Cayenne Turbo Ownership Report - Update
We just returned from a short family vacation in Italy and my Cayenne Turbo has now 6100 km on the speedo.
So far, only one single problem occured: that damned micro switch on the rear hatch window lock which made the window to unlock itself all the time. Not a pleasant thing if you have two little kids in the rear and you're planning to leave the truck in an unguarded parking lot at the Gardaland amusement park. Lucky me I had the idea to interrupt power to the lock and my dealer provided instructions how to do the job. It took about a minute to remove the plastic cover on the rear of the window in the lock region and disconnect the power connector. I just had to be careful with the disconnected cables not to interfere with the rear wiper mechanism.
I closed the rear hatch window and it stayed closed.
In a worst case scenario, the rear hatch window can't be opened anymore if the micro switch fails. If this happens, the windows still unlocks but you can't open it completely to be able to disconnect the power cord. Luckily it didn't happen to us. A new micro switch has been ordered and will be installed soon.
Otherwise, no problems so far and I'm delighted with quality.
No engine problems, no rattles, no strange wind noises and no software graemlins so far, not even with the PCM or phone.
I think Porsche definetely did a better job than Mercedes with their E-class.
Oil consumption so far has been in the 1 litre/1000 km range but I have to say that I always drive the truck pretty hard.
Fuel consumption during the trip was 22.5 litres/100 km (10.4 mpg) and I was going pretty fast all the time, car was almost fully loaded.
At some moment, I was able to go 280 kph on the speedo for the first time and for about 2 consecutive minutes on the Autobahn from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, even in wide curves without a problem or any feel of instability. The engine revved at 6600 rpm, the oil temperature was as usual in the 90*C range but surprisingly the coolant temperature was at 100*C instead of the "usual" 80*C. It was very hot, around 30-32*C. Fuel consumption was around 37 litres/100 km at that speed, pretty frustrating.
The massive torque of the Cayenne Turbo provided a lot of fun, especially on the mountain road from Garmisch to Innsbruck. I was able to pass all cars uphill (remember, almost fully loaded truck) very fast and a Mercedes S500 driver who tried to follow me failed miserably.
The brakes also worked fine all the time, no sign of fatigue or fading.
In Italy, I enjoyed the curves on the Autostrada from Bolzano to Trento and although I tried to stay with the 110 kph speed limit, it was almost impossible. Traffic was pretty low and I was able to rush through these curves at speeds over 180 kph or more. Some italian drivers and even some tourist drivers from other countries apparently didn't want to believe that a truck can go that fast and kept the left lane occupied most of the time, not allowing me to pass.
I encountered two police speed traps, one by laser gun and one by radar. Being on a permanent lookout for such traps, they didn't stop me because I slowed down immediately. A german BMW 328 Cab driver wasn't that lucky, he still kept driving at 180 kph when I first saw the italian police man pointing his laser gun over the roof of his police car.
The police car on the right was clearly visible from far away, I don't know why the BMW Cab driver didn't see him.
The police went after him and I have to admit that I was pretty scared when I saw the blue light in my rear mirror because I thought they might be after me because I didn't slow down in time. Apparently a truck can't drive that fast.
The radar trap was a little bit trickier to spot, it was behind a bridge but I saw something weird and slowed down, lucky me.
No other car was around, so they really would have stopped me.
I exited the Autostrada at Trento and took the mountain road to Riva del Garda through Arco. Immediately after exiting the Autostrada, the road goes uphill on two lanes with some pretty nasty curves and turns. A Fiat Punto driver apparently thought that a truck can't go that fast on such a road and he started to flash his lights and honk. After the car in front of me moved to the right, I went through these curves at around 80-90 kph or even more with ease and no problems at all, never driving at the limit. The Fiat Punto disappeared very fast and he showed up again in the following tunnel where I slowed down. He seemed so impressed that he slowed down, moved to the right behind me and followed me for a couple of kms, probably he wanted to see what kind of truck this is.
