Topic: Test Drive: 2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel

[Autos_Editor]

A Porsche SUV that gets near-family car fuel economy? Yes please, says Peter Bleakney.

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[sailor723]

I rather think I'd be buying the Touareg Execuline trim and keeping the 10K+ in my pocket (maybe for out of warranty repairs  )  ....but then I'm not a Porsche-ophile 

[nlm]

A Porsche review without any acceleration or performance numbers?

[chrischasescars]

A diesel SUV Porsche review without any acceleration or performance numbers?

Fixed that for you.

[OliverD]

A diesel SUV Porsche review without any acceleration or performance numbers?

Fixed that for you.

Still would be nice to know how this compares to the competition.

[carcrazed]

I like it very much, except for the lack of rear camera on a $60K+ luxury SUV.

Pretty good fuel economy for the size! 

[redman]

Nice vehicle and better yet in diesel, but for me still never had the cache of the Range Rover.
To much like a glorified VW Toureg to justify the Porsche badge or rebadging in this case, ok with some tweaks to boot.

[sailor723]

What kind of highway speeds did you run at to get that 8.53 numbers. I'm usually around low 9's in the ML but traffic here tends to run 120-125.

[bluelines]

I'd get the Cayenne over the Touareg primarily because I want the air suspension option. Most other markets offer the Touareg with air suspension, but not the US or Canada. Probably because of lack of demand, but part of me thinks it's a strategy to minimize cross-shopping.

[SaskSpecV]

Most other markets offer the Touareg with air suspension, but not the US or Canada. Probably because of lack of demand, but part of me thinks it's a strategy to minimize cross-shopping.

That's a reasonable hypothesis.  OTOH, maybe VW figures there's already more than enough things to go wrong on the Touareg as is, no need for one more...

But I'm interested to see how the air suspensions in the new Ram 1500 hold up - useful, reliable, valuable feature?  Or unreliable gimmick?

[Fobroader]

Most other markets offer the Touareg with air suspension, but not the US or Canada. Probably because of lack of demand, but part of me thinks it's a strategy to minimize cross-shopping.

That's a reasonable hypothesis.  OTOH, maybe VW figures there's already more than enough things to go wrong on the Touareg as is, no need for one more...

But I'm interested to see how the air suspensions in the new Ram 1500 hold up - useful, reliable, valuable feature?  Or unreliable gimmick?

Air suspension for the most part is mainly bulletproof, as long as you put some air line anti freeze in it for the winter. The part that always craps out is the control system and the self leveling control. I have lots of freinds with airbags on their trucks, never heard of an issue with them.

[ArticSteve]

Guaranteed to fail in every Town Car and Navigator ever made where road salt is used.

[Fobroader]

Guaranteed to fail in every Town Car and Navigator ever made where road salt is used.

As far as I remember, the fix for the Town Car was huge money too, something around $3k to repair......thats why so many of them had the droopy ass. Of course you could swap in some coils and shocks too and take the air ride out.

[EV Dan]

I rather think I'd be buying the Touareg Execuline trim and keeping the 10K+ in my pocket (maybe for out of warranty repairs  )  ....but then I'm not a Porsche-ophile 

Yeah, but lots of ppl will get it just to belong to the upscale Porsche club. I'd expect their service dpt to provide a more pleasant customer care as well, maybe they include scheduled maintenance in the car price?
But FWIW the new Tuareg will have the same, boosted to 240 hp diesel for 2013MY.

[B3Organ]

As much as I would like to have ordered a Touareg, VW decided not to make the "Driver's Assistance Package" available in Canada.  (=Blind Spot Detection, Adaptive Cruise Control, etc).  This tech package is available in Europe and Australia.

So my Cayenne Diesel arrives in January.

[EV Dan]

As much as I would like to have ordered a Touareg, VW decided not to make the "Driver's Assistance Package" available in Canada.  (=Blind Spot Detection, Adaptive Cruise Control, etc).  This tech package is available in Europe and Australia.

So my Cayenne Diesel arrives in January.

Congrats! Adaptive cruise alone is worth the extra dough. Does Porsche include free scheduled maintenance in the deal, like BMW?

[Soram6275]

Guaranteed to fail in every Town Car and Navigator ever made where road salt is used.

As far as I remember, the fix for the Town Car was huge money too, something around $3k to repair......thats why so many of them had the droopy ass. Of course you could swap in some coils and shocks too and take the air ride out.

I love the Town car, and like the majority of taxi drivers, as soon as air suspension would start to fail, I would swap it for some coil and shocks.

[Soram6275]

The Touareg always looked better in my opinion and both are coming off the same assembly line in Slovakia anyway - then "finally assembled" (i.e. putting the last couple of screws on) in Germany so as to have the "made in germany" thing.  Anyway, if I wanted a Porsche, I would get the GTS.  Definitely not the V6 nor the TDI - that just looks like I can barely afford the SUV.  While I own and love VW, I would most definitely NOT want a pure VW engine in my Porsche...no thanks!

[B3Organ]

E V Dan: Nope,  Cayenne maintenance is extra.  Darn.
And after over 4 years with adaptive cruise control, I now insist on it.