My new DD, 2015 Cayenne Diesel, the Anti-Porsche

So I happily was driving a 2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, which was a 525hp beast.  It was great, towed my trailer/race car, ran up the hill as my ski machine, was a fun, reliable DD.  I loved it.  It used about 1 qt of oil every 1200 miles, which I didn't really think anything of, they have a reputation for oil use and nothing was coming out the back.

Then a few months ago the oil consumption literally doubled to 1qt/500 miles.  I could also smell oil when I started it up in my garage.  Nothing on the floor, motor was clean.  Amazingly Porsche says using 1.5qt/600 miles is within spec?!  That's crazy talk right there.  I took it to my trusted local dealer, they brought in their lead tech and I ran through it with him. 

Basically he said he'd happily charge me $3-500 to tell me exactly which expensive problem I don't want to fix it has, or just know it has an expensive problem I don't want to fix, like bad turbo seals or bad piston oil control rings.  The truck was worth maybe $12k, not worth spending that to fix it when it has ~140k miles and is 12 years old.

Ok then.  Time to move on from my beloved beast.  At the same time I got a call from my salesman at the same dealer telling me that Porsche had released the 2015 and 2016 Cayenne Diesels for sale finally, did I want one?

Well, yes, yes I do!  Went and checked them all out, decided on a dark, dark blue with black interior one.  Was almost exactly how I would've optioned it.  I would've traded the panoramic sunroof for the air suspension, but it is what it is.

Why the Cayenne Diesel and not another Turbo?  Well, honestly, the Diesel has more than enough punch for around town use and really kills it on the freeway.  I have the M3 for my track car and my KTM 1190R moto for when I really want to go fast.  I want a good DD that can tow, carry the family, be a good ski rig and get decent MPG's.  So far I've been knocking down close to 30mpg's in my daily commute in the diesel, which is amazing compared to the 13 mpg I got in my last Turbo.

So why the "Anti-Porsche"?  Well, a diesel SUV isn't really the thing you think of when someone says "Porsche".  It's a low slung, mega powered sports car.  Even my last Cayenne Turbo was more of a typical Porsche than this, as it had a ton of HP and was really fast for an SUV.  This one is, um, efficient and sensible, not bonkers.

I also ended up with almost 4 years of bumper to bumper warranty.  Plus my tax guy says I can write it off as a company car, so even better!

Since its under warranty this will be more of an ownership blog than a build thread, but I do have some things I plan to do.  I've already pulled the crappy Goodyear Eagle all seasons off in favor of a set of Hakkapellita snow tires.  Next up is to tint the back windows to the Colorado legal limit and tint match the front.  Part of my purchase agreement with the dealer was them removing my trailer brake controller from my old Cayenne and putting it into my new Cayenne, appointment made for that.

Lastly I'm considering adding a tuner box, several other Cayenne Diesel (CD) owners have used this one with success.  For ~$400 to get +50hp and +100ft lbs it seems like a good deal.  Plug n Play, easy to reverse, etc. http://bluesparkautomotive.com/porsche-cayenne-diesel-us-spec-64248

I kept my Turbo S techno twist 20" wheels from my previous Cayenne Turbo to use on this Cayenne as my summer wheels/tires as they have basically new Conti DWS06 tires on them, since they're Turbo S wheels they're staggered, which should look pretty beefy.  I have some questions as to whether the old tpms sensors will work with the new Cayenne, guess I'll just have to see.

Ordered a dipstick from VW, as many other cars the CD doesn't have a dipstick from the factory, but there IS a dipstick tube!  So for $30 I was able to order VW part # 059-115-611AM from my local dealer and I'll have a real oil dipstick.  Woohoo!

Couple pics from the day I picked it up last week.

What do you mean ...cars don't have dipsticks? WTF ?  

Oh, and nice score on the Porsche.

The non dipstick things annoying as hell when you service one. Nothing like waiting for the on board diagnostics to determine its full of oil. Longest wait was 18 minutes in a porsche so far! I love the look of them though.

Were these not available until now,whereas the VW equivalent was?

I actually watched one of these autocross last year, I was surprised at how well it handled and just how much go it had. 

Tell me about it!  The dipstick deletion has to be the dumbest thing ever!  My 2011 Audi S4 had it deleted as well, but just like this diesel you could add it back as the dipstick tube was still there.

Unfortunately the diesel is the only Porsche that still has the dipstick tube, you can't retrofit a dipstick to other Cayenne's, etc

7579NRNG, no, both VW and Porsche had a stop sale on the 2015 and 2016 diesels until they could come to an agreement with the EPA to solve the emissions issue.  So you couldn't buy a 2015/2016 Touareg or a Cayenne diesel until just a week or so ago.

I'd told the salesman to put me on the list a few years ago, I was surprised to get a call....

congrats man, super cool vehicle.

