Discussion
garyhun said:
mobil1 said:
Congratulations on the car. Nice spec. Ordered mine way back in July just finalising my order with the garage for any last minute spec changes! Mine should be arriving in November. Thought I could get away with spending £52k-£55k but as someone has previously said, you are really looking at £60-65k for a nice spec car. Any options which you consider in hindsight you could of done without or any you wish that you should of gone for?
Just to resurrect this - I shall be ordering mine in a couple of weeks. Does everyone think Air and PASM is a must have? Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids
).Oh, and Black/Black
Phooey said:
garyhun said:
mobil1 said:
Congratulations on the car. Nice spec. Ordered mine way back in July just finalising my order with the garage for any last minute spec changes! Mine should be arriving in November. Thought I could get away with spending £52k-£55k but as someone has previously said, you are really looking at £60-65k for a nice spec car. Any options which you consider in hindsight you could of done without or any you wish that you should of gone for?
Just to resurrect this - I shall be ordering mine in a couple of weeks. Does everyone think Air and PASM is a must have? Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids
).Oh, and Black/Black
Black/Black is currently winning in my head
Should be getting mine 2nd Jan, I looked at umber interior, it's very light, big thing that put me off was the carpets and all interior plastics around doors etc are also very light coloured. The car I looked at had just arrived at the dealers and had seat covers but the seat bolsters were still dirty. I'v gone non met black/black
ted 191 said:
Should be getting mine 2nd Jan, I looked at umber interior, it's very light, big thing that put me off was the carpets and all interior plastics around doors etc are also very light coloured. The car I looked at had just arrived at the dealers and had seat covers but the seat bolsters were still dirty. I'v gone non met black/black
You sure you mean Umber as it is a chocolate brown... this is Umber and Cream. 
I think Black/Black is the right way to go..very practical. I am jealous
garyhun said:
ted 191 said:
Should be getting mine 2nd Jan, I looked at umber interior, it's very light, big thing that put me off was the carpets and all interior plastics around doors etc are also very light coloured. The car I looked at had just arrived at the dealers and had seat covers but the seat bolsters were still dirty. I'v gone non met black/black
You sure you mean Umber as it is a chocolate brown... this is Umber and Cream. I think Black/Black is the right way to go..very practical. I am jealous
ted 191 said:
garyhun said:
ted 191 said:
Should be getting mine 2nd Jan, I looked at umber interior, it's very light, big thing that put me off was the carpets and all interior plastics around doors etc are also very light coloured. The car I looked at had just arrived at the dealers and had seat covers but the seat bolsters were still dirty. I'v gone non met black/black
You sure you mean Umber as it is a chocolate brown... this is Umber and Cream. I think Black/Black is the right way to go..very practical. I am jealous
Anyway, what is your full spec?
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 4th November 07:58
garyhun said:
Does everyone think Air and PASM is a must have?
Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids).
The air suspension on mine is excellent. Fantastically luxurious smooth ride when you want and amazingly (for a 2 ton truck!) sporty when the missus isn't there!Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids
).I really didn't want black/black and indeed wanted cream but the dealer explained why cream with kids is bad, hence we went for expresso.
garyhun said:
Well that's scuppered things - OPC just called to say earliest build slot is April/May!!!
I love the build slot games!! 
Just call round the OPCs in the country and play them off against each other. Once you have found an OPC with the slot that suits, go back to your local/preferred one and you're likely to find that to get the order they can slot you in to a "just cancelled order" / "use the slot we have for our demo car".
When I bought my Cayman I was told September, but got one in March. When I ordered my 997 I was told April, but got one in October. (For the Cayenne I was told July, which is what I wanted anyway). I know friends with similar experiences too.
