Renn 951

We just got home this past Friday after taking delivery of our 2004 Cayenne S at the Leipzig factory and then doing an 11 day driving tour through Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. We booked the driving tour through the Porsche Travel Club -- it was a customized itinerary combining routes from their Alpine Pass Tour with their old Schlosshotel (Castle Hotel) Tour.

It was an amazing experience taking delivery at the factory, with off-road driving demonstrations, on-track driving demonstrations, a gourmet lunch in the restaurant at the delivery center, and a tour of the factory (including the Carrera GT assembly line.) The driving tour was also wonderful, going through some of the high Alpine passes that still had snow drifts at the roadside, and staying in 4-5 star hotels every night with 4 or 5 course gourmet dinners included. We also took a 3 day break in the middle to visit with some of my wife's family in Lucerne Switzerland, and got a chance to watch her brother race in the Swiss National motorcycle championship that was held that weekend.

According to the trip computer, we covered 1654 miles in almost 43 hours of driving time, for an average speed of 38 mph. We went much faster at times on the autobahn (130 mph on a couple occasions) but much slower through the mountains due to the narrow roads with many blind turns. According to the trip computer we averaged 15.6 mpg, and the car did not need any oil added during this break-in. The Cayenne performed beautifully the whole time -- now the hard part will be waiting until the car gets shipped over to the US!


Here is my first look at our Cayenne S, spotted from outside the Delivery Center after we arrived but before we started the official program. Our car was in the 5th (of 6) delivery bays, and I could tell it was ours by the amber corner markers (the other cars all had the clear Euro corner markers.)

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Here's the first look from inside, as we entered the "delivery room."

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Here's the view from our hotel on Lake Constance, the second night of our driving tour...

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The Cayenne Bear is strapped in and ready to roll...

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At Timmelsjoch pass on the Austrian - Italian border, almost 8000 feet above sea level...

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A view of Lake Lucerne...

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A view from our hotel on Lake Thun in Switzerland...

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Our Cayenne S outside the Delivery Center on the day of return. Although the picture doesn't show it, at this point there are LOTS of dead squashed bugs all over the grill, hood and windshield of our new car! :-(

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On our return to the Delivery Center, we were treated with another gourmet lunch in the Porsche restaurant, which looks out from above over the test track. I took this shot of a Carrera GT that was doing lapping sessions with a new owner taking delivery...

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Note the Design wheels on this black Cayenne on display in the Delivery Center -- the spokes are color matched to the body color. We also saw this on a Lapis Blue Cayenne outside the Delivery Center on our return. This is an option that is available in Germany.

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One of the displays in the museum on the top floor of the Customer Delivery Center is the drivetrain for a Cayenne Turbo, including cutaways on both the engine and the rear differential to show the interior details. I have some great close-ups, but unfortunately they are all bigger files than can be posted on this forum (150 kb max.) I had to skip some other great pics as well because of size limitations and I don't have time now to resize all of them. Here is one reduced version of the Cayenne drivetrain...

roee

Great writeup, amazing pictures! Thanks!

Have fun with your new toy

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Thanks, roee! Here's a few more bonus pics, resized to suit the forum limits. First, one on the Oberalppass, about 7500 ft above sea level...

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Next, in the courtyard of the Schlosshotel Buhlerhohe (near Baden-Baden) upon our departure...

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From the museum display in Leipzig, a close-up of the CT brakes and suspension...