2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo from North America - Comments

It should be noted that I personally do not own this car; my grandparents do. I've had the pleasure of driving it on a number of occasions though, and as I was the one who recommended it to them, I try to keep up on whether anything has gone wrong with it or not.

And, to the best of my knowledge the car has been completely flawless. No reliability problems at all.

I haven't had the opportunity to drive many different cars yet... being that I'm 19 I've only been driving for a few years and thus haven't driven many cars. However, I have driven some very, very expensive cars (and not just out of the garage and into the driveway either :p) including the Cayenne, a 2003 S600, A '97 SL500, and a 2001 E55. And of the cars I've driven, the Cayenne is my favorite.

I like the amount of feedback I get from the steering wheel, I like how it's weighted, and despite having 450hp it's easy to drive the car smoothly.

It's just a car that I'm very comfortable driving, and it's hard to articulate why... Some cars I've driven (my 560SEL, my dad's 450SEL 6.9, the SL500 and the Cayenne) give me the impression that the car is really a willing partner in whatever you ask it to do. It may not always LIKE what you ask it to do (at 5700lbs, even though the Cayenne's handling is respectable, it's not exactly at home on winding mountain roads), but you never get the feeling that the car is just waiting for you to screw up so it can bite you in the butt.

That's the intangible part. Now for the tangible bits. Here's some numbers for you:

5724lbs

5.0s

13.5s @ 104mph

and 161mph.

Those are the Cayenne Turbo's curb weight, 0-60mph (100km/h) time, the time it takes a Cayenne Turbo to run a standing start quarter mile (400m) and its trap speed, and what it tops out at, all according to Car & Driver's August 2003 review.

A 0-60 run of 5 seconds flat is quick for any car. For a car that weighs almost 3 tons it's best described as "insane". It may not keep up with a 911 in the mountains, but in a straight line this is a very, very fast car.

There's one other thing that I like about it too... the engine in this car produces the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. It's impossible to describe and the sound clips on Porsche's site fail to do it justice. You have to hear it for yourself to fully comprehend just how incredible it sounds.

Anyhow, in summary, it's big, it's heavy, and it's not going to pass for a sports car. But it's comfortable, it's a pleasure to drive, should you need to get anywhere in a hurry it'll happily oblige, it offers impressive off-road capabilities (though who would take one off-road, I'm not sure...), and it's been impeccably reliable. It took me 15 years to get my grandfather to test drive a Porsche, but he loves it, and I love driving it. :)

Recommending a Porsche as a 4 year old to your Mercedes family will get the rolling so you can be the lucky test driver... very smart.I suggest trying 100 octane fuel if its availible..very.$$$.When I owned my turbo 450 v8,it was a blast at 130 mph. I sold the car because as you point out, who would drive this off road?Selling this car paid off my 04 911 targa which is a car keeper. I Didn't feel comfortable driving a 110k car into Tijuana and through Baha California.Been there,done that.Turns heads when you don't want the attention while loading up stuff or fueling up in the not so nice part of town.

Grandparents can be so much fun! My grandparents own two Jaguars; an XK8 coupe and an XK8 convertible. They also own a Mercedes 560 SEC, and old one I know, but it still kicks butt, and it's rare to boot (it's a coupe). At the end of the day though, I still favor my humble little 3-series. I agree with the guy above, get your grandparents or parents to buy awesome cars and you'll get to drive them all the time when you travel with them or when you house-sit while they're out of town.

What a thoughtful and articulate review from someone relatively young, maybe you should consider a career in automotive journalism?

I found this site looking for info on a Cayenne my best friend is purchasing tomorrow so all the info has been great and is a huge help. I'll post my own thread, or ask him to, once he's driven it for a while.