Hi all -

I'm thinking of trading in my C4S for a Cayenne. I've had back problems for years and now I just finished having 2 back surgeries in the last 30 days. Driving my wife's Escalade is much more comfortable and I'm assuming it's going to be that way for some time.

So I'm looking to move to the Cayenne and looking for your thoughts. It's mostly for commuting to work (1.5 hours round trip daily).

Is the Turbo worth the extra 40k? I'm aware of the performance difference but what about the aesthetics? Is there anything the Turbo has in terms of body work that the S doesn't?

Thanks in advance.

 

The Cayenne S is hard to beat for the money

 

Just throwing this out there, not saying I'd do it but check out the 20 way comfort seats in the x5M.
I know this opens a cannot worms, and I'm not getting into it, but they are very comfortable IMHO. Not taking into consideration anything else with the car besides the seats.....

 

The Cayenne is very comfortable and ingress/egress with a bad back is much easier. I don't know about the S, but my 955 Turbo has adjustable lumbar support that not only goes in and out, but up and down as well. That should help a bad back.

 

Jace has a point; BMW seats are the most comfortable.
The Turbo has a much more aggressive front end and exhaust tips than the S. One of the issues I run into when I try to spec an S is I want to load it up and then resale would be terrible. Many things I want to put on an S, like air suspension, are stock in the Turbo.

 

I traded my 02 C4S on a 08 CS. I really liked the C4S but I did it because of some of your reasons. I have a boat that is 3-1/2 hours away and the Carrera was a back breaker after 2 hours....or less. You really need to pay attention and DRIVE the car. Police pay attention to you as well as tuner kids wanting to race....Mine was guards red...The CS is perfect. I can drive fast, tow my boat, and anything else. I have the air suspension, which I recommend for you because you can lower the vehicle to get in or out especially if you are short. The seats are great! As said before the lumbar moves in and out AND up and down. Unless you are going to the track the S has more than eonugh power and I get about 20mpg on the highway.

 

I can give you my point of view. I have a '10 C2 cab and I traded a different sports car for the '11 Cayenne S. I love the C2 and it is a fun car, but I commute 3 hours a day round trip on interstates and the 911's just left me tired with too much road wear and tear on the body. I think of it as a fun car but not a great daily driver. The Cayenne gets me up off the pavment and is more stable in all weather, sandwiched between large trucks, it's quiet and safe. I also find the sitting position more comfortable on a long commute.
As far as the S vs. the turbo, I went with the S because I just didn;t need the extra power to sit in stop and go traffic most of the time. It had generally the same interior as the S. I'm not critical of the Turbo at all. Matter of fact my brother has two of them, just saying the S is plenty of vehicle for me. As far as seats go, I troed the standard 8 way seats in the S, but opted for the 14 way seats thinking the lumbar would add alot of extra comfort to it. What I found was the lumbar is somewhat of a soft lumbar, meaning you don;t get a huge iimpact from it. I no longer use the thigh support adjustment either. All that to say that I don't think the 14 way are critical. I have not tried the top of the line seats(maybe afraid I would want them). I think you would be please going to the Cayenne S or Turbo. Like some of these guys say though, if you feel the need to load up the S, you might as well go to the Turbo. Either way, the motors and transmissions in these are super smooth. Sorry for the long post, just trying to add more perspective.

 

I had an 03 C4S that I sold back in 2007.. Just got an 09 Cayenne GTS last month. Very happy with the car so far; love the seats, the power, the exhaust, suspension, etc.

I considered the Turbo; I wanted to purchase from a local dealer so I was limited to what they had in stock. The GTS was newer & had less miles then the Turbo I was looking at, it was about $6k cheaper and had 2 more years of warranty (the turbo was at 44k miles so only had 5-6k before it hit the 50k mark).. the GTS had 34k miles, so plenty before warranty came into question...

-Richie

 

I was in the same shoes. Choosing between Turbo n' the S. I choose the Turbo because of all the options that I wanted are pretty much standard on the Turbo n' needed as option on the S. And for the extra $, you get alot more horses to play with. Thats why I choose the Turbo over the S.

 

Maybe you can relate to this: had a boxster, but needed to get something larger to hold kids and dogs. Cayennes were actually in the ballpark price-wise so I started looking. Test drove an S: loved it. Test drove a Turbo: drooled all over the floor and wet myself (all of us, including kids, were laughing afterwards like we just came off a roller coaster). Remembered that's why I was looking at a Porsche SUV in the first place. Made me actually want to give up my sporty little car (which handled like it was on rails).

So then it came down to price. The $30K - $35K price differential on a new S vs. new Turbo was now only $7K on models a few years old. I was willing to do that under "gave up my boxster" factor. But everyone else is spot-on about the standard Turbo options that you'd tack onto the S price: air suspension, sport shocks, full leather, etc.

At $30 or $40K it's a luxury... at less than $10K, you can't not get the Turbo...

 

I would go GTS if power isn't your #1 goal. I have had both and prefer the Turbo but i had more fun driving the GTS if that makes any sense. THe exhaust on the GTS makes you want to drive it fast and hard. I think my biggest selling point on the Turbo is the loads of power available, you just don't have to drive it hard at all to zip around town.

The best way to say this is if you like power and get a S or GTS you will always wish you got the turbo. That holds true for any car/truck, power hungry people will always want more power.

 

The best way to say this is if you like power and get a S or GTS you will always wish you got the turbo. That holds true for any car/truck, power hungry people will always want more power."

... Guilty

 

I drive an S and have no complaints about power...I guess I'd better not test drive a CTT or I might be in trouble!

 

If you drive the turbo you will be conditioned by its power. Once you feel its brute thrust you are conditioned to not like anything else. I would start w/ the Cayenne S. If you like it, get it and do not even drive the CTT. But if you are the guy who will regret not getting a higher powered vehicle just because one exists, just go for the CTT. I have always driven NA vehicles and not for one second have I regretted my choice. So I am biased. I love the fast-revving linear NA engines. There's something special in continuously going up and down through a linear rev range.

 

I was ready to buy an S... until I test drove the CTT. Big mistake!

Again, not to sound strange, but the turbo felt very Porsche to me. I completely forgot I was in a massive SUV until I got out.