ok... so I know all about the 3rd seat..

but.... if you have two kids in car seats.. it negates the access to the 3rd row... (I'm talking newborn and 2 yo... ) (and unlike the Q7 you can't crawl through the middle seat!)

the Cayenne actually has a bit wider and more open feeling rear seat.

the Cayenne was designed within the last 3 years..

the GL550 actually felt much quicker off the line as the Cayenne seems to need more revs to get going...

the GL550 brakes felt mushy compared to the Porsche (though, this particular car felt mushy beyond other GLs that I have driven)

unless you outfit the Porsche with the 21" wheels.. the GL550 looks better and much more masculine..

the Cayenne feels much more luxurious..


comments??

 

also...

the MB tranny feels much better in normal mode... but once you go manual.. the Cayenne was very responsive.

 

Seriously, just save the money and get the same thing with the Touareg. Not nearly as ugly.

 

Steve the pilot...

I truly appreciate your response and color on your opinion of the esthetic appeal of the new Cayenne.... and other than the fact that you own an Excursion which I find very appealing... by looking at the vehicles that you are driving.. I don't think that you worry so much about your esthetic appeal of a vehicle... and since I wasn't asking about the esthetics... I will rate your comment invalid strictly based on principle....

didn't somebody make a commercial about not being bland by driving a certain Lexus?.... hmmmm.. in fact, I think that it was the exact RX330 that you are driving.... point made.

see... some of us actually like to drive our vehicles hard and fast.. burn those fossil fuels and pay for it... as a Pilot.. you should know that.. I cringe every time I fill up my A36... but it is just part of the cost of doing business or having fun... no?

 

If you buy the right car seat, you shouldn't have any problems taking it out of the second row and buckling it into the third row for the few occasions you would need access to both rows. In less than two years you will have a four year old and you will most likely be putting a booster seat in the second row. Booster bases are light and they slide out of the way easily when you need to lift the second row. If you have three, you place the car seat in the third row and the booster in the second and you will easily be able to stand bent over in front of your little one while you buckle him/her into the third row car seat.

What you need to understand about the GL is that it provides a unique compromise between the SUV with a sporty ride that can be harsh and uncomfortable at times and the SUV with a soft ride that can be unnerving when traveling around corners at freeway speeds because of body roll and understeer. If you don't need a third row and you like the sporty ride of a X5 or Cayenne, then the GL might not be for you. I will say though that it is hard to appreciate the suspension and handling on a GL with a test drive. The soft ride leaves a lot of people with a "floaty" impression when they hop out of their 5 series and into the GL. What you need is to put your wife and kids in one and then go for a four hour drive through the mountains at 75+ MPH and then you will understand why we like our GL's so much. There is no SUV on the road that can tow 7500 lbs, haul 7 people (6 in comfort) and combine a comfortable ride with such minimal body roll and confidence at high speeds.

 

Larger rims make a huge difference in handling. The low profile tires make a huge difference in controlling body roll. 22" wheels and tires are the best thing I did for the handling of my GL. Sure, mileage is down a bit but the ride and handling are so much better now that it is worth the trade off. I went with forged wheels so the mileage impact of the larger wheels would not be as great as with cast wheels.

 

43221B.... I agree with you about how well the car handles up to a point... but I will tell you, that after test driving both cars side by side yesterday within 15 minutes of each other... the Porsche is in a different world. That being said... in real world terms.. to see those differences, one would be putting your driver license in jeopardy daily!


as far as access to the back seats, MB needs to take a page from Infinity to see how easy one of the seats (from either side in the back) can be flipped up to get access to the third row.. we have a new Q56 here at the house this week and I was blown away how easy the seat (both sides) works... this brings me back to my point about that the GL and when the car was designed and the fact that newer products have moved forward considerably...

I don't mean to be the antagonist here.. but 3 years of reality dealing with my E500 and all of the issues has removed all of the "stardust" from my eyes towards our "beloved" E Wagon or MB for that matter.......


here is the last part of the "rub".....
they will be rolling out the new ML for 2012... have to expect the new GL in 2013....or maybe as a mid 2012 year car.... so spending $85K for a new 2011 is a tough nut to swallow when you will get killed on resell ... (and I am learning that you do not want to own one of these cars out of warranty!)


again... these are simply observations and ramblings... I like the car but I think that a lot of thought needs to go into the consideration of the purchase... if anyone asks me what I think about the E series cars.. I tell them that they are great.. but don't under any circumstances buy one pre-2006 as they have major issues and will prove to be a money pit... I'm simply looking for candid comments here.


