Took the pepper out in the snow - little disappointed

[stealthn]

So we got about 8" today so I thought I would take the truck out to see what it's like in the snow and I must say I was a little disappointed. It drove more like a car, and I was able to bring the back end out at will with no sign on PSM or traction control intervention.

I thought with all the bells and whistles on these vehicles it would have caught the slides and spins a little better. My wife's Expedition performed better with it's traction control.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

[cvhs18472]

Pick up trucks ,with their very light rear ends , never do good in snow and ice without some sort of help. Mine is 3 sand bags in the box for traction , and possible help gettin out after getting stuck and using 4WD when there is snow on the ground. Wait till you really have to stop quick. Good Luck, Ed

[geoff]

What size/brand of tires? I haven't tried my '08 Cayenne S in the snow, but it came with mud and snow tires (19" rims), and there's a little sticker on the dash that explicitly says not to exceed 150 MPH because of the tires. I think the 19" wheels are the largest Porsche offers on the Cayenne with all season tires. I drove my Boxster back from dinner one night when the outside temperature read 32 degrees and I had noticeably worse traction on the canyon roads. High performance summer tires aren't so great when the temperature drops below the low 40s

[mudman2]

Depends on what you were trying to to. If its fun you want turn off PSM and keep the revs high BUT if your on 19/20/22 tires forget it, your cross section footprint makes the car too light to get any traction, try 18's with decent tires. The Ford has very narrow tires for its size and focus's its already huge weight on the road its bound to be better.

17's are what you really want but they will not fit the brakes on a TT

What size/brand of tires? I haven't tried my '08 Cayenne S in the snow, but it came with mud and snow tires (19" rims), and there's a little sticker on the dash that explicitly says not to exceed 150 MPH because of the tires. I think the 19" wheels are the largest Porsche offers on the Cayenne with all season tires. I drove my Boxster back from dinner one night when the outside temperature read 32 degrees and I had noticeably worse traction on the canyon roads. High performance summer tires aren't so great when the temperature drops below the low 40s

[nh9095]

I live in Myrtle Beach, SC and the cayenne has never seen snow until this last week. Went to Gatlinburg, TN and set parking break as I was parked on hill. Next morning released parking break. You could hear it release but the warning light would not go out. Engaged and disengaged several times. finally, the light went out but at first stop light, upon restarting it came back on. Came on and went off all day. Next day it disappeared and hasn't returned. Then had to drive to Northern Ohio for a funeral and on the way pushed horn and nothing. Horn beeps when locking doors but will not make any noise when pushing steering wheel. Then in Ohio we received snow. Upon leaving hotel car was fine. It got squirrly once but immediately upon feeling pavement it jerked onto line. 22's probably not the best choice for that area but didn't expect to be going there. Then after ordering at drive thru and pulling up to window, warning light came on "PSM visit workshop". I was in Lima, Ohio probably an hour or two from any Porsche dealership so I turned car off and attempted restart. Upon attempting restart, car sputtered and didn't turn over. I then tried again and gave it a little gas. Car started and code disappeared. Returned to SC with no further problems. Car is a 2005 Cayenne V6 w/ 27,000 miles. It's still under warranty so it definitely needs a visit to the dealer. Here's pic of its first time in the snow.

:drive:

[wirunner]

My CS is superb in the snow with 18" wheels and new Conti all seasons. I can't get it to do anything funny with the PSM on. I would guess your wheel/tire combination is causing the poor performance.

Good luck...12" of white stuff is predicted where I am tomorrow.

[mudman2]

Sounds like your battery may be shot

'

I live in Myrtle Beach, SC and the cayenne has never seen snow until this last week. Went to Gatlinburg, TN and set parking break as I was parked on hill. Next morning released parking break. You could hear it release but the warning light would not go out. Engaged and disengaged several times. finally, the light went out but at first stop light, upon restarting it came back on. Came on and went off all day. Next day it disappeared and hasn't returned. Then had to drive to Northern Ohio for a funeral and on the way pushed horn and nothing. Horn beeps when locking doors but will not make any noise when pushing steering wheel. Then in Ohio we received snow. Upon leaving hotel car was fine. It got squirrly once but immediately upon feeling pavement it jerked onto line. 22's probably not the best choice for that area but didn't expect to be going there. Then after ordering at drive thru and pulling up to window, warning light came on "PSM visit workshop". I was in Lima, Ohio probably an hour or two from any Porsche dealership so I turned car off and attempted restart. Upon attempting restart, car sputtered and didn't turn over. I then tried again and gave it a little gas. Car started and code disappeared. Returned to SC with no further problems. Car is a 2005 Cayenne V6 w/ 27,000 miles. It's still under warranty so it definitely needs a visit to the dealer. Here's pic of its first time in the snow.

