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Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Review
520 HP, 530 ft-lb, 167 MPH of Freedom!

© 2007-2013 KenRockwell.com. This page best with Corporate S regular and bold activated.

Specifications   Driving Experience   Reliability

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.

 

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Interior

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Interior.

Ryan starts the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Video: Ryan starts the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S! (24 February 2013, Sunday, iPhone 5 emailed video)

 

Here's the window sticker with all the options:

2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S window sticker

2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S window sticker

Other Reviews:    Motor Trend   Automobile  Autobytel   Edmunds

 

Review

The 520 horsepower, 530 foot-pound, bi-turbo V8 2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S is the world's most insanely powerful and quietly refined SUV. It was still more powerful than anything from Porsche in 2007, 2008, 2011 or 2012, and today is still more powerful than the (standard) 2014 Turbo model!

How powerful is it? It's the most powerful V8 on the planet, and far more powerful than most V-10s and V-12s. For instance, the $300,000 2011 Bentley Mulsanne's 6.75L V8 only wheezes out 505 HP. The $412,000 2008 Rolls Royce Phantom Drop head Coupe's 6.75l V-12 has only 453 hp, and the 2008 V-12 bi turbo Mercedes SL600 only has 510 hp. (At least the 6.75l 12-cylinder Rolls has the same torque, but only at a lower RPM.) The 2007 BMW B7 Alpine has only 500 hp and 516 ft-lb of torque from its blown V-8, while the once mighty 2008 Mercedes S63 has only 518 hp and a measly 465 ft-lbs of torque. The 2008 Bentley Carnage T barely makes 500 hp from it's 6.75l engine, also with twin turbo's, but the $338,085 2008 Bentley Azure only makes 450 hp from its 6.75L twin-turbo V-8. Most of these other cars will cost you a quarter million dollars or more, but not the 2006 Cayenne Turbo S, with over three times the power of a full military HMMWV Hummer H1!

Of course it's more powerful than most 80,000 pound class-8 tractor-trailer, like newest the International Pro Star, which usually comes with only a 15-litre (912 CID) 450 hp Cummins engine (Car & Driver, Nov 2007, p. 151.)

The 2008 V-10 Dodge Viper finally manages to wheeze out 600 hp and 560 ft-pounds or torque, but it's pretty sad that all the Viper can do with almost double the displacement (8.4l) and two more cylinders is manage an extra 79 hp and 29 ft-lbs over the Porsche. With that much displacement, the Porsche would put out over 1,100 hp and 990 ft-lbs of torque. Funny, too is that the Porsche is a truck and the Dodge is supposed to be the sports car. What's going on today?

The 2006 Cayenne Turbo S was so over-the-top that there was no Cayenne Turbo S for 2008 - just an ordinary, less powerful 2008 Cayenne Turbo. All you can get, regardless of price for the 2008 model year is the ordinary Turbo (non-S) version, with barely 500 hp.

The 2006 Cayenne Turbo S was only available for part of 2006. It is already a modern classic. We love ours!

The 2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S is also the most powerful Porsche offered today and far more powerful than lesser SUVs like the Escalade that scream WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL on the window sticker, but have to qualify their measly 403 HP by limiting it to a class to exclude the Porsche.

 

Spotters Guide

All Turbo versions have testicular bulges atop the hood, which is flat on the non-turbo models.

The Turbo S has huge front grilles for cooling and intercooling. The Turbo S comes with nothing less than 20" wheels, needed to clear the gigantic 15" diameter front brake rotors unique to the Turbo S.

Mercedes GL450

Front, Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. Notice the huge grills for the huge cooling system.

 

Mercedes GL450

Rear, Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.

 

What the Turbo S does well with 520 HP

What the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S does exceptionally well is haul four people, and an additional 1,000 pounds of anything you want, in extraordinary comfort at extraordinary speeds.

Even lightly loaded it's a hoot to drive compared to anything else my wife wanted. It's as smooth and comfy as the BMW 7-series and Mercedes S-Klasse we tried, but a lot faster, more nimble and easier to park. This little truck is more fun to drive than either, and just as quiet, smooth and comfortable.