BlownV8 ... I have had 4 blown tires here in NYC... 3 cracked rims... and just had all 4 of my AMG wheels "unbent" ... so anything beyond the OEM size tires on the GL550 would be suicide here in these parts... I was talking with a limo driver who uses th GL550.. he told me that he had cracked one of his rims and that it was something like $1800 for a new wheel! ouch... I'm not sure of the validity of that cost claim.. but still....

 

" ...in real world terms.. to see those differences, one would be putting your driver license in jeopardy daily!"

Exactly, that is why the GL is a good compromise. MB puts air suspension on their cars knowing that it will compromise handling to a certain extent. That is why they take the air suspension off of their AMG cars. Living in the NYC area, I would think you would appreciate the softer ride considering how bad your roads are. I totally agree with your points about rims. Really, it just comes down to personal preference and whatever else you already have in your other garage bay. If you have a 911, you might not care too much about carving corners in your GL.

 

unfortunately... I have only one parking space... so between the motorcycles and aircraft... I still want to get some of the driving thrill with my 4 wheel vehicle.

 

Well then there is your answer. I've participated in this forum for about a year now and unlike many other forums, I don't think anyone here would try to convince you that a GL is the only SUV to own. Again, it comes down to personal preferences. All we can do is provide insight as to why we own one.

 

I have not driven the 2011 Cayenne S, but I hear great things. There is no comparison on the 2003 - 2010 Cayenne (heavy truck) and the GL. But the 2011 Cayenne changes are likely significant.

And I agree with the poorly designed seat flipping process. Both the Sequoia and the QX56 (old and new) are superior. Fortunately, our 9 year old has it figured out.

The GL is perfect for us. Drives like a smaller vehicle than it is, but is big enough for 3 kids and lots of gear. And I like the air suspension. Compared to our former 07 Escalade with 22" wheels, it is SO MUCH better.

 

I appreciate your thoughts on my vehicles, and I suppose I should've tongue-in-cheeked my comments but I'm not sure which "emoticon" that one is.

A) I have sold the Excursion long ago. As a 2000 V10 gas model its one redeeming quality was the oomph in the engine for getting on the highway. (Well, that and the rather hungry look it had behind a Prius!). It was cavernous but had little room for extras (like a GPS and such), so I had to tear the crap out of it to put in anything and nothing fit right. Its normal mileage range was in the single digits - very inefficient (as a pilot you should appreciate that - lean of peak, lean of peak!) and it rode like an unloaded F250, which is basically what it was, all the time. No fun on long highway trips.

B) The 330's my wife's. She says she loves it. I can't get it beat up enough to get her to sell it. It's not bad to drive but it's not perfect.

Wanna know ugly? The Caddy SRX they loaned me pushes the ugly button a lot.

I did drive an LX470 for a while and that wasn't too bad. The highway ride could be a little like a carnival ride on the curves, but off-road it was absolutely brilliant and in the city it's only problems were mileage (11-14 at best) and its size. The LX570 is really ugly looking to me.

I actually think the funniest thing (or maybe the strangest thing) about Porsche is they have the laziest designers in the world! Every car looks like every other car they make! How the hell did they decide an SUV and a sedan should look like a 911? Wild.

STP

PS I would love to fly one of those new turbo SR22s! Any shots of the A36? Just for drooling?

 

no worries on the comments....

I am quick on the draw around here.. so much bad information pops up on the web and some of the comments are just a waste of "internet air"

for example... I have heard a number of people describe how the off road package doesn't exist for the 550 (but it does...) and that the two tone interior wasn't available.. and it is too.

Porsche is lazy on the design... and I have to say that the GL550 might be a prettier car... but hands down, the interior on the Porsche is stunning... even my wife made the comment that the GL wasn't very luxurious..

so all is good... here is a pic better to drool at!

Cheers,

 

I compared the GL, X5, RR, and Cayenne when I bought the GL. I found that the Cayenne was much smaller than everything else, and as far as sportiness goes, its an SUV.

 

Just noticed where you are....

I actually flew from KHPN (white plains ) to KSDL last year in my buddy's SR22 Turbo...two days.. can't remember exactly how many hours... mostly with oxygen in the nose and dodging weather.

 

way2evil .. the new Porsche is bigger inside than the older car.. in fact, we put the baby seat in both cars for comparrison.. the Porsche was roomier.