Just into second week with my new Cayenne Diesel and what a superb drive! Having test driven both versions, decided against PASM and air suspension and specced car with the standard 18" wheels. Certainly not disappointed and was able to go for the panoramic roof, PCM and other extras to meet my budget. Have covered 700 motorway miles on just the one tank - averaging 39mpg from a new engine!! Only hiccup was to have the litronic reset as I was blinding other drivers.
Comfort lighting package is well worth having, now we are in winter and agree with Pikey that electric tailgate is needed.
Comfort lighting package is well worth having, now we are in winter and agree with Pikey that electric tailgate is needed.
pikey said:
mobil1 said:
Any options which you consider in hindsight you could of done without or any you wish that you should of gone for?
None that I have that I wouldn't order again. However, the power boot lid is one I would add.garyhun said:
Just to resurrect this - I shall be ordering mine in a couple of weeks. Does everyone think Air and PASM is a must have?
Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids).
With respect to PASM you need to balance the extra cost with the utility it provides. Anyone who has driven with PASM will tell you that it really sharpens up the feel of the vehicle. Personally I notice a real difference between the Normal and Low Level I setting. It feels more responsive, keener to push on. Additionally when driving in Spain in September I found the comfort mode particularly effective at smoothing over some very rough roads. Apart from that I'm just trying to choose between Black/Black (with aluminium to lift it) or Blue with Umber/Cream interior for more luxury (no kids
).That's all nice to have. What makes is essential for me is the extra clearance. I do a lot of back country and cross country skiing which means using unmanaged roads.
On the other hand you can make an argument that if you never go off-road, don't live with poor quality roads and are going with smaller wheels you might not make use of it enough to justify the price. I have noticed that now I've switched from the 20"s to 18" winters I use sport more. There is a lot of rubber on the smaller wheels.
How long are you going to keep it? I could imagine the dealer's implied it will make the car less desirable on resale. That might be an issue in 2 or 3 years time, less so in 10.
The aluminum is nice, but I'm still not sure about how it contrasts with the standard chrome trim. If I were to order again, I'd be tempted not to tick that box.
Edited by GregW on Friday 5th November 19:16
Agreed on that chrome/aluminium issue but you need to weigh that up against have the standard black with the small chrome strip with all black leather interior. Too much black and whilst the aluminium/chrome may not be perfect, it's better than the standard imo!
Anyway. mine arrived yesterday, (ordered it in July). White with black interior,(with the aluminium), and with almost all the toys! Hopefully will pick it up by the weekend!
Anyway. mine arrived yesterday, (ordered it in July). White with black interior,(with the aluminium), and with almost all the toys! Hopefully will pick it up by the weekend!
mobil1 said:
Agreed on that chrome/aluminium issue but you need to weigh that up against have the standard black with the small chrome strip with all black leather interior. Too much black and whilst the aluminium/chrome may not be perfect, it's better than the standard imo!
Anyway. mine arrived yesterday, (ordered it in July). White with black interior,(with the aluminium), and with almost all the toys! Hopefully will pick it up by the weekend!
Jammy bAnyway. mine arrived yesterday, (ordered it in July). White with black interior,(with the aluminium), and with almost all the toys! Hopefully will pick it up by the weekend!
d Pics please when collected.
said: There are far better reviewers than me, but for those who might be interested in what I think...
Drive
This one has air suspension with Sport/Normal/Comfort settings. Normal does pretty much what you want most of the time, but if you're cruising on the motorway comfort mode gives a brilliant 'wafting' feeling. If on a twisty B road the sport mode firms everything up so much there is no roll. Really - it goes exactly where you point it, at pretty much any speed with total precision. During the same fun roads I've been on in my 997, this will flow round with the same poise, elegance, smoothness and confidence. It's absolutely bizarre - as you're driving it you think it makes no sense! The steering is perfectly weighted with just the right amount of feedback.
Pressing the 'sport' button will also do things to the engine map, turbo and gearbox so the power is immediately on tap. Although it takes a while to get going (it's not sluggish though), once it is and the turbos remain spinning, the power is ample to do more than you want it to do. It really is very, very fast.
