My sister in law asked me to sell her 2010 Cayenne so I went to go grab it. What a disappointment. I was actually excited to drive this because I thought they had at least a V8 and because I heard they handled superbly for giant SUVs. What followed was disappointment on an epic level. Where to start...
Interior
It sucks. The Cayenne is a platform mate of the Touareg. VW & Porsche worked with each other to build a common platform and then stopped collaborating after a certain point, leaving the other to outfit their vehicles as they saw fit. Given this, the comparison to a Touareg is natural and that's unfortunate because the Touareg has an absolutely awesome interior, even in 2004 which is what I'm comparing this to since the 2010 Cayenne's interior is the same as the 2004's.
The VW's interior is more comparable to an Audi than most VW's. It's laid out nicely, it's roomy, it's elegant yet simplistic and it's well equipped. Conversely, the Porsche suffers from a cheap feel that all early - mid 2000's Porsches had. It looks like Porsche and VW accidentally swapped interiors. The VW is just so much better. There is a textured dash in the Porsche, hard plastic center stack, plastic-y doors and just a really cheap "looks like it was molded" look. It's not good.
Features
If they want to market this thing as an economical way to get into a Porsche, great but then actually make it economical or put some gadgets in it. This is a 50k SUV and other than navigation, it has nothing in it. No options really means no options. You get heated seats, an antiquated navigation system, a non-branded stereo system (Bose is optional), nothing. I could buy a fully optioned Touareg for this money and it would look better too.
Handling
I didn't want to beat up on my sis-in-law's truck but you can get a feel for it on onramps/ off ramps, turning, lane changing, etc. It's awesome here. It feels like a sports car. It's tighter than my A8, probably not as much as the BMW but the fact that I can even make that comparison should say something. This is the base suspension too. The optional air suspension adds the same style hydraulic sway bars that the BMW has as well as a (you guessed it) air suspension. Overall it was by far the best SUV I've driven as far as lack of body roll goes.
Acceleration
A 290hp V6 in a Porsche truck? Where do they get they get the audacity? It's slow. It's really slow. It sounds pretty nice at least but it's painfully slow. When I got in it I assumed the base model had a V8 and when I went to merge on the expressway I thought it was broken. I get home, pop the hood and bam: 3.6 liter V6.
And here's what pisses me off about this thing... It's a slap in the face to both those that know about cars and those that don't. It compromises everywhere yet still commands a premium price tag. It is the epitome of buying something for a brand name and for people that might not know a lot about cars/ trucks but want something exciting, I can see how they might expect even a base model Porsche SUV to be above average. It's not. It's slow, poorly equipped, poorly built and ugly. Even if it wasn't a Porsche, this isn't something I'd pay 30k for let alone 50k. The Touareg is better in just about every respect, least of which is the fact that it doesn't have the stance of an overweight, awkward teenager.
How this SUV is as popular as it is is beyond me, especially when you consider that most of them are base model trucks.
I did like one thing... The headlights are both adaptive and they have additional side markers that come on when you turn. So the headlights themselves steer and then when you're making a turn, another light comes up and lights where you're going. But what I really liked about the lights is that the brights are like the sun. I actually had to consciously turn them off as I was coming to the end of a street because I was afraid I was giving the people in the house in front of me a sun burn.
Other than that, I rate this thing a C-.
Interior
It sucks. The Cayenne is a platform mate of the Touareg. VW & Porsche worked with each other to build a common platform and then stopped collaborating after a certain point, leaving the other to outfit their vehicles as they saw fit. Given this, the comparison to a Touareg is natural and that's unfortunate because the Touareg has an absolutely awesome interior, even in 2004 which is what I'm comparing this to since the 2010 Cayenne's interior is the same as the 2004's.
The VW's interior is more comparable to an Audi than most VW's. It's laid out nicely, it's roomy, it's elegant yet simplistic and it's well equipped. Conversely, the Porsche suffers from a cheap feel that all early - mid 2000's Porsches had. It looks like Porsche and VW accidentally swapped interiors. The VW is just so much better. There is a textured dash in the Porsche, hard plastic center stack, plastic-y doors and just a really cheap "looks like it was molded" look. It's not good.
Features
If they want to market this thing as an economical way to get into a Porsche, great but then actually make it economical or put some gadgets in it. This is a 50k SUV and other than navigation, it has nothing in it. No options really means no options. You get heated seats, an antiquated navigation system, a non-branded stereo system (Bose is optional), nothing. I could buy a fully optioned Touareg for this money and it would look better too.
Handling
I didn't want to beat up on my sis-in-law's truck but you can get a feel for it on onramps/ off ramps, turning, lane changing, etc. It's awesome here. It feels like a sports car. It's tighter than my A8, probably not as much as the BMW but the fact that I can even make that comparison should say something. This is the base suspension too. The optional air suspension adds the same style hydraulic sway bars that the BMW has as well as a (you guessed it) air suspension. Overall it was by far the best SUV I've driven as far as lack of body roll goes.
Acceleration
A 290hp V6 in a Porsche truck? Where do they get they get the audacity? It's slow. It's really slow. It sounds pretty nice at least but it's painfully slow. When I got in it I assumed the base model had a V8 and when I went to merge on the expressway I thought it was broken. I get home, pop the hood and bam: 3.6 liter V6.
And here's what pisses me off about this thing... It's a slap in the face to both those that know about cars and those that don't. It compromises everywhere yet still commands a premium price tag. It is the epitome of buying something for a brand name and for people that might not know a lot about cars/ trucks but want something exciting, I can see how they might expect even a base model Porsche SUV to be above average. It's not. It's slow, poorly equipped, poorly built and ugly. Even if it wasn't a Porsche, this isn't something I'd pay 30k for let alone 50k. The Touareg is better in just about every respect, least of which is the fact that it doesn't have the stance of an overweight, awkward teenager.
How this SUV is as popular as it is is beyond me, especially when you consider that most of them are base model trucks.
I did like one thing... The headlights are both adaptive and they have additional side markers that come on when you turn. So the headlights themselves steer and then when you're making a turn, another light comes up and lights where you're going. But what I really liked about the lights is that the brights are like the sun. I actually had to consciously turn them off as I was coming to the end of a street because I was afraid I was giving the people in the house in front of me a sun burn.
Other than that, I rate this thing a C-.
