catamount

Well we've had an interesting winter here in NC this year. On Wednesday, in the matter of just over an hour, we went from dry roads to covered in 1 inch plus of snow. Of course this happened right at lunchtime too meaning everyone left work at the same time.

My commute home is over some hilly roads, main and side roads. My neighborhood is rather hilly. So, I had the opportunity to give the Hill Descent function a try. Fabulous is all I have to say. There were several cars and SUVs all along the side of the street I drive that has a very steep downhill slope. The Cayenne navigated it like it was nothing, all thanks to the Hill Descent function. :-) Shoot, she navigated everything like it was nothing!

RacerX5

I love the way folks down south freak out over a dusting of snow. Had our Cayenne in over a foot of snow yesterday.

catamount

Well bless your heart, aren't you lucky to live in such a location.

We had 5" of snow plus just short of a 1/4" of ice between noon and 6pm while temperatures had been in the 20s for several days. It came down fast and furious and stuck immediately. It would have been difficult for any place to deal with. Yes, I have lived in snowy, northern cities too and can say, they would have struggled too.

Back to the topic, Hill Descent, what a wonderful, useful and capable feature!

CaptJim

Dont attribute the ability to your Cayenne. If you had a good experience, its all due to your tire choice. This means you were not riding a tall rim Summer tire's...

catamount

It has Goodyear Eagle LS-2 grand touring all season, 275/45-20 tires. A bit noisy on the highway with decent grip. I have about 6,000 miles on them right now.

dasams

Could you not have safely navigated the hills by manually operating the brakes?

catamount

The real beauty of it is that it uses all the systems, abs, throttle, etc in conjunction so all you need to do is steer.

Hammer911

Can't tell by the pic...Rolex SS Daytona with a Porsche logo or photoshopped?

RacerX5

I've had descent control in my 2004 4 Runner that we had for nine years, and never once had a need to use it. I live in a very hilly area, and make many winter trips to mountainous areas in Vermont, and Canada. The gearing is easily low enough to simply make it superfluous on-road. Simply downshifting into the lowest gear was enough on the 4Runner. I never even had to use low range on the road for this reason, although I did use high range with the TC locked very frequently.

The real problem is when you are off road. I have a lifted off-road Jeep with 33" tires on it. This vehicle does not have descent control, and it has not been re-geared to compensate for the change in tire size from 28" to 33". I have been on trails so steep I would have LOVED to have had descent control. Even in low range, in 1st gear, the steepness of some trails makes the car accelerate to an unacceptable speed. Put a sharp bend in the middle of a steep descent, and it really adds the pucker factor. You are on and off the brakes, and doing your best to keep the nose of the car going downhill. ABS does little to keep you from locking wheels on a steep dirt trail. It's a good way to roll a car off-road, and descent control can save you from this.

But how many of us will ever take their Cayennes off-road??? I get the fact that they build in many "off-road" features, but if you guys every saw even a "beginner" trail at an off road park, you would not even dream of screwing up your beautiful Cayenne there.

dasams

Photoshopped

PJ Cayenne

We just swapped a 2005 4Runner for the 14 CD. The descent control on the Toyota was pretty crude compared with the system in the Porsche. It would not hold a constant speed, made noises that scared the hell out of my wife and worst of all, required 4WD lo to be selected. Kind of useless. The descent control in Porsche is great engineering.

zorba1331

I had a chance to experience this feature when we picked our car up in Germany. The Grade was so steep you were looking nearly straight up in the sky. On the way down it just managed itself and it was amazing. I was terrified but it navigated itself and everything was fine.

The off road capabilities of this vehicle are truly impressive. Well beyond what I would have expected.

Abdul kabir Khan

I want to know about off road driving. But mostly about hill ascend and descend control. I have porsche cayenne turbo 2008. It is Gulf specs.
how am i gonna drive it in hill.i took it today but it spread bad odour and engine became warmed once but not big problem. Any one please help me

h_____

Abdul was sort of terrain are you driving on? If its sand you wont need hill descent. You may if you are doing wadi, trails and they are very steep.

I"ve got a 2008 GTS Gulf spec, never had to use hill descent yet. If I recall correctly (and everyone please chip in ), you put the car in the low range, leave traction control on and keep feet of all pedals. Is that right? I know its in the manual.

On some areas of really steep gravel I've used low range and locked the diff, but thats all I've ever needed. Probably need to find some steeper trails!! :-)

On sand descents, never needed more than just a gentle drag of the brake, that enough to let the wheels sink in a bit and the car slows down. Never use low range on sand unless stuck.

Abdul kabir Khan

my friend i went to Jabal Al Akhdar. U may know in Oman. And the porsch cayenne turbo 2008 got heat up. Then i had to wait.
also is it right to turn off the AC while climbing the heights.
then , i need to know which mode i shall use for such steep ascending