I had two or three more italian small car "encounters" where the drivers were desperate to pass me on those mountain roads with turns and twists but they never succeeded. On the contrary, I drove away very easily.
My wife never made complaints about my driving, she is used to it, she knows that I'm no maniac who gets provoked or drives at the limit, so she actually enjoyed the ride. My little girl in the rear started to ask for more curves and it was a pretty nice fun ride. Again, as unbelievable it sounds, no danger at all times, no "close to" accident situation or whatsoever. I'm driving fast but I know my limitations.
At the hotel in Riva del Garda, there were another two Cayenne from Germany, one S and one Turbo.
A german BMW X5 3.0 Diesel driver asked me if I'm happy with my Cayenne and he also wanted to know how much fuel it takes. I left this guy with a shock and probably a deep satisfaction that he drives a Diesel.
Whereever the Cayenne showed up, people were starring at it.
The sport exhaust I have on my Cayenne got louder now and when driving through narrow streets, the houses on the left and right reflect the sound of the exhaust even more.
People were turning heads when I approached them and the deep V8 growl mixed with a loud suction noise (sport airfilters, turbo chargers bypass valves) really was something nice to listen to.
Finding 98 octane fuel in Italy isn't easy because mostly Shell fuel stations have this fuel, most of the others have only 95 octane maximum. Happy me, there were three Shell stations near Riva del Garda, so no problem here too.
When I parked my Cayenne on a public parking lot, some tourists from Austria passed by and I heard how some of them were discussing that the Cayenne Turbo costs over 100000 Euro and they seemed impressed and shocked at the same time. Apparently nobody talks about the Cayenne's looks but only about the Porsche crest and price tag. Sad.
I'm afraid the Cayenne Turbo would have sold well even with the looks of a Lada (or Yugo...for our US friends to understand what I mean).
The height adjustable air suspension came in very hand when we came to a place where a very nasty accident has happened near Torbole. We only saw a big truck and a bicycle below the front wheels. Somebody was trapped below the truck and desperate people tried everything to raise the truck and get the person out. However I really doubt that the person made it, it looked horrible. Our little girl was watching a Barbie movie on the DVD entertainment system by that time, she was lucky she didn't see the horrible accident.
To be able to get around the accident spot, I had to drive over a traffic "island" made of concrete in the middle of the street. I raised the Cayenne to maximum special height and drove slowly over that obstacle which had pretty round shapes and didn't pose a danger to damage the tires.
All other cars behind me weren't able to move anymore, I think they had to wait until the accident scene was "cleared" by police and the fire brigade. I wonder what happened to the trapped person below the truck but I really don't think he/she made it.
On our way back home to Germany (around 430 km from Riva del Garda), heavy rains started in Austria.
The Cayenne Turbo always felt very safe, even at higher speeds and when there were deep water spots on the street.
The Michelin Diamaris tires seem to have a very good rain setup, they always felt completely safe, despite the rain very direct and almost no aquaplaning tendency at high speeds.
My wife was very happy with the Cayenne Turbo because she finally can stretch her legs and our little girl behind her still has enough room for her feet. In our ML55 AMG family car, she was sitting like a frog and due to the bigger interior room, we were able to store two huge sport bags in the foot room of the rear compartment because our kids didn't need that room. This wasn't possible either on the ML55.
Overall, we are very satisfied with the Cayenne Turbo as a family car AND as a fun car for Porsche addicts who can't afford to own two Porsches.
I just wish Porsche would get the shifting/throttle delay thing fixed to make me a 100% happy owner.
Oh and another thing: PLEASE Porsche, we want a MP3 player/jukebox for the Cayenne. It is pretty boring to listen to the same 6 CDs all the time, especially since you can't exchange the CDs from the magazine if the cargo space is loaded with luggage. Audi and VW offer a Phatbox now, a MP3 jukebox with exchangable HDD units. I hope Porsche is thoughtful enough to offer this option for the Cayenne too soon. PLEASE!!!