If you have to haul 1,600 pounds of payload, this is the most luxurious and high-performance way to do it. Luxury sedans can't haul as much weight, and trucks don't go this fast. Heck, with 530 ft-pounds of torque and a 7,700 pound tow rating, it can tow your house and still outrun other sports cars up steep grades.

My wife didn't like the looks of the Mercedes ML63, which has similar performance and sells for much less. I probably would have gotten the ML63 since I love the service I get from Mercedes, but this is my wife's car. I can't afford this fancy stuff.

 

Why Did We Get This?

My wife wanted something with more luggage space than my Mercedes E430, so we went shopping.

We were in the process of ordering a Mercedes GL450 until we drove this out of curiosity. Even my wife, who usually doesn't notice any difference in driving between a rental car and a Ferrari, was hooked after one spin around the block.

Why? She felt much safer because, unlike SUVs, this Porsche felt as safe and maneuverable as a sports car. She felt it would be much more nimble for parking and for avoiding potential accidents while driving. It also has HUGE brakes to keep you out of accidents in the first place.

This ultra-sports model of the Cayenne has a suspension lowered from the usual SUV. It has air-adjustable suspension, so one can adjust the ride height while driving. Adjust it down for the best results on the road, but unlike classic lowriders, the Porsche drives a little faster.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Dusk, Nellie Gail Ranch.

 

Specifications (mostly from Porsche) back to top

MSRP: $112,000 to over $171,000, ours stickered at typically $119,210.

Production: 1,500 units worldwide, with 600 of those for the USA (projected)

Engine: twin-turbo, twin-intercooler, 32-valve quad-cam 4.5-liter V8 (4,511 cc)

0-60 MPH: 4.8 seconds; 0 - 100 Km/h 5.2 seconds.

Quarter Mile: 13.5 seconds at 107 MPH.

Top Speed: 167 MPH.

Horsepower: 521 at 5,500 rpm (383 kW)

Torque: 531 ft-lbs at 2,750 - 3,750 rpm (720 N-m)

Compression Ratio: 9.5:1

Transmission: Six-speed automatic with Tiptronic

Low Range: 2.7:1

Locking Differentials: Front and center; optional rear. Dashboard controlled.

Ride Height: multiway adjustable from in-cabin, also adjusts automatically with speed.

Front Brakes: Red 6-piston aluminum calipers, 15" diameter x 1.5" thick rotors

Rear Brakes: Red 4-piston aluminum calipers, 14.1" x 1.1" rotors.

Tires: 275/40R20 107W Michelins

Wheels: 9J x 20 front and 10J x 20 rear

Curb Weight: 5,192 lbs

EPA: 13/18 MPG (city/highway). We get 9 MPG local, 17 MPG interstate, 13.16 MPG average.

European Fuel Consumption: 20.4 l/100km (SP)

Fuel Tank: 26.4 US Gallons

Cd: 0.39

Turning Circle: About 39 feet, which is very tight.

Length: 188.3 inches.

Width: 75.9 inches.

Height: 66.9 inches.

Wheelbase: 112.4 inches.

Weight: 5,192 pounds.

Seating: Four cross-country, five just to go to lunch.

Cargo Volume: 19.1 cubic feet normally, 62.5 cubic feet with the seats folded forward.

Trunk Dimensions, my measurements: 45" wide x 39" deep x 32" tall (63" deep with seats folded forward).

Payload: 1,600 pounds

Towing Capacity: 7,716 pounds

 

Options

Much of the good stuff is standard on the Turbo S, like heated seats, xenon lights complete with automatic steering-controlled cornering lights and an all-leather interior, but some basics like floor mats and a spare tire are extra.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S headlight

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S headlight. See the little projector-beam light pointed to the left below the main light? That's a cornering light that lights as you turn the steering wheel! Headlights don't get foggy if not used and kept in the garage; this photo is from last weekend.

There are more options on a Porsche than people reading the internet! Here are some of what's on our window sticker:

Light Comfort Package/Memory: These are the interior ambient lighting, and the seat and mirror memories. these cost $610 extra. It's easy to adjust the ambient lighting brightness from the steering wheel. The sunroof is an $1,150 option.