:drive:

[stealthn]

Sorry I guess I should have been more clear; I am running 18" wheels with brand new Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow.

Yes I will agree the big fat tires are not nearly the same as skinny ones, but I went with the smallest ones I could to fit over the rotors.

Yes I agree the pickups need rear weight, but I've never had to do that with an SUV (I've owned 6), and I know how to drive in the winter. Don't get me wrong I love the truck, but I'm used to huge understeer in a full-time 4wd, and I don't get any of that in the Cayenne. I wish there were some indicator lights telling me the PSM is kicking in (it's always on) as with other vehicles. If it is engaging I don't feel it, or I am correcting the slide before it kicks in which seems silly as I let the back end get out there pretty good.

ABS works fine as I feel it kick in when stopping on ice, so I guess I'm just not sure if the PSM is coming on. I guess one test would be take the same corner of my street with PSM on and let her slide out, then take it again with PSM off; really the only way to tell.

Stay tuned....

[wirunner]

Maybe there's something wrong with your PSM. Mine has a light that comes on when it starts to slide (i wasn't staring at the dash but looked like a triangle with a circle/arrow around it) and it came on plenty of times today. I tried multiple times to get the rear end to kick out this morning in inches of slush and snow and couldn't (without flooring it and cutting the wheel ridiculously). Or maybe there's some difference with the turbo model. I'm not even running winter tires...

[schmidty]

I live in rural Oregon and have an 04 CS with 18's and the pirreli scorpions for winter. Last year I blasted through 14 inches of fresh snow, uphill, on untracked roads, on several occasions without even a hint of slowing down or disapointment. I was very pleasantly amazed at how capable this thing can be. I also took it on roads that were basically ice with some snow on top and it similarily did well. My passenger even commented on how well it stuck to the road given such limited traction. If you want to play you have to turn off the PSM but with it on it was nearly impossible to kick out the back end on the snow and it responded well on the ice. I will agree that tire selection is a big deal though. On my previous x5 if I left the diamarris on below 40 degrees it was quite slippery, even in the dry.

[stealthn]

Sorry, yes I noticed the PSM light flashing today going around corners. Yes the truck does do well in a straight line, but I kicked the back out again a few times and noticed the PSM didn't even cut in until I was more than about 75 degrees around (the back end), to me this seemed like too much.

I guess I just have to get used to it a little more and understand the dynamics of the PSM. I will re-post after a few more weeks, right now it's wet snow and some ice (Ice i slid through the intersection with the ABS going full tilt so I would blame the tires) but I want to see it in really cold snow.

Edited December 10, 2008 by stealthn

[Dennis C]

I'm running M+S tires on my Cayenne S on 20-inch rims and it is fine in light snow. The PSM will let you slide a little before it kicks in - it doesn't act as aggressively as some other cars. Our HUMMER handles snow and ice better, but the Cayenne is fine. If I had much more snow, I would drop to dedicated snow tires on 18" rims.

[Sharptt]

So we got about 8" today so I thought I would take the truck out to see what it's like in the snow and I must say I was a little disappointed. It drove more like a car, and I was able to bring the back end out at will with no sign on PSM or traction control intervention.

I thought with all the bells and whistles on these vehicles it would have caught the slides and spins a little better. My wife's Expedition performed better with it's traction control.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Yes. I take the 20" summer rubber off and run 18" snows (Conti) and the PSM does not intervene until you are quite a bit sideways. Porsche has decided that you would like the rear end to slide out before the computer intervenes and limits your fun :D . Quite a bit different than my friend's Avalanche where the traction control cuts in at the first hint of wheel slippage. I would like a winter option with earlier intervention, especially when my wife has the Cayenne with my son on board. Maybe in 2010 or 2011 when the new Cayenne debuts.

[stealthn]

Yes after driving it more, I find it really depends on the conditions, ice snow, freezing type of snow etc. I have to agree that the truck "lets" you get out of shape before kicking in, but it does take a while to get used to.

I am able to correct better now that I have driven it more, but when you are beside other traffic and it's icy, I still think it let's it go too far before kicking in.

Mine does not like really cold either, the 4x4 warning has come on a couple of times now when I start her up, and yesterday there was no sound from the speakers at all, not to mention if the park sensors get any crud on them they go away (red). I'll mention this stuff to the dealer at the next service interval as I think it's crap that the 4x4 would fault when you need it the most.

Oh well, I still love the fat pig :D

[carldh]

I found some mud in my CTT.... street tires are very slippery in deep mud :D

I had the PSM off the whole time i was pulling doughnuts and drifting like a mad man, then i turned the

PSM back on and i could feel it braking the wheels that were slipping but i was not able to go very fast

cause the mud was sooo slimey that it took a lot of wheel spin to get moving.....all it good fun B)

Edited December 26, 2008 by carldh