So far, only one single problem occured: that damned micro switch on the rear hatch window lock which made the window to unlock itself all the time. Not a pleasant thing if you have two little kids in the rear and you're planning to leave the truck in an unguarded parking lot at the Gardaland amusement park. Lucky me I had the idea to interrupt power to the lock and my dealer provided instructions how to do the job. It took about a minute to remove the plastic cover on the rear of the window in the lock region and disconnect the power connector. I just had to be careful with the disconnected cables not to interfere with the rear wiper mechanism.
I closed the rear hatch window and it stayed closed.
In a worst case scenario, the rear hatch window can't be opened anymore if the micro switch fails. If this happens, the windows still unlocks but you can't open it completely to be able to disconnect the power cord. Luckily it didn't happen to us. A new micro switch has been ordered and will be installed soon.
Otherwise, no problems so far and I'm delighted with quality.
No engine problems, no rattles, no strange wind noises and no software graemlins so far, not even with the PCM or phone.
I think Porsche definetely did a better job than Mercedes with their E-class.
Oil consumption so far has been in the 1 litre/1000 km range but I have to say that I always drive the truck pretty hard.
Fuel consumption during the trip was 22.5 litres/100 km (10.4 mpg) and I was going pretty fast all the time, car was almost fully loaded.
At some moment, I was able to go 280 kph on the speedo for the first time and for about 2 consecutive minutes on the Autobahn from Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, even in wide curves without a problem or any feel of instability. The engine revved at 6600 rpm, the oil temperature was as usual in the 90*C range but surprisingly the coolant temperature was at 100*C instead of the "usual" 80*C. It was very hot, around 30-32*C. Fuel consumption was around 37 litres/100 km at that speed, pretty frustrating.
The massive torque of the Cayenne Turbo provided a lot of fun, especially on the mountain road from Garmisch to Innsbruck. I was able to pass all cars uphill (remember, almost fully loaded truck) very fast and a Mercedes S500 driver who tried to follow me failed miserably.
The brakes also worked fine all the time, no sign of fatigue or fading.
In Italy, I enjoyed the curves on the Autostrada from Bolzano to Trento and although I tried to stay with the 110 kph speed limit, it was almost impossible. Traffic was pretty low and I was able to rush through these curves at speeds over 180 kph or more. Some italian drivers and even some tourist drivers from other countries apparently didn't want to believe that a truck can go that fast and kept the left lane occupied most of the time, not allowing me to pass.
I encountered two police speed traps, one by laser gun and one by radar. Being on a permanent lookout for such traps, they didn't stop me because I slowed down immediately. A german BMW 328 Cab driver wasn't that lucky, he still kept driving at 180 kph when I first saw the italian police man pointing his laser gun over the roof of his police car.
The police car on the right was clearly visible from far away, I don't know why the BMW Cab driver didn't see him.
The police went after him and I have to admit that I was pretty scared when I saw the blue light in my rear mirror because I thought they might be after me because I didn't slow down in time. Apparently a truck can't drive that fast.
The radar trap was a little bit trickier to spot, it was behind a bridge but I saw something weird and slowed down, lucky me.
No other car was around, so they really would have stopped me.
I exited the Autostrada at Trento and took the mountain road to Riva del Garda through Arco. Immediately after exiting the Autostrada, the road goes uphill on two lanes with some pretty nasty curves and turns. A Fiat Punto driver apparently thought that a truck can't go that fast on such a road and he started to flash his lights and honk. After the car in front of me moved to the right, I went through these curves at around 80-90 kph or even more with ease and no problems at all, never driving at the limit. The Fiat Punto disappeared very fast and he showed up again in the following tunnel where I slowed down. He seemed so impressed that he slowed down, moved to the right behind me and followed me for a couple of kms, probably he wanted to see what kind of truck this is.
