redyps

A car I am looking at has this option. After reading the option description (below) I wasn't sure if it included the windshield. Also, I am somewhat nervous about the cell phone reception and toll road device placement. Is it so significant I should bail on the car? Anyhow ever have to replace one of these? Cost?

Thanks in advance.

Thermally & Noise Insulated Glass

$1,130

Thermally and noise insulated laminated glass for more efficient reflection of infrared light and exterior sound. Privacy glass for rear windows is standard.

Note: Thermally & noise insulated glass may reduce mobile phone reception. Please refer to owners manual for details regarding proper toll road device placement.

TestnDoc

It’s a must have if you like an insulated sounding cabin. No effect on cell phone. Not sure about toll taxation.

redyps

Interestingly, this car has the Bose and not the Burmester. With less background noise, maybe the Bose will sound better than without the noise insulated glass.

MaxLTV

In my experience, it works for both heat and noise. Cell phone signal is fine. Radar detector works too. Tolls - we don't have them here, so can't tell.

There is one really annoying catch, though - it chips and cracks WAY easier. I am waiting for my thermal windshield's 4th replacement in 4 years. For comparison, my previous Cayenne with regular glass went 8 years on the original windshield (two small chips required repair) with a similar driving environment. Tiny rocks that are sometimes mixed into the sand that snowplows spread out are sufficient to crack it, while they barely chip normal glass. I asked the dealer to send a note to Porsche headquarters about this.

It's a shame because I really like how it makes the interior more comfortable. It really makes a difference on long drives.

Woofman

I wonder if your your experience has been coincidental. I went over 30 years without a single rock strike that cracked a windshield and then had seven over a 15 year period. None of those windshields had any special properties. There's just a lot more debris on the roads.

Our 2022 Cayenne is the first vehicle we've had with double pane acoustic side window glass. The reduced noise from wind and large passing trucks is apparent. The best aspect is the wonderful heat rejection. My wife usually wants to get at least the front side windows tinted immediately after buying a new vehicle but this is the first vehicle we've bought in decades that doesn't need aftermarket tint.

I haven't noticed any problem with phone reception while driving in the Kansas City metro area in the almost seven months we've had the Cayenne. Ours doesn't have the phone charger in the center console which I think is supposed to include a single booster. We do have our phones configured to connect to the Cayenne's built-in WiFi hotspot which we have found to provide Internet access in remote rural areas where our phones do not have direct voice or data access. Maybe my phone reception is helped by having it in a wireless charger fairly high on the dashboard..

I have no experience with toll road billing devices but I will soon since a local highway is being expanded and converted to a toll road. The top center of the acoustic and noise reducing windshield has an obvious area that is supposed to be compatible with toll payment and radar detector devices. If all else fails, most toll road authorities supply optional externally mountable billing devices - e.g. for mounting in a front grill. Those are $20 each where we live. The windshield mountable tags are no cost here.

The Bose audio system could be called average at best which is a shame since the Cayenne's interior with the acoustic glass is so quiet. I have to wonder what the base Cayenne audio system is like and whether it could be even worse than the Bose. Crap, the 10-speaker JVC audio system in the Toyota minivan that the Cayenne replaced was far superior to the Cayenne's Bose in sound quality. .

Carrera-T

This is one option I would NEVER get again. Had it in my 2022 Taycan. Cell phone reception was horrible (ask my kids) and the toll transponder would only work in the small upper section of the windshield. Never again….

Selpo

Interesting! Got the thermal and acoustic glass option on my ‘23 Cayenne GTS and did add the windshield tint as well. Have attached my toll tag but have not used it yet. Mobile reception seems to be fine, in my area. Will update once I have more data points.

toma nova

I replaced mine after only 3 month - rock chip that spread in about a week to more than a foot long. If it chips again, I’ll get an immediate repair. Replacement was about $2500, no glass coverage in TX through USAA.

Toll tag works fine, there is a shaded area that allow full reception. Cell coverage can occasionally be spotty, seems to happen more to my wife than to me.