AWD is standard, even on the lowest-end V6 Cayenne. There are no RWD-only models. There is a crazy off-road package available, but with 40-series tires, I doubt you'd want it on the Cayenne Turbo S.

The dash compass is a $95 option, QR1.

Sirius XM satellite radio is $990.

Floor mats are extra, too: $130!

Want colored Porsche crests on the wheel hubs instead of the standard crappy black-and-gray ones? These cost us $185 extra:

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S painted wheel crests

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S colored wheel hub crests: $185 extra!

The wheel crests seem far more than just "colored," they look like metallic gold.

The moonroof, which is a sunroof with variable opening, is $1,150.

We have rear roll-up sunshades, $190 extra.

The 6-disc CD changer is $650. There is already a single CD player in the dash.

The glossy light wood steering wheel was $240 extra.

The beautiful light wood trim and gearshift knob was $345 extra.

Rocker panel extensions are $1,390 extra.

The aluminum-look roof rails are an extra $820.

We added a spare tire, which all said and done cost us about $500 (not shown on the window sticker but in the trunk).

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at Hoehn

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at nightfall.

 

Driving Experience      top

Strengths

You already know that the Turbo S is insanely fast. So what? 0-60 is rated 4.8 seconds, and this Porsche has more power than a 2006 V-10 Dodge Viper (510HP), 2006 V-10 Lamborghini Gallardo (520HP), 2007 Mercedes Bi-Turbo V-12 SL600 (510 HP), 2007 E63 AMG Mercedes (507 HP), 2006 Ferrari F430 (483 HP), and of course all the mass-market throw-aways like the 2007 Corvette Z-06 (500 HP), 2007 Shelby GT500 (500 HP), blah blah blah.

What the magazines forgot to mention is how solid, safe, quiet and refined it is. It's like driving any other solid German supercar, except that it rides high like a minivan. Weird, but true.

Hit the Comfort setting of its air suspension, and it rides more smoothly than my luxury sedans. The PASM active suspension is smart enough to get stiff if you start driving crazy, so it's the best of all worlds: soft while cruising, and stiff when you need it.

The smooth perforated leather is buttery-soft; not the usual vinyl-like leather used on most cars or more common Porsches.

Everything is leather, even the doors and all of the dashboard. The headliner (ceiling) is Alcantara suede.

The electric engine cooling fans are variable-speed. Instead of clicking on and off like other cars, when you park the Cayenne Turbo S, the cooling fans slowly ramp down their speed, even after locking the Cayenne Turbo S. This makes the Cayenne Turbo S sound like it has a turbine jet engine spinning down for a few minutes when you park it. A lot of hot air comes from under the front wheel wells from making all that power.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at Night.

 

Doors

Unlike my airtight Mercedes and BMW sedans, the doors close easily. I reckon there is enough air inside the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S that the airtight design of the other sedans isn't an issue.

Close the door lightly, and it snaps closed. There is no air compression to overcome as with the others, so I never get a half-closed door.

They open just as easily. It takes two seconds to program everything to open with one remote click. Better, one click opens it: you don't need to hold down the remote button - just click it. One tap, and the whole Porsche is open. This is easy to program from the driver's seat.

 

Visibility

Front

Front visibility is excellent. The deeply sloping hood is invisible from the driving position so the entire windshield looks out to see road, not car parts. This also means if you live in a less fashionable state that mandates those stupid window stickers that they will interfere with some of your visibility and safety, since they'll be covering your view of the road, not your view of your hood.

This said, you can see very close in front of you.

 

Back Hatch and Rear Window

The hatch pops up and down quickly like ordinary SUVs, except there's a motor that pulls it the last 1/8" (3mm) closed for you so you need not slam it.

Unlike other SUVs, the rear window is well designed. It opens separately. You can squeegee it during a pit stop and the water disappears into drainage grooves, so dirty water doesn't run down on the outside the rear hatch.

