Cayenne Official: Porsche Cayenne Diesel

[coolraoul]

How is 550 Nm weak for an SUV? What - are we judging the car based on its top-end horsepower numbers? Remarkable.

Since when was Porsche ever about outright power figures even in their mainstream models?

It's a diesel, it makes less power than petrol engine because it can't rev as high.
By the same token its 550 Nm of torque is just what's needed to make for effortless acceleration and in-gear grunt without having to wring the neck out of the engine.

I mean really.

My Dad currently has an ML320cdi. Mega-torque, so. And much lighter than the Porsche. Well, it's not slow. But it's not fast, either, and I mean really not. I drove X5d, too, nothing remotely sporty in their performances.

If you say Cayenne is about excellence, setting the benchmark, and not about performance, well okay, right, borrow an Audi-motor and pretend to be excellent. Right, that's interesting. It's easy to be the benchmark if it means borrowing things from others.

I'm sorry, for me Porsche means engineering, perfection, sport, race, the german Ferrari in a sense. This car: exactly the contrary.

And we all know torque without power is just useless; this Cayenne will feel heavy and slow. Hit the throttle, and what happens? The gearbox will downchange, the motor will revv a bit and have no power at all. Here everybody will see, feel, regreat it has half the power of an ML420cdi or X5 35d. Such motors feel great when you don't touch the throttle, effortless but noisy. Try to get faster, though, and everything breaks down, the car feels completely underpowered because you just CAN'T always travel the world at 1500rpm. And then you see it has no power at all compared to its elephant-weight.

And it won't set the benchmark in any degree, it's outclassed by the competitors without even hitting the market.

I always hated the Cayenne. Not because it's an SUV by Porsche, no. But because it's ugly, heavy, and unsporty-looking. And completely unimaginative. If it looked like, say, an FX45 or an X6, and was a bit lighter, and with no V6, I'd have applauded to it.

As far as the driving is concerned... well my Dad had a Cayenne S with air-suspension. It's certainly no F1 in a curve, let me say it like that. You perfectly feel it's quite a fat thing. Certainly feels much lighter than it is, but still, certainly impressive, but i wouldn't call it sporty....
You always can say, sporty for an SUV. That's right. But that's like saying, sporty for a truck, and being happy Porsche builds one...

Cayennes bar the V6) used to be fat, but fast and powerful. With this diesel, it's just fat. Nothing else. And that is not very Porsche for me.

 

[martinbo]

Yeah - what were you thinking when you bought a diesel Tyc. Shame on you. You should've rather bought a 520i.

 

[coolraoul]

Don't bother Martin, they'll never accept a diesel Porsche so they'll always find something to bitch about...

It's untrue for me. I have nothing against a Porsche SUV, and even a diesel Cayenne could've passed. But the Cayenne is ugly, ridiculously heavy. And this diesel is just completely underpowered, let's be factual. 240hp, even with 550NM, is just too little facing 2.6T... It's a very, very poor effort from Porsche.
And it comes at a moment where diesel is loosing a lot of its appeal, everybody wants clean hybrids now... Furthermore, it's not a particularly interesting diesel, it has nothing. Nothing.

Unsporty compared to BMW-d, not that clean (i don't think it has any Blue-Tech thing)...

 

[martinbo]

Right - nice rant Raoul. You're just another one of those internet trawling "purists" with an opinion around the virtue of Cayenne.

Please don't try and explain how a "fast" or "slow" a Cayenne diesel will be, nor the relationship between power and torque. I have a professional insight into this thank you very much.

No matter what you Cayenne detractors may say, the Cayenne speaks for itself in terms of its sales success. Anti-SUV? Of course you are... but the reality is that consumers like them. And the consumer is king.

Who said the Cayenne diesel would set a benchmark?

I'm saying it's a highly necessitated move in this day and age.

Once and for all, I'll tell you what's very Porsche: it's about a car company that can be profitable enough through the bottom end of its market offerings in order to have the vast reserves of surplus funding needed to produce truly special cars like the GT3s and GT2s of this world.

So in plain and simple English, the Cayenne is a money-maker, one that enables the true essence of Porsche to endure.

