If so, how do you like it? I am considering placing an order for one for my wife to replace her X5. Had a chance to see one today at my local dealer. Unfortunately, it was a sold car that another customer ordered so I could not drive it. Thanks

 

I test drove one, and i liked it. It doesn't feel like it belongs in the cayenne though, and i think that it takes away from the luxuriousness, you know? If you keep the auto, you can mess around with the features inside the new cayenne as opposed to always focusing on driving. That's my opinion. If you're worrying about how the transmission was, it was fantastic. good luck!

 

Mine should be here in a week or 2. I was able to test drive it as well and absolutely loved it! It really made the truck feel like a sports car. Combined with great handling, it makes it a blast to drive! Depnds on what you're looking for. I was replacing a 2 door sports coupe and didn't want to go too far away from that sporty feel.

They aren't easy to get. so if you want one, give yourself plenty of time to order. I ordered mine at the beginning of January and got a late March production date.

Good Luck!

 

I ordered one back at the end of october and have been driving it for about a month. The Cayenne drives so smoothly it really feels like a car; I think the 6 speed manual suits it's sporty nature nicely. The VR6 engine has lots of power when mated to the manual transmission. It sounds great too!

shifts are smooth. the clutch has a light feel. there is no vibration in the shifter. there is a bit of a notchy feel, but the notchiness feels more in the shifter in the cabin than in the actual transmission if that makes sense. As I've been putting miles on the car this has started to diminish. I think manual transmissions in general need a few thousand miles to break in and run more smoothly. Right now I am at 1600 miles.

overall impression is that the transmission feels a bit isolated and light rather than the very mechanical feel you might expect in the manual transmission for a heavy SUV.

Living in San Francisco I was worried about not having a handbrake when stopping on hills, however the hill hold feature has been a very pleasant surprise. There is no rolling backwards and when you let up off the clutch you drive off smoothly.

My one complaint about the transmission is that first gear is a bit low. At 3000 rpms when you want to shift into second you are only going about 15-17 mph. So you are in and out of 1st gear pretty quick. This definitely affects gas mileage - in the city (stopping just about every block) I get 10-12 mpg. on the highway in 6th gear @ 75 mph I get 28 mpg. in 6th gear at 65 mph I get 32 mpg!

On a recent ski trip I think I discovered why that 1st gear is so low -- while driving in a snowstorm a friend spun out in his explorer. he ended up buried in a 6 foot snowbank. I easily pulled him out in the Cayenne and was glad to have the low end power in first gear. I have to say the Cayenne is great in the snow. On anything less than 6" of unplowed snow I just leave it in regular driving mode. Going through the thicker snow (deepest I've taken it on was about 18" of umplowed snow) I locked up all three differentials and plowed on through. I was glad I got the PTV+ with the added locking rear differential. This is all with the standard all season tires.

The other funny thing is the upshift indicator on the dash. even at 1800 rpms the car says to shift to a higher gear! the engines sweet spot for torque seems to start around 2300 rpms.

As you can tell I'm enjoying the three pedal Cayenne alot. You should go for it! if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

Thanks for the replies. We are not looking for a luxury car but something a little sportier Our X5 is one of the few automatic cars we have ever had. My wife likes driving a manual and has had a manual 5 Series wagon, A6 and A4 in the past. The fact that Porsche offers a manual Cayenne in this day and age is quite surprising. I had the opportunity to sit on a stick car today and row the gears and get the feel for the clutch. I was quite impressed. Going to give it a little more thought but really think I am going to go for it. My on hesitation is resale. We normally lease our cars so that is not an issue. But the lease rates on the Cayenne are so bad that I am thinking of buying this one. I suspect that there is a small but devoted resale market for stick it will just require some advertising in the right places - like here

What kind of discounts have folks been able to get recently?

 

Purchase our manual Cayenne in July 2010, it was delivered in December. In a word, stunning. Just what the doctor ordered. Fun, fun, fun. Exceptional driving pleasure for those of us who prefer a manual transmission, so as, to remain in control of the essence of driving. Performance is surprising for an inline 6. Yes, there is a bit of an offset of the cylinders, but essentially, its a smooth inline 6. Maybe having the turbo would be nice, but not having to deal with turbo issues down the road is also a blessing.

Give the engine time to loosen up, do not expect a new engine to be as free revving as one with 20K miles.

If you do not load the chassis and electronics up, then the simplicity and utility of this vehicle will be more than you could have imagined from an all wheel drive vehicle.

Gone is the low range of the first Cayenne drivetrain. Instead, you get more of a useful day to day driving experience. Yes, I did include the off road package because it allowed us to have a lockable limited slip rear axle. No, I have not needed to engage its four wheel drive system, the Cayenne was not purchased to be abused. However, I have little doubt of the places it will one day go.

Always remember the old adage, four wheel drive is an excuse to become stranded in deeper snow. There are limits to any vehicles dominance of the off road experience. Be aware of the limits of your toys and they will bring you back from places you did not really need to go.

Our '80 911 SC has been in the family since 1990, our 356 is still a project, and the '08 GTI will run circles around everything we drive. But for the money, the Porsche Cayenne is the dream that it was meant to be.

A smaller version may be nice, but will never have the room and comforts for all your passengers that the original Cayenne brings to the pleasures of driving another Porsche.

 

I have a 2013 6spd and I love it. It is hard not to be sporty while driving it. Do be sure to rotate your tires every 5K miles to get some decent tread life.