X5 4.4 vs. Cayenne S

jaba · #1 09-27-2005, 01:46 AM

Driving home yesterday night from school on the 405 at around 10:30, a porsche cayenne S overtook me going about 20 mph faster than I was traveling (75mph). Of course I was just cruising and enjoying the ride home but I felt i was taunted when he actually slowed down to my speed, cruised beside me for a while and then suddenly he hit on the gas again. Ok, so I decided to have a little fun and see how good this bimmer of mine could put up with the cayenne s. Of course, there were a few cars on the road so i decided to limit the kind "fun" I wanted to have. Can't afford an accident or to cause an accident. So i went on sport mode and chased him. I was amazed with this vehicle. It's a beast.

I easily kept up with him and tailed him traveling around 130mph. I had no intentions of overtaking him but i got beside him one time. We did this for about 3-5 min. After that I had to slow down cause my exit was up. Wow, what a thrilling ride home. It was fun but I won't do that often since I worry about safety. What about you guys? can you actually resist your engine when it begs to be pushed? Well, just wanted to share.

cimbro · #2 09-27-2005, 02:40 AM

Very nice ride! Do you think that it was more performance than your 4.4?

Juanted · #3 09-27-2005, 07:42 AM

I must admit to having done the same once or twice... Not againt a Pepper, though. I do get taunted a lot... even by cars that have NO business doing that.

It's the whole "let's show this BMW a$$wipe his car's not so hot" infliction, I guess.

Juan

jaba · #4 09-27-2005, 09:34 AM

More performance? I wouldn't really think so. He may be 25 horses up but I kept up with him pretty good. I'd back down from a cayenne turbo but I wanted to give the cayenne s a run for his money. He had dealer plates so I think it was new, and so did I (hehehe, but I had 15k miles). Maybe that's why he decided to pick on me. At 130mph it still felt it could do more than that but we entered a couple of heavily "Radar-ed" areas so we had to slow down a couple of times. Anywho, now I want to test drive a 4.8

andrewl · #5 09-27-2005, 09:54 AM

my 4.4i definitely does 140ish..speedo reads optimistic I know..but I was beyond the 140 mark on the speedo pushing past 145 before backing off. Now with my new 20" wheels instead of 19"..I think it can do 139?

What prevents me from attempting this is that I really have a 5,000lb vehicle (with passenger) at that speed....if I strike a car, I will obliterate it...not a pretty site.

I wonder how the Cayenne S does on the twisties?

King · #6 09-27-2005, 10:28 AM

My brother-in-law has the Cayenne S and I have driven it several times. To me it definately feels heavy like I was towing a boat! It has more of a luxury feel to it with a smooth ride. My X5 however has much more of a sporty feel to it. I have 20" wheels on mine which make a big difference in the ride & handling but still, mine feels much more responsive to the pedal. I notice this every time I drive his Cayenne and get back into my truck.

Sure the Cayenne has 340HP but people forget it is about 600lbs heavier than the X5. It needs that extra horse just to pull that extra weight when you compare the HP to weight ratio. At the end of the day, both vehicles are neck to neck comparing 0-60 at 6.9sec.

So it comes down to the tires, wheels, etc. and of course the driver. I would smoke any Cayenne S with my 4.4i ...

and he would burn half a tank of gas extra just trying to keep up with me! The Cayenne has amongst the worst gas mileage along with the Range Rover.

X5Flyboy · #7 09-27-2005, 09:27 AM

"I feel the need...the need for speed" - got mine up to 115 the other day, only 3700rpm - really haven't 'aired' it out yet - I limit myself to when there is only me for as far as the eye can see and have not been on I-15 since getting the Dinan S2 installed. - wanted to go to Bonneville Salt Flats to join the 130 club, but they cancelled the runs this year.

ZettaQuattro · #8 09-27-2005, 09:32 AM

I like the Cayenne too, but I would prefer the X5 4.4 .. The Cayenne misses 2 Cylinders

dan_fitz · #9 09-27-2005, 12:20 PM

The Cayenne has a more isolated feel which also makes acceleration feel slower. The manual mode in the Cayenne was nothing special, but i did like that you could change gears via the steering wheel. Shift time and speed were not obviously different in full automatic or manumatic.

vreynaud · #10 09-27-2005, 06:46 PM

I had an opportunity to drive a cayenne on a race track locally (Willow Springs) during an open track day.

My expectation of an SUV was not the highest, I drive them as daily drivers and they are generally sluggish in handling & performance, I was nicely surprised:
The car, as heavy as it is & feels, handled very predictably: Minimal push (understeer), well balance as long as you don’t upset it (smooth transitions for right to left), good throttle steering (no snapping of the back end).

I was following a friend of mine (we both have racing experience) who was in a mini cooper S and in the sweeping turns I could hang with him, at times make up a car length because of the wide rubber grip & pushing the car to 8-9/10th, in the tighter turns the weight handicap would slow me down.

Overall nicely surprised, still like my more nimble feeling X5, but Porsche did OK for an SUV.