I had two or three more italian small car "encounters" where the drivers were desperate to pass me on those mountain roads with turns and twists but they never succeeded. On the contrary, I drove away very easily.
My wife never made complaints about my driving, she is used to it, she knows that I'm no maniac who gets provoked or drives at the limit, so she actually enjoyed the ride. My little girl in the rear started to ask for more curves and it was a pretty nice fun ride. Again, as unbelievable it sounds, no danger at all times, no "close to" accident situation or whatsoever. I'm driving fast but I know my limitations.
At the hotel in Riva del Garda, there were another two Cayenne from Germany, one S and one Turbo.
A german BMW X5 3.0 Diesel driver asked me if I'm happy with my Cayenne and he also wanted to know how much fuel it takes. I left this guy with a shock and probably a deep satisfaction that he drives a Diesel.
Whereever the Cayenne showed up, people were starring at it.
The sport exhaust I have on my Cayenne got louder now and when driving through narrow streets, the houses on the left and right reflect the sound of the exhaust even more.
People were turning heads when I approached them and the deep V8 growl mixed with a loud suction noise (sport airfilters, turbo chargers bypass valves) really was something nice to listen to.
Finding 98 octane fuel in Italy isn't easy because mostly Shell fuel stations have this fuel, most of the others have only 95 octane maximum. Happy me, there were three Shell stations near Riva del Garda, so no problem here too.
When I parked my Cayenne on a public parking lot, some tourists from Austria passed by and I heard how some of them were discussing that the Cayenne Turbo costs over 100000 Euro and they seemed impressed and shocked at the same time. Apparently nobody talks about the Cayenne's looks but only about the Porsche crest and price tag. Sad.
I'm afraid the Cayenne Turbo would have sold well even with the looks of a Lada (or Yugo...for our US friends to understand what I mean).
The height adjustable air suspension came in very hand when we came to a place where a very nasty accident has happened near Torbole. We only saw a big truck and a bicycle below the front wheels. Somebody was trapped below the truck and desperate people tried everything to raise the truck and get the person out. However I really doubt that the person made it, it looked horrible. Our little girl was watching a Barbie movie on the DVD entertainment system by that time, she was lucky she didn't see the horrible accident.
To be able to get around the accident spot, I had to drive over a traffic "island" made of concrete in the middle of the street. I raised the Cayenne to maximum special height and drove slowly over that obstacle which had pretty round shapes and didn't pose a danger to damage the tires.
All other cars behind me weren't able to move anymore, I think they had to wait until the accident scene was "cleared" by police and the fire brigade. I wonder what happened to the trapped person below the truck but I really don't think he/she made it.
On our way back home to Germany (around 430 km from Riva del Garda), heavy rains started in Austria.
The Cayenne Turbo always felt very safe, even at higher speeds and when there were deep water spots on the street.
The Michelin Diamaris tires seem to have a very good rain setup, they always felt completely safe, despite the rain very direct and almost no aquaplaning tendency at high speeds.
My wife was very happy with the Cayenne Turbo because she finally can stretch her legs and our little girl behind her still has enough room for her feet. In our ML55 AMG family car, she was sitting like a frog and due to the bigger interior room, we were able to store two huge sport bags in the foot room of the rear compartment because our kids didn't need that room. This wasn't possible either on the ML55.
Overall, we are very satisfied with the Cayenne Turbo as a family car AND as a fun car for Porsche addicts who can't afford to own two Porsches.
I just wish Porsche would get the shifting/throttle delay thing fixed to make me a 100% happy owner.
Oh and another thing: PLEASE Porsche, we want a MP3 player/jukebox for the Cayenne. It is pretty boring to listen to the same 6 CDs all the time, especially since you can't exchange the CDs from the magazine if the cargo space is loaded with luggage. Audi and VW offer a Phatbox now, a MP3 jukebox with exchangable HDD units. I hope Porsche is thoughtful enough to offer this option for the Cayenne too soon. PLEASE!!!