The 8 speed gearbox is silky and often can change gear without you knowing it. Driven hard it's more obvious and in sport mode it's harsher, but for normal use is excellent.
Brakes - so far I've not used them in anger but I would say they're typically Porsche.. big enough to give you all the power you would need to stop quickly, in control, in whatever the circumstances. Nice feeling too - not too sharp nor does the pedal travel too much before the braking comes in.
The sound deadening and insulation is excellent, which is a good thing as it's a diesel! Under load you can just hear the turbos whistling, but that's about it.
The ride is extremely comfortable and on long (and short!) journeys leave you wanting for nothing more. My passenger is a) heavily pregnant and b) suffering from a lack of sleep and her opinion? "The most comfortable place in the world"
Stop/Start
This has had quite a bad rap from people commenting on other manufacturer's version of Stop/Start but Porsche's version is good enough to ignore. Basically when the car has all the power it needs and doesn't need the engine, it turns it off when you get to a standstill and your foot is still on the brake. The point it turns the engine back on isn't when you touch the throttle, which is what I initially thought, it's as you release the pressure on the brake pedal. Due to the speed it can restart the engine, by the time you have taken your foot off the pedal and moved it across to the throttle the engine is already running.
It's rather a strange thing to get used to, but you very quickly do. The initial reaction is "well, I'll turn that feature off", but after a while you realise there's no reason to turn it off. (Other than you thinking it's a bit odd!)
Not so sure how this'll work when the car's 4 years old / has done 50,000 miles but when it's brand new, it's perfect.
Interior
We have the full leather option which includes the top of the dashboard, all of the doors and the centre console and this gives a really nice feel. Having seen a car with half leather I definitely think this is worth it. The colours we chose were the 'expresso' ("braaaaaan", as my friends keep pointing out!) and walnut trim. (We wanted cream, but the dealer highlighted with kids this wouldn't be a wise idea!) Of course everyone's got their own opinion on what's nice and what's not but we think it really works and love it.
The panoramic roof is utterly fantastic. I don't know why every Cayenne order doesn't come with this as it gives the car such a great feel. The front section will slide back over the rear. There's an electric blind to close over the whole lot.
The controls are well laid out and the information 'pod' on the dash can show pretty much any item of information you may need including a mini version of the SatNav map. The Bose sounds better than it did in the 997 and the iPod interface works well.
Reversing camera and proximity sensors are very good. The camera helps guide you in with lines showing your projected path with the wheels at that angle. Makes reversing into tight spaces a breeze. The proximity sensors provide feedback through the screen and a lot of information. You can see which area of the car is near, and how near. So rather than just beeps or lights you know how many surfaces this is about to hit at the same time. As it's so big, it's frequently the case that you can have 4 corners at risk as you're parking! Good stuff.
Servotronic (low speed additional steering assistance) - need to try one without to know how much of an improvement it is, but what we have is excellent.
Headlights. Incredible. Never known lights illuminate a road so well, and the thing which lights up the side when you're turning at low speeds is extremely useful when you're lost in a tight country road in the middle of the night! One of those features you don't realise you want until you have it
Fuel consumption
Right, I've only done 600 miles so far and haven't fully tested it, but here are a few snippets from resetting the trip counters
Previous version 3.2 v6 - The new diesel is *much* faster. I found the 3.2 completely underpowered and quite a struggle to drive.
Previous version 4.5 v8 - Ignoring the interior ('cos you have to!), the new diesel feels more nimble, refined and planted. More comfortable, better ride, better driving position, more feedback, better brakes.
What don't I like
Postcode search is 5 digits only. On a premium car where they've charged you a wallop of money for SatNav (that should be included anyway), it's really off that it doesn't have what was a basic feature of a cheap, portable SatNav I purchased in 2005. There was an address I went to this weekend that I couldn't find because I didn't have all the address information in the way it wanted it.
