it soaking up freeway miles. When in sport mode it's a different machine, much tighter in responsiveness, and that exhaust note, wow. As Porsche themselves say:

"Athleticism" = It's an amazing machine.

 

Cayennes get a bad rap. The sports car guys turn their nose up. The public at large cannot comprehend Porsche and SUV together. But the truth is, they drive fantastic for what they are. Even our sacrilegeous diesel. When we bought ours, we drove it back to back with its mechanical twin Touareg. Their was a HUGE difference. So much that my wife noticed it right away. There’s a reason we still have it 9 years later and even when replacing it for daily duty, it’s not leaving the stable.

 

We're planning on keeping it for many years. It's just so enjoyable to drive I purposely take detours on twisty roads to get to my destination. A massive upgrade from the X5 in both responsiveness and fun to drive.

 

Hi,

can you tell me which option I can do without?
Most of the time I will drive alone (only holidays)

THX ! ;-)


- PDCC
- 8-way Seats (lightweight package only 8 or 18 way possible)
- Rear Stearing
- Park assistent with Aourround view
- comfort Acess
- Air Quality System
- Seat Heating
- Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus

 

Several of the options listed are drive dynamics related (PDCC, Rear wheel steering, PTV+) which makes me think you want a sportier handling SUV. Personally, I'd drop the lightweight package (how much of a difference can it make on a vehicle of this weight), then you can get 14 ways or 18 way seats. Honestly, I wouldn't drop any of the options. PDCC is pretty effective at keeping this heavy SUV flat when rounding tight corners. Good luck!

 

Look forward to seeing the photos!

 

PDCC is a must as is rear steering, but unless your auto crossing or frequently running tight canyons and really get after it I’d reconsider the torque vectoring as it will wear your rear brake components much faster and again unless you are a tight cornering demon and need the best response for those situations you’ll never miss it as explained to me by a Porsche track driving instructor. Your thoughts may differ !