 

[ree]

and some official data:

Top Speed 214 km/h
0 - 100 km/h 8,3 s
0 - 160 km/h 23,5 s
Elastizität (80 - 120 km/h) im 5. Gang 10,1 s

Just for comparison, here a the date for the V6 petrol model with 290 hp:

Top Speed 227 km/h
0 - 100 km/h 8,5 s
0 - 160 km/h 20,6 s
Elastizität (80 - 120 km/h) im 5. Gang 10,2 s


So someone should say, the diesel isn't a adequate engine for the Cayenne! I would prefer the diesel V6 over the petrol V6 anyday…

Especially when it come to this:


city driving: 18,3 l/100 km vs. 11,6 l/100 km

non-city driving: 9,9 l/100km vs. 7,9 l/100 km

combined: 12,9 l/100 km vs. 9,3 l/100 km

 

[Centurion]

Diesel engine = Torque beast = Torque good for heavy cars like SUV = Cayenne Diesel = Great success

 

[klier]

Diesel engine = Torque beast = Torque good for heavy cars like SUV = Cayenne Diesel = Great success

Yeah, too bad it's an Audi engine.....what a disgrace!!! A true highlight in the worst-car-related-things-ever for me!

 

[Centurion]

Yeah, too bad it's an Audi engine.....what a disgrace!!! A true highlight in the worst-car-related-things-ever for me!

Not at all. Audi has superb diesel engine. Heck there's a Mercedes engine under the engine cover of a Pagani.

 

[coolraoul]

Right - nice rant Raoul. You're just another one of those internet trawling "purists" with an opinion around the virtue of Cayenne.

Please don't try and explain how a "fast" or "slow" a Cayenne diesel will be, nor the relationship between power and torque. I have a professional insight into this thank you very much.

No matter what you Cayenne detractors may say, the Cayenne speaks for itself in terms of its sales success. Anti-SUV? Of course you are... but the reality is that consumers like them. And the consumer is king.

Who said the Cayenne diesel would set a benchmark?

I'm saying it's a highly necessitated move in this day and age.

Once and for all, I'll tell you what's very Porsche: it's about a car company that can be profitable enough through the bottom end of its market offerings in order to have the vast reserves of surplus funding needed to produce truly special cars like the GT3s and GT2s of this world.

So in plain and simple English, the Cayenne is a money-maker, one that enables the true essence of Porsche to endure.

Given that I am by no mean a Porsche-director, or insider, buyt just a fan, I have all rights to give my opinions. This may be a sales success, but I am disappointed nonetheless. By the fact it's a diesel, and by the fact it's a random Audi-engine. And by the fact Porsche could've hired a designer before "drawing" the Cayenne.

Like I said, given the Cayenne's driving characteristics, I'd have acepted the Cayenne without problems if it had a proper design. I understand it's a money-machine for Porsche, I'm not that stupid.
The risk is to spoil the image in mid-term. And that motor is a poor effort.

I'm no anti-SUV. I praised the X6 and its design, I love the G-Wagen.

 

[PanterroR]

Yeah - what were you thinking when you bought a diesel Tyc. Shame on you. You should've rather bought a 520i.

Lol...

I don't care what others say, the times when diesel sounded, performed and smelled like crap are over, at least by BMW. After many years of ownership and experience i have every single right to claim that.

Btw, did i told you how i've trashed a Porsche Cayman month ago in northern Italy between Milano & Brescia? DTC Off + Steptronic Mode On.

 

[coolraoul]

Lol...

I don't care what others say, the times when diesel sounded, performed and smelled like crap are over, at least by BMW. After many years of ownership and experience i have every single right to claim that.

Btw, did i told you how i've trashed a Porsche Cayman month ago in northern Italy between Milano & Brescia? DTC Off + Steptronic Mode On.

I certainly did not pretend that diesels are crap. Don't make me say that.
I only said that a petrol engine still feels much significantly sportier because of the gorgeous noise and the power who increases rather that decreases with rpm. It doesn't mean every diesel are crap.
What you are saying is that a diesel is better in every single aspect that a petrol, that's just untrue. As far as sport is concerned, a diesel can't match a petrol, it has identical performances but is far less thrilling to drive.