Display brightness in the dark. It auto-dims, but doesn't dim enough and I can't find a way to make it. Driving in a pitch black country road, it's far too distracting. Turning it off turns off the SatNav.
Super slow driving. My parents-in-law have a drive that's on a 15degree slope, has stone walls either side that are underneath the doorline and the drive is just wider than the width of the car. Oh, and has over hanging plants to send the proximity sensors all red! Going up this you want to go incredibly slow, but it can't go slow enough. Probably about 2mph, but a 'crawl' is what's needed. It can do this on a flat slope, but just not on the incline. Guess that's what the 'low transfer box' they removed would be for!
So there we go, think that just about covers it...
Drive
This one has air suspension with Sport/Normal/Comfort settings. Normal does pretty much what you want most of the time, but if you're cruising on the motorway comfort mode gives a brilliant 'wafting' feeling. If on a twisty B road the sport mode firms everything up so much there is no roll. Really - it goes exactly where you point it, at pretty much any speed with total precision. During the same fun roads I've been on in my 997, this will flow round with the same poise, elegance, smoothness and confidence. It's absolutely bizarre - as you're driving it you think it makes no sense! The steering is perfectly weighted with just the right amount of feedback.
Pressing the 'sport' button will also do things to the engine map, turbo and gearbox so the power is immediately on tap. Although it takes a while to get going (it's not sluggish though), once it is and the turbos remain spinning, the power is ample to do more than you want it to do. It really is very, very fast.
The 8 speed gearbox is silky and often can change gear without you knowing it. Driven hard it's more obvious and in sport mode it's harsher, but for normal use is excellent.
Brakes - so far I've not used them in anger but I would say they're typically Porsche.. big enough to give you all the power you would need to stop quickly, in control, in whatever the circumstances. Nice feeling too - not too sharp nor does the pedal travel too much before the braking comes in.
The sound deadening and insulation is excellent, which is a good thing as it's a diesel! Under load you can just hear the turbos whistling, but that's about it.
The ride is extremely comfortable and on long (and short!) journeys leave you wanting for nothing more. My passenger is a) heavily pregnant and b) suffering from a lack of sleep and her opinion? "The most comfortable place in the world"
Stop/Start
This has had quite a bad rap from people commenting on other manufacturer's version of Stop/Start but Porsche's version is good enough to ignore. Basically when the car has all the power it needs and doesn't need the engine, it turns it off when you get to a standstill and your foot is still on the brake. The point it turns the engine back on isn't when you touch the throttle, which is what I initially thought, it's as you release the pressure on the brake pedal. Due to the speed it can restart the engine, by the time you have taken your foot off the pedal and moved it across to the throttle the engine is already running.
It's rather a strange thing to get used to, but you very quickly do. The initial reaction is "well, I'll turn that feature off", but after a while you realise there's no reason to turn it off. (Other than you thinking it's a bit odd!)
Not so sure how this'll work when the car's 4 years old / has done 50,000 miles but when it's brand new, it's perfect.
Interior
We have the full leather option which includes the top of the dashboard, all of the doors and the centre console and this gives a really nice feel. Having seen a car with half leather I definitely think this is worth it. The colours we chose were the 'expresso' ("braaaaaan", as my friends keep pointing out!) and walnut trim. (We wanted cream, but the dealer highlighted with kids this wouldn't be a wise idea!) Of course everyone's got their own opinion on what's nice and what's not but we think it really works and love it.
The panoramic roof is utterly fantastic. I don't know why every Cayenne order doesn't come with this as it gives the car such a great feel. The front section will slide back over the rear. There's an electric blind to close over the whole lot.
The controls are well laid out and the information 'pod' on the dash can show pretty much any item of information you may need including a mini version of the SatNav map. The Bose sounds better than it did in the 997 and the iPod interface works well.