Where have these been.....out of sight from the general public on the dealers floor plan, or in an approved EPA impound lot? 

^I don't see any dust from the Silverdome implosion

Yup, tucked away in the corner of the dealer lots for the last 2-3 years.

Finally got around to programming the Homelink in my '15 CD. I have 3 seperate doors with 3 seperate openers, so one for each Homelink button. Two openers are standard Liftmasters, center door is a vertical opening jackshaft liftmaster 8500.

After a few fits and starts I got both the "regular" openers programmed into Homelink. However I can't seem to get the 8500 to sync up. I'm tapping the "learn" button on it twice so the red led pops on, then holding down the Homelink button until I get a slow flashing light. Then going in front of the truck and holding down the proper remote button until the turn signals flash three times. I then hit the button on my original remote, then try the Homelink button. No love. Tried it a few times, same thing.

What am I missing? Of course that opener is the door where I park...

On an economy update, I've gone 450 miles on 5/8" tank of gas, which included driving up to Vail over the passes with the ski rack on.  The gas mileage this thing gets is CRAZY considering it's a pretty heavy SUV, it was registering 34mpg when I pulled into my driveway yesterday.

Ok, finally got the 8500 opener to work with Homelink.

Not sure why it didn't work the first few times, nothing changed but having the truck inside the garage this time....

Dropped car at the dealer last night so they could install the trailer brake controller from my old cayenne in my new one.  Also having them install the 7 pin trailer plug, which oddly isn't installed on any of the tow package cars unless you specifically ask them to do so.

Got a nice surprise, when the truck was prepped for sale they basically did the 20k mile service!  So oil/filter change, air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter etc.  Don't have to do the 20k service myself.

Hopefully pick the truck up this afternoon, then will swing by the VW dealer and grab my oil dipstick.  This Friday is tinting the windows time.  Still debating getting that BlueSpark tuner box....

There is one of these on Autotrader "new" listed for $18k off sticker. Not bad, I would much rather have this than a Tahoe since at this point, they are the same damn price. 

Tahoe is a much larger vehicle, so if you need the room, it gets the nod.  The Cayenne is an awesome mid/small sized SUV tho, I really like it! 

docwyte said:

On an economy update, I've gone 450 miles on 5/8" tank of gas, which included driving up to Vail over the passes with the ski rack on.  The gas mileage this thing gets is CRAZY considering it's a pretty heavy SUV, it was registering 34mpg when I pulled into my driveway yesterday.

I'd expect gas mileage to approach infinity but it's difficult to say because dividing by zero is a no-no

Ok, so Tuesday the dealer put in my trailer brake controller and the 7 pin wiring plug for the tow hitch, free of charge.

I'm not totally thrilled with where they put the trailer brake controller, I can't reach it while sitting in the drivers seat.  They offered to move it for me if I decide I want them to, we'll see...

Next up was putting in the oil dipstick.  Luckily Porsche left the dipstick tube in place on the diesels, for $32 I was able to source the dipstick from the VW dealer.  Easy install, pull out the plug and drop in the dipstick.

Next up is getting the windows tinted tomorrow am.  Hopefully that BlueSpark tuner box shows up in a week or so.

docwyte said:

Hopefully that BlueSpark tuner box shows up in a week or so.

Guess you're not on the fence about the tuner box anymore...

Tell me about the seats in this please............features etc.....

Very nice!

So what's the history of this Cayenne? Was it sold to a customer and repurchased by Porsche? How many miles were on it when you bought it?

I'm guessing you had to take off the engine cover to put the dipstick in?  I can't imagine Porsche would leave all of that unsightly engine exposed. 

Always loved the Toureg diesel, the Porsche is that +2.  Great score.  

Woody, this truck was never titled.  The dealer used it as a service loaner for a bit, so technically I'm the first owner.  18k miles on it when I bought it, I had the dealer print off all the service records, so 1 owner/all records since new!

Camaroz1985, Yes, you have to take the engine cover off to get the dipstick in/out, not a pretty motor at all...

75NRNG, Seats are the 14 way heated/cooled leather seats.  Really comfy.  I'll take some pics of the interior today and post them.  Just got back from the window tint place, had the front windows tinted to match the back ones.

So far over 550 miles on this tank of gas, low fuel light still hasn't come on...

As someone who knows someone that owns it's sister which happens to be a 2007 VW Touareg Twin Turbo V10 TDI, and said person has let me drive that 309 hp and 553 lb-ft of torqued monster.... Well lets just say I love that thing ahaha.  I passed my drivers test in that beast. I really enjoy driving it and wish I had the kind of money to afford the repairs for something like that because I'd keep the damned thing forever. So let me be the the first to say welcome to the joys of having a TDI Cayenne my good man. I don't know about you but when I drive that Touareg I giggle like a berking school girl