ManMachine

Hi all,
We may look to purchase a 2011 Cayenne S (still debating with X5). Probably will mostly be driven by wife. Plan to be selective about the options. I have several questions:

- Has anyone seen the amethyst color in person? Seems like a feminine color to me. I personally like the Jet Green, but haven't seen it in person and don't know how it looks outside. Below is an indoor photo, it's hard to tell.



- Two tone interior leather: umber/cream: is the cream going to be too easy to get dirty? also considering that the carpet will be cream color. The blue leather seems interesting to me, but I have not seen it in person.

- What's the better chassis upgrade, torque vectoring or dynamic chassis control?

- 20" RS spyder wheels with all season tires: will that be pretty lousy in the snow?

- If you don't order 4-zone climate control, do rear passengers still get air vent?

Thanks.
ManMachine.

w00tPORSCHE

I am in the process of custom ordering a 2011 Cayenne S for me wife. I tried surfing various dealer websites for the real life pics of their Cayennes in the inventory. Some dealers like Champion Porsche take very high quality pics and post them on their website. Unfortunately most dealers have only the standard colors like silver, grey, black in their inventory. A few here have posted other colors like Umber and Yellow. I am yet to see a Auburn, Green or Amethyst. The Amethyst is very similar to Aubergrine (eggplant in German/French)a very beautiful color on the classic 911. This picture taken by one of the members in the 911 section (who has a showroom condition award winning Venetian blue Carrera 3.2) shows the richness and depth of the purple color. Unfortunately these days such vivid/bright colors are viewed as too polarizing and people stay away from such colors taking resale value into account. Hence no more Tahitian Green, Candy red apple metallic, Sahara Beige, tobacco brown etc (all classic 911 colors).

The umber/cream combo is really beautiful (some high quality pics can be seen on the Porsche website) but it will not work some exterior colors. Likewise the blue would be great but only for certain exterior colors. Oh BTW, the cream will get dirty (unless you are as **** as I am in regular clean-ups). I think the 20 inch Spyder wheels looks and handle very well (just test drove one with that wheel) but your best bet for the snow are the 18 inch wheels. You can get a good 18 inch wheel/tire set up from tirerack (without breaking your bnk) and opt for the 20 inch with summer performance tires for your custom order. I personally think all seasons are no-seasons..with compromise made for both seasons. Why someone would want to get a 100K car/SUV and run them on a compromised set of shoes all year long...I never understood that.

According to several reviews, roll is impressively suppressed due to PDCC and that is the main reason why the 2011 Cayenne turns into a corner more keenly than any other SUV in the market (did I hear you say that you are still considering an X5). The PTV system alters braking on the inside wheel when cornering to allow for more direct, controlled steering response. I think they are both complementary to each other but if I were to choose one over the other it would be the PDCC. If your wife is pretty docile when it comes to driving characteristics, then she will never ever realize the performance benefits of those two options. But be sure to at the very minimum order with PASM.

Finally did you mention that the color of that Cayenne is green. Wow, I need to see a ophthalmologist right away.

StanThePorscheFan

Oh boy, where do I start. If this is your first Porsche (I smell it is), become an educated consumer. ReSEARCH! When it comes to Porsches, the base models (even the S) are very "bare". No leather, no nav, no self dimming mirrors, no 6cd in dash, no sunroof, ...you get the point. Toyota Sienna has ventilated seats as standard equipment, we pay for floormats. My advice, go the Porsche site and "build your own" Cayenne. Pay attention to standard equipment. Then, chose your options carrefully. Its easy to double the price with all the options available. Print it out, take it to your dealer, and ask to see these options on other cars (possibly on a few different ones). That will help you sort your wants vs needs. Then test drive as many versions as you can. Every new Porsche model is an engineering masterpiece. You might find a regular Cayenne (not even an S) with regular suspension to be miles ahead of the X5. Or the opposite.

Maybe you should ask what options are considered desirable/must have.

P.S. Money no object? Buy a loaded Turbo! (loaded means over $30K in options)

Sam CS 05

buy the Porsche.

ManMachine

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback. We currently have a 5 series E60 so it's natural to consider the X5. When we buy a car we usually keep it for a while. X5 has been on the market for sometime while 2011 Cayenne is new, so I might guess there could be some issues with early builts.

Having some experience with the BMW ordering process, we'd certainly custom order the Cayenne. The standard package that we plan to get is the Premium Package. Add on two tone leather, RS spyder wheel, parking assist/camera, torque vectoring, metallic color, the final total comes to 20K worth of options. Probably won't bother with air suspension and dynamic control due to wife's driving it on regular roads only.

I'd appreciate your thoughts about Jet Green with umber/light tartufo (my choice). I guess the purple works fine with light interior also. I also like cognac but have to see it in person.

Good point about getting winter wheels/tires. Thanks.

Andy E.

You know it will. You drive in the snowbelt, right? My wife's ML has the cream interior and I need a professional cleaning every spring to remove encrusted salt stains. IMHO, Do the Blue...

+1 on what w00tPORSCHE said. I don't mind active braking to save my life as with the PSM (Porsche Stability Management or Please Save Me) button but for active vectoring? Stick with the PDCC as long as you can afford it. Some forum members have had problems with theirs.

All season tires don't belong in the snow unless you buy your truck in the winter and they're brand spanking new. After a full summer of use, they're useless. Get yourself some winter mags and verify which brand/size/rating of tire that Porsche recommends for winter driving.

Yes, however they're limited to using the thumbwheel for manual air control.

With respect to the Jet Green color, make sure your Cayenne is a lease otherwise if you purchase, you may have serious issues trying to resell a green truck down the road.

DRJMK

Stoddard Porsche has an amethyst pic of an s in stock....not my cup of tea!

ManMachine

We plan to keep the car for some time so not worried about resale.

I need to do more research about PTVplus vs. PDCC. PTVplus seems to provide some benefits off road (just in case), while the dynamic control requires the additional air suspension so it's a 7K option.

ManMachine

Just found a photo of the amethyst. I have to admit it's not bad. If wife insists, that'll be color.



Here's a photo of the Panamera of this color:



Compared to this, Green does seem a bit boring.

StanThePorscheFan

while the color is nice, it does look better on a 911/boxster/cayman. IMO, this color makes Cayenne look even more like Hyunday. But thats just me.

GregW

We've just picked our 2011 Diesel (Black/Black/RS Spyder Wheels) coming from an E61 M5. A change of pace for sure but after suffering a couple of very tough winters in the M5 it had to go! Despite winter wheels/tires and snow chains we had to dig ourselves out of the snow far too many times. Consequently I have resisted the urge to go with 19" winters and have selected one of Porsche's 18" winter wheel packages.

Regarding the X5, heres what I said on another forum:

So far we have just over 3000km and have been very happy indeed. The only fault being a minor electrical one fixed by the dealer with a 'reboot'.

RESP

Way to highlight our quandry over the 5 series vs the Cayenne decision...

ManMachine

Does anyone know whether the spare tire stays even if you upgrade the speaker system?

Anyhow, here are the pics of the eggplant cayenne, with umber/light tartufo (lots of food here)

keresks7

testdrive both the x5 and the cayenne on the same day and you will decide right away... there is no comparison. Buy the cayenne!!!

ManMachine

Yes, when we do order, it'll certainly be a Cayenne S.