And I'm sorry, comparing this particular diesel to a 35d? You can't be serious. A Cayenne with a similar motor to the 35d, well why not. Al least it's impressively torquey AND powerful. But this one?

 

[PanterroR]

I did not say diesel is better in every aspect than petrol.

I did not compare my car's engine of this one in Cayenne (Audi).

I'm only saying that a modern diesel engine (the one in my car in particular) CAN be sporty and CAN be fun. Of course not fun and sporty like some crazy V10 that revs up to 10k or so, but more, more than enough sporty and fun for every day driving, autobahn, curvy roads, etc. That's a fact, whether you like it or not, you admit it or not.

Btw, just for my info, have you ever had an opportunity to drive M specced 335d or 535d...?

 

[Merc1]

I think the problem (argument) here lies with what one considers to be "fun".

M

 

[PanterroR]

I think the problem (argument) here lies with what one considers to be "fun".

M

Erm, yeah, raoul hates that it looses power at high revs (diesel), doesn't sound like petrol and is less thrilling to drive.

 

[mike.blueberry]

only from driving a golf tdi i can confirm that it can be a very pleasurable experience to drive a diesel due to the torque being "faster than the pedal" when stepping it. Therefore it can be a pleasurable experience at the mechanical level.
But these engines will always sound different, vibrate a bit more, and be more agricultural than a petrol engine. This is a factual difference that arouses different senses than a petrol engine. Like a woman with a bit of hair under her arms.

And this will always make me avoid diesels at all costs because what I see on paper is different from the different senses that different engines awake.

Mike

 

[coolraoul]

I

Btw, just for my info, have you ever had an opportunity to drive M specced 335d or 535d...?

Not 35d, sadly. But I have extensive experience with the 30d (my bro had several e46 330d including the latest models), 330i (my bro had two e46 330i, and clearly preferred them over the 30d). I also know the 320cdi very well (my dad had a lot of them: on W210, W211 5- or 7-gears, R and ML), I drove a GL420cdi several times, I testdrove an e90 330d, a 530d e60, and I also testdrove an A6 3.0TDI.

So you can't say I have no experience with modern power-diesels!

Erm, yeah, raoul hates that it looses power at high revs (diesel), doesn't sound like petrol and is less thrilling to drive.

Add the ridiculous power of the 3.0l TDI and yiou nailed it.
With a motor like the 35d or the 420cdi, I could've accepeted this cayenne. They are very powerful, contrary to this V6, and thus give you the "WOW" when you press them. But with such a weak output, no way. Like I said, My Dad currently has an ML320cdi. It's quite fast, you feel the power, but the acceleratioin is NEVER really impressive or remotely sporty.

 

[Centurion]

Btw, just for my info, have you ever had an opportunity to drive M specced 335d or 535d...?

From my experience with a X6 3.5 turbo diesel I can definitely say that diesel can be fun. The engine didn't sound like a diesel at all and had thrust that made the car take off at the slightest touch of the pedal. At idle it was quiet as a petrol. Diesel has changed and can now to wonders in a sporty car.

 

[PanterroR]

From my experience with a X6 3.5 turbo diesel I can definitely say that diesel can be fun. The engine didn't sound like a diesel at all and had thrust that made the car take off at the slightest touch of the pedal. At idle it was quiet as a petrol. Diesel has changed and can now to wonders in a sporty car. The V6 in the cayenne is not turbo charged though and won't have the same characteristics.

Excuse me? V6 diesel from Audi - not turbocharged??? What???

 

[coolraoul]

Not turbo-charged, Centurion? What, will it be super-charged?
I think you confused with the petrol-V6 with a Kompressor, didn't you? The 3.0l TFSI?

I also drove several non-turbo diesels: Benz W124 250d and 300d, W201 190d, Oldsmobile diesel, Fiat Bravo diesel... Well that is INCREDIBLY slow, I mean you don't even feel you're moving towards tyhe first seconds you floor them, you only hear the noise increasing to ridiculous levels... Slow to the point of becoming almost dangerous.

 

[Centurion]

Excuse me? V6 diesel from Audi - not turbocharged??? What???

Sorry my bad. Blame it on a Panamera hungover.