Reversing camera and proximity sensors are very good. The camera helps guide you in with lines showing your projected path with the wheels at that angle. Makes reversing into tight spaces a breeze. The proximity sensors provide feedback through the screen and a lot of information. You can see which area of the car is near, and how near. So rather than just beeps or lights you know how many surfaces this is about to hit at the same time. As it's so big, it's frequently the case that you can have 4 corners at risk as you're parking! Good stuff.
Servotronic (low speed additional steering assistance) - need to try one without to know how much of an improvement it is, but what we have is excellent.
Headlights. Incredible. Never known lights illuminate a road so well, and the thing which lights up the side when you're turning at low speeds is extremely useful when you're lost in a tight country road in the middle of the night! One of those features you don't realise you want until you have it
Fuel consumption
Right, I've only done 600 miles so far and haven't fully tested it, but here are a few snippets from resetting the trip counters
- 20 mins slow London traffic, 10 mins 30mph road, 2 hours motorway, 20 mins spirited B road = 36mpg
- 10 mins 30mph roads, 40 mins motorway, 20 mins A road = 45mpg
- 15 mins swiftly making progress on B roads on sport mode = 21mpg
- Varied suff since I've got it (motorway, A road, B road, field, stuck in traffic, supermarket trip, twisty road tests, some mud) 600 miles = 31.6mpg
Previous version 3.2 v6 - The new diesel is *much* faster. I found the 3.2 completely underpowered and quite a struggle to drive.
Previous version 4.5 v8 - Ignoring the interior ('cos you have to!), the new diesel feels more nimble, refined and planted. More comfortable, better ride, better driving position, more feedback, better brakes.
What don't I like
Postcode search is 5 digits only. On a premium car where they've charged you a wallop of money for SatNav (that should be included anyway), it's really off that it doesn't have what was a basic feature of a cheap, portable SatNav I purchased in 2005. There was an address I went to this weekend that I couldn't find because I didn't have all the address information in the way it wanted it.
Display brightness in the dark. It auto-dims, but doesn't dim enough and I can't find a way to make it. Driving in a pitch black country road, it's far too distracting. Turning it off turns off the SatNav.
Super slow driving. My parents-in-law have a drive that's on a 15degree slope, has stone walls either side that are underneath the doorline and the drive is just wider than the width of the car. Oh, and has over hanging plants to send the proximity sensors all red! Going up this you want to go incredibly slow, but it can't go slow enough. Probably about 2mph, but a 'crawl' is what's needed. It can do this on a flat slope, but just not on the incline. Guess that's what the 'low transfer box' they removed would be for!
So there we go, think that just about covers it...
Edited by on Thursday 29th July 20:44
on Thursday 29th July 20:44 great write up, I am test driving one next week, hope to buy end of year, I have the only F10 550i M Sport (2011 jan) in the UK, I hope they offer a good PX price or it may well go on PH for sale.Whats the economy like anyone?.
Edited by JMRS4 on Saturday 7th May 18:50
Adding to the other owners on here, we have had a new cayenne diesel for a week now. Every bit as I remembered during test drives.
For those considering the wheel size / suspension compromises, we have rs spider 20" wheels (on all season m&s tyres, no cost option), pasm but no air.
It's perfect. Nice to be able to slip into slouchy comfort mode and the others do as you'd expect. The car is peculiarly easy to place with absolute precision from the helm.
So, my conclusion is that even with slightly chavtastic wheels, air isn't needed. Spend the money on the panoramic roof and keep the kids amused for hours instead.
For those considering the wheel size / suspension compromises, we have rs spider 20" wheels (on all season m&s tyres, no cost option), pasm but no air.
It's perfect. Nice to be able to slip into slouchy comfort mode and the others do as you'd expect. The car is peculiarly easy to place with absolute precision from the helm.
So, my conclusion is that even with slightly chavtastic wheels, air isn't needed. Spend the money on the panoramic roof and keep the kids amused for hours instead.
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