Porsche Cayenne Folding Seats

Loads of trunk space, even with all the seats up. Note also the cargo safety net (black, lifts up and latches to ceiling) and security blind (tan) that pulls backward to hide your load from prying eyes.

 

Porsche Cayenne Folding Seats

Rear Seats Fold Flat for even more room.

 

Interior

Materials

Everything is covered in leather. The dash, the center console, the storage bins, the instrument panel, the front doors, the rear doors, all the door handles, and even the ceiling is in leather. (The ceiling is Alcantara and airbag cover over the center of the steering wheel is plastic.)

The door release handles are softly finished metal, not chromed plastic. They have a great feel, with smooth edges and a soft finish.

 

Feel

Except for the metal door latch release handles, everything else feels hard. It looks soft and luxurious, but there is no padding except for the seats. This is a sports car, not a barge, even though it is all leather instead of plastic.

 

Color and Accent Trim

It's all designed in tan, with accents in black and silver. Unlike lesser marques, a lot of thought went into balancing the use of the accents, which are found all over the place, all in perfect balance.

 

Soft Ambient Night Lighting

There is soft ambient lighting everywhere at night, which was an option. Even the arm rests have backlights which highlight them against the door panels!

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S: always dealer serviced.

 

Seats

The seats are great, with many adjustments. The leather is very soft and perforated for comfort.

All four seats are heated, with infinite adjustment.

The seats are designed for athletic Europeans, not for lard-butts. The seat bottoms are of normal width, not big ones like American seats. These seats grab you tightly.

My solid thighs tend to rest on the top of the narrow side supports. I suspect the seats are designed for marathon runner physiques, not soccer players.

Porsche Cayernne Turbo S Seat Controls

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Driver's Seat Controls

The knob on the left (towards the front of the truck) moves the lumbar support. Up and down move it up and down, and forward and back moves it forward and back (out and in). Unlike some Mercedes, the lumber position is recalled by the seat memory.

The up/down arrows move the shoulder belt attachment at the door.

The two seat-like levers move those parts of the seat. The button that looks like a headrest is a dummy: the headrest moves up and down with the front/back position of the seat. There also is a manual tweak to the headrest position.

The memory works well: one tap and it moves into position (or crushes your child) without needing to hold it while it moves. Sadly the SET and 1, 2, and 3 buttons are next to each other, so you need to know your Porsche Cayenne Turbo S intimately to be able to set these buttons without having to look down at the buttons.

 

Engine Sound

Audio recoding of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at idle at 3 meters (Sony PCM-M10 at 128k MP3).

Our Porsche Cayenne Turbo S makes a delicious, precise mechanical whining-hammering sound as you give it light gas while cruising. Let off and it goes away, give a little more gas and it gets stronger. It's very quiet at a steady cruising speed.

Hammer it a little and you get a little bit of a whoosh. There is none of the turbo whine or wastegate sneezing you'll here with bad aftermarket turbo conversions.

From outside the Cayenne Turbo S, it's a different story. When mommy peels out, it sounds a little like all Hell breaking loose.

 

Break-In

Our Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at 10,488 miles is barely broken in yet.

Porsche asks you go easy for the first 2,000 miles, and we did.

By "easy," they ask you keep it below 4,300 RPM for the first 2,000 miles. This beast has so much torque (530 ft-lbs) that it flies even at 2,500 RPM. You can hit 100 MPH fast by lightly goosing the throttle without needing any revs. 100 MPH needs only 3,000 RPM. This means that you easily can hit 100 MPH in a few seconds, or cruise at 140 MPH while taking it easy on break in.

Do the math: HP = Torque x RPM / 5252. At 3,000 RPM it makes over 300 HP. You don't need to rev it; even at 3,000 it accelerates like crazy on the freeway.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

The Porsche Cayenne Turbo S at Great-Grandma's House.

 

Oil Consumption

Everyone told us to check the oil regularly because, unlike normal cars, this beast uses oil when new.

Ours sucked a quart of 0W-40 Mobil 1 every few thousand miles for about the first 5,000 miles.

From 5,000 to our current 10,000 miles, it no longer consumes any oil.

