i have really gotten some great advice and opinions on this site. I have a 2012 cayenne base and I am pleased with it so far. It is my son's and he is away at college so I drive it one every week or two. No real complaints as we have had it for a year. I had a 2012 CTT and ended up selling it and buying a 991 cab. My wife loves the Cayenne. She is currently in a 2011 GL550. My question is would I be better off buying the diesel vs the base v6 for her? She drives mostly around town about 12k miles a year. What are the pros and cons of the diesel? Your input is greatly appreciated.

 

I personally would choose the diesel.

I bet the diesel might get better gas mileage then the V6 and that low end torque is really put to use during city driving. It might feel like a faster truck then it is because of it.

The thing I would be scared about is accidentally putting unleaded into the diesel tank.

My diesel semis engines aren't really broken in till they hit 100k. The engines are really bullet proof.

 

Drive both. I drove the V6 and didn't care for the way the transmission interacted with the V6 engine seemed always be searching and a little jerky. I purchased the diesel and I love the way the transmission interacts with the diesel engine it seems a lot smoother and fluid. This is probably because most of the torque is delivered to 2000 RPM.

Also keep in mind that the diesel is a little bit more expensive to run. You will need engine oil changes every 5000 miles instead of 10,000 miles.

If you can I suggest trying to drive both back-to-back.

 

I have to agree with you the diesel does feel faster even though it might not be, especially when you're trying to do a pass maneuver the torque really makes a car take off.

No worries about putting unleaded gas in this diesel Porsche. It has designed a special lockout mechanism where you can't even get the smaller nozzle into the gas receptor because of special lock out mechanism. Pretty cool feature!

 

That is great to know! Actually it's brilliant because I would be worried that if I let my family borrow the car and they try to do something nice for (as refueling my car) they have to potential to mess it up.

 

diesel will be much faster around town in lazy driving, but it will start to run out of breath on faster highway speeds and the V6 would take it. on the highway, HP carries the day. but the diesel has that effortless power around town and is such a joy. drive both and you'll see what I mean. the extra fuel efficiency of the diesel (which is not insignificant) is just a bonus.

 

After driving a 550, I think she'd be disappointed base Cayenne git up and go. It's got the Volkswagen VR6 engine. In a Golf, it might be impressive. But a Cayenne with a full tank of fuel and a driver weighs over 5000 pounds.

//greg//

 

+1
Very cool feature, I didn't know that.

I would go with the diesel, the only thing that would concern me is the start and stopping if your just going to use it around town and run errands. I would also suggest driving them back to back if you could. Keep us posted on what you end up choosing.

 

No auto-stop/start feature on the diesel. That's on gasoline/hybrid models only.

//greg//

 

Also no 4-zone climate in the diesel in US/Canada. To me, the 4-zone is a must have, because it has 2 extra air vents and extra air cond unit for the back, even if you normally do not carry passengers at the back it will still cool the car much faster, especially if you have panorama roof.

 

Very similar cars. It comes down to personal preference. Drive both on the same day and see how they feel. If fuel cost is a concern, diesel wins obviously. If not, just go by what feels better to you. Personally, I don't like driving diesels, but that's just me.

 

I was able to drive the diesel yesterday. I was very impressed. It has a lot of low end torque which makes it feel very quick around the city. It is a turbo diesel and very responsive. Compared to the v6, the trans felt a liitle less choppy in my opinion, but that could just be an improvement from 2012 to 2013 model, not sure. The diesel comes with the automatic trans standard so it is basically $3900 more than a v6 auto. I think it is worth it. My dealer is only willing to discount one $2k regardless of options. I got 4.5% discount on my v6 one year ago when they were impossible to get. I have bought 12 cars from this dealer in the past 8 years and I think it may be time to shop around. Why be greedy to a long time customer and risk losing me over $2k? Has anyone heard of any other dealers offering discounts in diesels? If so, what percentage? As always, I appreciate your feedback and comments.

 

Back in May I negotiated with 4 Porsche dealers over the same 2013 Cayenne diesel build. Best I could do was 2.1% ($1500 off $71k). I don't know if that speaks to early demand, or simply to a lack of negotiating skills.

//greg//

 

I know you might not like the sound of this, but the dealer doesn't really care about losing you as a client. Why? Because they have a product which will keep selling whether you're around or not. In general, demand for Porsches usually exceeds supply, so you're not really in a great position to negotiate. Especially on Cayennes, which people are willing to buy for a few K over in some cases.

 

Wrong ... diesel have start stop