We love the sound reduction, can still hear the exhaust when getting on it (ha, Base!) but really reduces the road noise.

Woofman

DUH, I think I know what's been going on with the phone reception problem.

If you look at the U.K. and and European Porsche configuration websites, you'll notice that there are no warnings about "Thermally & noise insulated glass may reduce mobile phone reception" like on the Porsche configuration website for the U.S.

Why is this? It's probably because the CDMA protocol that has been widely used in the U.S. has never been used in Europe.

CDMA signals are much more easily blocked than GSM signals. For example, when I was working in a bunker-like defense department structure for two years about ten years ago, people with CDMA phones had no service but GSM phones worked fine. My wife ran into similar problems when her employer got a "deal" from Sprint and provided all its employees with CDMA phones. That experiment lasted about one month since the CDMA phones were found to have limited service in many office buildings which was a particularly serious problem since the phones were used as WiFi hotspots.

So ... the reception problem should be going away if it hasn't already since CDMA has mostly been disabled in the U.S. Verizon shut down its CDMA network on December 31, 2022. Sprint has been acquired by T-Mobile which has never used CDMA.

justabout

We can’t see it but I wonder if density of electro magnetic radiation is such the environment makes it difficult to get reliable communications. Had an older car that sometimes, in certain areas, could not read the chip in the key without “shielding” the steering column area. Products are much improved but it’s probably tough for the RF engineers to design reliable systems.I understand 5G signals are easily dissipated by structures.

redyps

Based upon everyone's feedback (especially Max's), I have now excluded any car with this option. I spend half the year in Idaho and Montana and when they surface roads it is always tar and gravel. They eventually sweep off the excess gravel once the cars have worn it flat. But during that time, your lucky to not get your windshield cracked. Most all residents have cracked windshields. It has happened to me several times over a 15 year period.

Thank you everyone for your prompt and insightful responses. Greatly appreciated.

Woofman

All Cayenne sold in the U.S. have laminated glass windshields regardless of whether they have the Thermally & noise insulated glass option. Double-pane laminated windshields are required by U.S. regulations . Whether the standard Cayenne laminated glass windshield is different in construction from the laminated windshield present when the Thermally & noise insulated glass option is present is unknown. Bottom line is that all of the two or is it three (e.g. with windshield heating) versions of the Cayenne windshield are all of the same construction type - double-pane laminated safety glass.

Europe was late to the party in requiring laminated safety glass windshields which is one of the reasons that it has been expensive to import older European market cars into the U.S. since the windshields must be replaced.

As well as deterring break-ins, laminated side glass is thought to be more resistant in keeping passengers from being ejected through a window during a crash than tempered glass side windows. .

justabout

The windshields are remarkably thin. I’m not surprised they crack easily.

rdboxster

Thermal and noise reduction glass will be a standard for me in the future. Our winter travels take us to southern Florida and Arizona. I haven’t taken the temps, which I plan to, but there is no doubt the amount of heat on the leather dash is reduced by the thermal windshield. The noise level in the 2022 is much less than the 2016. I do have to agree with the cracking. We took a rock on our way to Houston low on the windshield. Within an hour it started to crack horizontally and quickly reached about a foot. 3 weeks later we have 2 horizontal cracks low on thw windshield to the middle of the car. They don’t affect the drivers vision so waiting to fix when we get home. I am trying super glue to see if it will slow it down. In the future I will carry a repair kit to hopefully prevent the crack by fixing right away. I’m not in the camp that says the thermal and noise glass is any thinner than without. I suspect that windshields in general are thinner due to weight savings but don’t have the data.

edit: I have had no issues with phone or ezpass reception.

dasams

I have the thermal and noise insulating glass but then I live in the desert where it should be standard equipment. I have never had a problem with cell reception as the local signals are very strong. However, if I am in a weak area, I place my iPhone on the wireless charging station and it connects to an outside antenna for improved reception. There are threads about it including one by @Schnave who measured the signal strength.

Here's an iPhone photo of the drivers side window.