 

Yup, our GL is a family long distance hauler supreme . With the typical 4 plus hour drive from the Bay Area to our Tahoe place - we always arrrive fresh .Holds 7 adult sized passnegers easily when needed. We've noticed many friends/neighbors' Escalades /Suburbans replaced with GLs at our Lake Tahoe neighborhood the past couple years . I haven't tried the latest Cayenne, but prev gen was noisy and rough riding on test drives - though handles better - as expected. Can't imagine that tire noise for the kind of twice a month long distance driving we do with our hauler on the route I referenced .. Each car has it's intended niche .
( My 911 Turbo serves my sporty drivings needs well enough)

 

I was born in Buffalo (please, don't tell anyone!) and I can't imagine how much fun that must've been going that far and seeing that much! Nose cannulas are the better way to go, I think, though I've not done anything further than SDL/ABQ & back with 'em. How were the rockies?

 

I don't know about the 2011 Cayenne's, but when I comparison shopped the Cayenne versus the GL in both 2007 and 2010, the pepper fell far behind in comfort, ride, fit, finish, and many other intangibles.

I imagine the Cayenne would win a performance / handling competition with flying colors, but those criteria are secondary to me.

The GL, even the lowly 450 series, are hands down the best all around comfort cruising SUV you can find, IMHO.

 

a couple of things about the Cayenne that I should note...

1. if you put the transmission into manual mode.. the car became very "herky-jerky" ... and that means exactly as it sounds... kinda like riding a old dirtbike that didn't run all that well until you gave it some gas and told it where to go..

2. put the tranny in auto.. it was find.. but you would find yourself in 8th gear going 38 mph ... not the sporty experience that you were looking for...

3. the Cayenne I drove was a steel car vs the 550 air suspension.. I am positive that the air Cayenne would be much better riding... (apples to apples)

4. the GL550 felt much more torque than the Porsche until you got the rpms up...

one last note.. if you haven't seen the Cayenne wearing 21 inch wheels.. then the hook won't be properly set ... the car just doesn't look that muscular without the big wheels...

 

Because of this lively discussion I decided to check out the 2011 Cayenne (which I know very little about) on the Porsche website...I think we might be debating two totally different vehicles.

GL Cargo Room: 83.3 cu ft
Cayenne Cargo Room: 62.9 cu ft
The GL has 32.4% more cargo capacity than the Cayenne!

GL Curb Weight: 5545 lbs
Cayenne Curb Weight: 4553 lbs

GL Length: 200.6 inches
Cayenne Length: 190.8 inches

GL Seating Capacity: 7
Cayenne Seating Capacity:? not really sure because the website doesn't talk about it. I assume there is no third row. The roofline seemed steeply raked downward just behind the 2nd row seats.

This has been a fun discussion but it is almost like comparing the 5 Series to the S-Class. Considering that I'm hauling my family in my GL, I've always sort of liked the fact that I have all that weight and sheet metal around us.

 

The Toureg/Cayenne's windshield slopes back so much it affects getting into the vehicle for me.

It's really a vehicle to compare to the ML rather than the GL.

 

We own an '05 Cayenne Turbo and an '07 GL450, I've driven both extensively and I can say that the GL is great to drive for LONNNG distances with both kids (1 & 3) strapped into their car seats watching their DVD players but the Pepper is still my favorite. They each have their place depending on what you are looking for in a vehicle.

 

If the SUV is for me, I would take the Cayenne. I test drove a 2010 Cayenne GTS couple of months ago and I love the handling, ride and that PSE exhaust sound From what I read, the 2011 Cayenne is even better. HOWEVER, if you have children then it is not so practical. For the simple reasons of lack of third row seating and small cargo area. My wife also like the drivability of Cayenne but she needs more cargo space. Another thing is the price. To get a decently optioned Cayenne, you would have to spend at least $95,000 for a Cayenne S. Since the SUV is for my wife, she refused to spend that kind of money for an SUV. She thinks GL550 is a bargain compare to the Cayenne S.

John

 

For around-town driving and anything other than smooth pavement/long highway, the Porsche blows the GL 550 away. I spent the past few days driving my wife's while she was away with the kids, and it confirmed my initial impressions before we bought: the GL doesn't know what it wants to be. She likes it and that's fine by me, but the thing shudders, shakes and shimmies like it's fighting itself when you hit most kinds of road imperfections. I feel M-B did a POOR job of straddling "sport" vs. "luxury". JMO so no need to convince me I'm wrong. Now for trips it's the best. Very comfortable to eat up miles of interstate. If you don't do mostly highway or don't need the 3rd row/space, then I'd go with the Porsche in a second. I'd shoot myself if I had to drive the GL every day, but that's my personal ride/handling bias that comes from many years and many different kinds of rides.