This is better than normal: the dealer's service department told me that one quart every 800 miles is still normal.

 

Digital Speedometer

You know what strikes me every time I drive this thing? The vivid type face used for the orange digital speedometer on the central color LCD. It displays the speed in Microgramma Bold Extended, which for you graphic designers, looks fantastic. For you normal folks, that's the same authoritative font used for the numbers on the gauges, which is also often the font used to write POLICE on the sides of patrol cars, and also the font used throughout the 1960s by NASA and for numbering on the ships on Star Trek. Take your pick of why, but no matter how you analyze it, it's cool to see as many digits as you dare show up in glorious Microgramma Bold Extended. The big overhang on the "1" looks great in front of readings like "159 mph."

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Speedomoter

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S central LCD.

 

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Gauges

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Gauges (photo taken very close; the side gauges aren't cut off while driving as they appear here.)

The gauge covers appear to be plastic, not glass. They have a single-layer anti-reflection coating, just like fine camera lenses. This is why reflections from the gauges are dark blue, and not bright and distracting.

 

Speedometer Accuracy

The speedometer is almost perfect. It's so perfect I suspect it's fed from the GPS of the nav system and truncating the fractional part of the reading. It reads perfectly, but excludes any fraction of a MPH over the indicated speed.

In other words, if you're doing 91.67 MPH, it reads 91MPH. At 158.97 it reads 158 and at 17.3 MPH it reads 17 MPH.

I would prefer it round up, but instead it truncates.

If you pay attention to the speed at which it dithers between two figures, you're going exactly the higher figure.

 

Speedometer LCD

The top center LCD is AOK. It has relatively coarse pixels.

It is well anti-aliased: the numbers are smooth, not jagged.

 

Great Gas Mileage

The 2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S makes excellent use of its fuel. It has a large 26.4 gallon (100 litre) tank.

Ours is brand new and will get better as we break it in.

At the 1/4 mark we've usually gone 275 miles. It most likely would go 350 - 400 miles if we let the BUY GAS light come on.

If you believe the computer and run it dry, you'll go 460 miles before you're walking with your thumb out.

Per-tank mileage is important because no one wants stop and refuel. Miles per gallon is irrelevant - this isn't used for commuting and doesn't alter our climate like the hundreds of thousands of new Toyota Camrys and Priuses bought every year to pollute our skies and roads. I've always used my bicycle to commute to every office job I've ever had. Priuses are changing our climate, not Porsches, and Porsches aren't chock full of poisonous lithium batteries to leach out in tomorrow's junkyards.

Porsche predicted it would make only 1,500 of the Cayenne Turbo S for the entire world for all time (only 600 for the USA), while Toyota cranks out 400,000 Camrys each and every year.

We own this for the pure fun of driving. We care about smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon, and this crazy Porsche sure gives us more smiles per gallon than my Dodge Caravans ever did.

I get 17 MPG on long interstate jaunts and 9 MPG locally, with a lot of idling while parked to keep the A/C running while the wife goes shopping and I wait with the baby. For our first 2,500 miles, we've averaged a calibrated 13.16 MPG, on premium of course, with a lot of bad local driving. 520 HP comes from burning a lot of fuel very fast, that's the whole idea here.

Mileage depends greatly on how one drives. It also depends on one's speed on the interstate. Down at 60 MPH it seems to run about 18 MPG, and much less at higher speeds.

Sadly, lesser Cayennes get the same or worse fuel economy. It's best to save money and get the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. All the engines are about as efficient; the issue is that this a huge 5,200 pound brick to move around. See Edmunds where people with the budget V6 Cayenne only get 12 MPG and hate them.

13 - 14 MPG is normal for a truck, so you may as well enjoy it. You could do much worse: the 2007 Land Rover LR2 SE, as tested in Car and Driver, July 2007, page 130-131, only gets 14 MPG from a dinky six-cylinder engine with less than half the power and torque of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, and the Land Rover weighs a thousand pounds less!

 

Folding Mirrors

Its big mirrors give great visibility, much better than the small ones on the Mercedes GL450 or BMW X5.

