I currently have a BMW that I will be trading in and have decided on a cayenne and am leaning toward the diesel. I did a quick search and did not find much negative on them but decided to check and see what people who own them think. I love the room and gas mileage. What are the draw backs if any to getting the diesel?
Thanks in advance.

 

Well I suppose if you like your gas station guy you'll see him less.

After 1.3 years of driving mine I have no complaints specific to the power plant.

Things I complain about in general:
Rear seats don't fold flat
Take of the d-pillar hampers rear vertical storage.
Way too many buttons.
Rear window doesn't open.
Rear hatch opens remotely, but doesn't close.
Forgets settings (park assist, sport mode, mute, etc..) between restarts.
If you didn't order roof rails, you can't add them later.

I've found it to be everything I expected and more. Hardly a day goes by where I don't utter "god I love that car" at some point. Including days I'm not driving it.

 

My wife is the primary driver of our diesel, but when I do drive it, I find it very satisfying for an SUV.

Some people complain that diesels run out of "breathe" too soon on the highway, but I really don't see that as a problem with this vehicle in particular. You can drive your 991 when you're concerned with that... I think some people may also be a bit put off by the needing twice as many services (5k mile oil change intervals vs 10k for the non-diesels).

All-in-all, our diesel has been great and we've had it almost a year and most importantly, my wife hasn't had any complaints about it. She enjoys driving it and it fits our needs very well.

 

Thanks for the input, I am glad I am not seeing a bunch of negative problems. This also will be for my wife as I have more enjoyable things to drive, we can use it for a long distant hauler and good for Home Depot and lowes. I will need to do the math and see if the cost is still benifical with needing more service. I like the gas mileage but the cost of diesel is not any better than premium gas. Good thing to figure out.
Thanks for your help.

 

Something you need to take into account that most people new to diesel don't is you are comparing apples to oranges if you just compare the price. What you need to compare is the cost per mile and remember that you can really get 700+ miles out of a tank (highway cruising, but cruising at 70+ ). You will re-fuel less often and that adds up.

I've been tracking mine closely since I bought it and comparing it to what I estimate I would have gotten in the gas V6 which I was first looking at. I still have ~70k miles to "pay off" the premium of the diesel over the base, but I'm averaging an estimated 35 gallons for every 26 I put in the diesel.

The other thing to consider about the "extra" service is who you have do it. The dealers in my area want an obscene amount (~$400 - ~$700!) for the OCI, but there is nothing special to it if you are into doing some of your own work. For my 10k OCI I had a VW dealer do it (they are also who I get my oil from) and they charged me $130 for oil + labor + state inspection (I provided the filter as it is different). You can see the thread linked in my sig to determine if it's something you'd want to take on.

Additionally at 10k you are supposed to drain water from the fuel filter (seems some dealers aren't bothering) and my dealer wanted $300 on top of the $375 for the oil change. The VW dealer was going to do it for 30 minutes of labor, but they wanted to bump it to a full hour ($120) as it is apparently a different process from the T-Reg. I ended up doing that one myself too and found it to be easy (other than dealing with the diesel fuel on my hands and tools). There is a link for that in my sig too.

Basically what I've found over 15k so far is that the savings in per mile cost does indeed come out ahead and will cover the "extra" services, but it's not like you bank account is going to grow as you drive down the road

 

My wife primarily drives ours too, but I use it to tow my racecar to the track and it is so much better than towing with our old expedition or tahoe. Makes me was an new Ram eco diesel instead of my frontier, because I prefer a pickup for track days for ease of loading. 3 times, our radio has gone to full volume all on its own, and once it said the brake lights malfunctioned when they didn't, but all of those cleared right away. The biggest downside is that unlike our Tahoe and Expedition that we put 15000 miles per year on every year for 6 years, we have 30000 on the Cayenne in 1.5 years, and we have a 15k/yr lease. My wife's Z4 has extremely low miles now though, since she prefers the Porsche. We just added an extra 150 to our monthly payment though and it gets me up to around 20k per year. Rather just pay a little more now than worry about miles.

I would say, out of about 40 vehicles, this is the all around best vehicle I have ever had.

 

No sure where you are in CA, but in the Bay Area diesel fuel is about $.24/gal less than premium unleaded.

The diesel engine/tranny combo just "works" and IMO, feels a little more suited for each other than the V6 option. Drive both and form your own opinion, but driving them back-to-back was the real deciding factor for us.

Also, the diesel price already includes an automatic transmission; on the V6, you're already looking at a $3k "option" if you want an auto. Base V6 with an auto is about $53.6k while the diesel (with auto) starts at $56.6. The price difference isn't as large compared to their base prices.

 

My wife drives hers and says it is her favorite car she has ever driven. She was in a 535 before that. She says she will never get rid of it.

I love it to pieces. Go for it!

 

Thanks for all the comments, just had a chance to drive both the diesel and non back to back and I believe the BMW will not be around much longer, the diesel was very nice and enjoyable to drive. Thanks again

 

I cross shopped the new X5D loaded up with M Sport to the Cayenne Diesel w/ less options. The CD drives way better. So far really like the car. Road trip from LA to San Francisco, 32.5 mpg at cruising speeds of 75-80. Towed trailer back (empty, about 1400 lbs) and got 28 mpg.

 

Now, the question is whether you want to wait till the mid-cycle redesign and hope that a more powerful diesel engine is offered. Rumors, rumors.

...However, I agree with what everyone has posted here. I have driven the CD much more than when I had the 987. Maybe it is more comfortable as my AARP card gets activated.

 

Keep in mind that 4-zone climate option is not available on US/Canadian Cayenne Diesel but is available in Europe and Asia. This feature was important to us and we bought a Cayenne S instead. With the 4-zone you get a secondary AC unit which helps to cool the car much faster. The rear console also looks much nicer with the 4-zone.

 

Without the 4-zone, you get an empty slot behind the console which is quite cheap looking.

 

Here is a better pic.

 

This is without 4-zone.