If you like, they flip-in by remote control. Twist the mirror control (on the left window pillar) to the down position.

 

Save at the Car Wash

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

At the detailers.

This is a small truck, not one of the big pig SUVs. Our detailer charges the same as a regular car. If we got the Mercedes GL450 we'd get hit up for an extra couple of bucks every time. We can't afford not to have this Porsche Cayenne Turbo S!

 

Bose Audio System

The Bose sound system is the amplifiers and speakers. Someone else makes the radio itself.

It sounds great. It's very well voiced, with great, accurate bass. I played bass for years personally, so I pay the most attention to this. It's not boomy at all, with decent depth, and plenty strong. If you want to vibrate the windows, just play with the tone controls.

There is an 8" woofer in each front door, and the usual 5-1/4" Bose subwoofer in the middle of the spare tire well. The Bose system uses a woofer small enough to allow you to carry the spare tire; another audio system uses a woofer which takes up the entire spare tire well, which would be pretty stupid.

You can optimize the sound stage for everyone, or optimize it for the front or for the rear seats. You also can engage an additional phony surround mode, which I prefer to leave OFF.

 

AM/FM Radio

The radio sounds great. Reception is clean and clear, better than our other cars.

For some reason, if you use the nav or trip computer or for any reason leave the radio system on, every time you start the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, you get the radio playing. This is annoying. If I turned off the volume when I last turned off the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, I want the level to stay muted when I restart.

 

Sirius Satellite Radio

The high quality of the Bose system makes audio defects inherent in the data-rate reduction of satellite radio broadcasts (SIRIUS) obvious to the trained ear. Normal people never notice it, and it's an artifact of the transmission method, not the receiver.

 

GPS Nav System

Cleverness

It's pretty smart. If you're offroad or in a big parking lot, it shows a big arrow pointing you to the first paved route instruction.

It's not smart enough to voice "No, the other left, stupid " if it wants you to make a left, but you've got the right turn signal and/or the wheel turned to the right. Too bad, since the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S knows these things in its computers.

 

Ease of Use

It's easy enough to figure out. I've never read the manual.

It works while rolling so your navigator can work it while you drive. This is far better than lesser cars that disable the navigation system while driving.

 

Display

The big LCD is clear and bright.

 

Air Conditioning

HVAC is fully automatic. Set your preferred temperature and that's it.

If you hold the AUTO button for two seconds, you enter the MONO mode. The MONO mode means the driver's controls control both sides of the car. As soon as the passenger moves a control, it returns to the usual two-zone control.

 

Wipers

The wipers also have a fully automatic setting, with three levels of sensitivity.

Not that our Cayenne Turbo S has ever been driven in the rain, but from others we've driven the auto wipers are better even than those in my Mercedes: the automatic Porsche wipers stay off, only wipe occasionally as needed in mist, and will also wipe continuously at any speed, even fast, as rain rate and your speed demands. Bravo!

 

Brakes

Brakes are huge and a reason you need 20" wheels to clear them. 19" wheels won't fir over the huge front brake rotors.

Wheel

A small part of a huge red caliper.

 

Weirdnesses

There's no spare tire, just a can of tire goo, a pump and good-luck wishes!

We bought the collapsible spare and stuck it in the trunk separately, for an extra cost of about $500:

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S Spare Tire

Extra-cost spare tire, bought separately from the parts department at about $500.

The ignition key is on the left of the steering wheel, an homage to the running starts of LeMans.

 

Reliability   top

Consumer Reports, the only objective data to which I have access, rates this about average to better-than-average for German cars. That of course means a "worse than average" half-black dot, which is better than most of the top line BMW and Mercedes models, which get the completely black "awful" dot. Even our 2006 Saab gets the big black dot, and it's been fine. It's not 1969 anymore, and today cars just run. I used to freak out about CU's ratings, until I realized 20 years ago when I got my first Mercedes that far more important than CU's ratings is how well the dealer stands behinds the work, and if it gets fixed right the first time, on time.

We've had no problems, which makes sense for a new car. As I update this in April, 2013, the only maintenance in six years and 10,488 miles other than regular service (we never actually driven this thing; it sits locked in our garage connected to a Porsche battery tender most of the time) has been to replace the TPMS sensors and the ignition coils in November 2012. (The TPMS tire-pressure sensor transmitter batteries located in the tire valves die after about 6 years.)

We asked nicely, and even out of warranty Porsche covered the ignition coils as a goodwill warranty. We always have our Porsche Cayenne Turbo S serviced at the same dealer at which we bought it, and we get great service. A car that sits in a 20ºC garage all its life shouldn't need its ignition coils replaced, and Porsche agreed and replaced them at no charge. That's what I mean about dealers and manufacturers that stand behind their cars!

 

History

The first Cayenne came off the Leipzig assembly line on 20 August, 2002.

 

Other Cayenne Models (circa 2008)

Modified Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

Coupe concept design by www.ShanghaiPhotoGallery.com (not for sale)

Cayenne: budget model

You could slum it with a Cayenne, but with only 6 cylinders, 250 HP and 5,000 pounds, it's slower than most rental cars. This is a loss-leader to get people in the door; why buy an underpowered Porsche? I haven't driven it, but look at the user reviews at Edmunds and you'll see the V6 Cayenne owners usually hate their cars.

The 2006 Porsche Cayenne V6 has 250 HP while the 2007 Toyota Camry V6 has 268 HP and weighs almost a half-ton less. The Porsche Cayenne V6 is for off-road use; I presume it's a pig on-road. Get the VW Touareg V-10 TDI Diesel for far more power and far more fuel efficiency if you care.

 

Cayenne S: Base Model.

You could get by with a Cayenne S with a basic 340 HP V8, but you'll miss out on the pimp-grade luxury of the Cayenne Turbo S' leather. The base V8 Cayenne still has old-fashioned halogen lights, cheap embossed leather, spring suspension, monochrome dashboard LCD and a plastic dashboard and doors.

 

The Cayenne S Titanium is a Cayenne S with some titanium-colored trim and a discounted package of ordinary Cayenne S options.

 

Cayenne Turbo: mid-line.

This is a great car, and has the basic luxury items like bi-xenon lights, color dash display, smooth leather, PASM and air-suspension as standard. I wouldn't make it park out in my driveway, but why stop at only 450 HP when you can get 521 HP with the same great fuel economy?

 

Cayenne Turbo S: premium (521 HP, 530 ft-lbs).

We have one of these. The Turbo S is Porsche's show-off car, only available for part of the 2006 model year. It's similar to the Cayenne Turbo, with more engine airflow, more boost for more power and much bigger brakes.

 

See also the May 2006 issue of Car & Driver and Motor Trend, where I first read about the 2006 Cayenne Turbo S.

 

ignore this; the rest of this page are just notes for me to fill in later.

 

Notes

Front doors have three detents; rear doors have two

Three-peat turn signals

flippy-key

H3 dim-bright Cornering lights

the whole garage winds up smelling like leather!

The horn only works with ignition on

Manual is funny, page 17 says to open doors, pull handle and to close side windows off-road
auto windows only from drivers' control, and only for front windows

ETRs

Steering wheel heated if interior <54ºF (12ºC) , heats to 73ºF (23ºC). Turns off when interior >71ºF (22ºC).

press or pull wheel btns to use. rear left has button to light wheel

To lower side mirror in reverse: set mirror button to passenger position

Use button below mirror to make bright

engine cooling fans are monitored and may run for 30 minutes after car turned off.

no auto brake drying p79

MONO a/c setting, hold AUTO for 2 seconds

optional parking heater burns fuel

five sunvisors

center dome light slider unmarked - on - off - auto

spare tire vs hold up bar vs VW

pet net moves forward WITh FOLDING REAR SEATS

no shifts in corners as via g-sensor or throttle e lift

p216

downshifts in braking to setup for exit

2nd gear start

hillholder for uphills forward

downhills under 12mph forward/rvs

2 gallons washer fluid

opt aux btty

Pumps up turbo in top gear for passing at small throttle before downshifting

6th gear only at 53MPH +, returns to 5th at 46MPH and lower

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