Came away utterly underwhelmed. We're looking for a nice, fun, capable and "luxurious" tow vehicle. Based on what we'll be wanting to two, I narrowed our choices down to the Mercedes AMG GLE63 S Coupe (don't need or want 3 rows), Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, and the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. We ruled out the GLE63 S because it is ginormous and rides like a truck. I did get audibly giddy at the crackly downshifts in Sport mode, though. Now I get why reviewers enjoy it so much.
Next we drove a Cayenne GTS. The Turbo is basically impossible to come across. According to the dealership guy, Cayennes, especially the Turbo S, are pretty much made-to-order and don't really languish on the lots. So we're going to have to order a '19 Turbo S, but they won't be available in the States until next summer. Anyway, we really enjoyed the Cayenne GTS. Unfortunately, it's only a turbo V6. The ride and drive actually reminded us a lot of the S4 we had. We really loved that car. Based on how much we liked the GTS, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we will like the Turbo S even more.
Finally, we tested the Trackhawk. The only expectation I had going in was that it would be a monster in acceleration. That was solely based on how much people praise the godliness of the Hellcats/Trackhawk. I was wide open with zero preconceived notions in any other area. I noticed the Grand Cherokee is a very big vehicle! Kudos to the designers for hiding its size so well. Every time I've seen one in the streets, it always looked like a compact or midsize SUV. Anyway, I was really hoping to like it and probably drive off with it since it was the cheapest vehicle in the group by far.
The test pretty much started off on the wrong foot. The battery was dead from it just sitting in the showroom for so long not being driven. The salesman said they have a hard time even selling the Trackhawks. As typical with American car dealerships, they treat the "high end" cars like gold nuggets and don't want to let anybody drive them. I told the salesman and his manager, if we don't get to drive it first, we can just scratch it off our list and move on. So the manager relented and let us take it out for a test. All the tires were flat-spotted, but that's not a big deal at all. The things that turned us off the most was that it was so loud, and not in a good way. There was just lots of noises and vibrations being generated by the powertrain. When I got on the gas, it just vibrated the whole vehicle like the headers are hard mounted to the body or something.
Speaking of getting on the gas, that brings me to the underwhelming part. Based on what I've read and watched about the Hellcat engine, I was expecting it to be a rip-roaring monster. It was not. Compared to what I was imagining, it was borderline mundane. When talking "big" HP vehicles, my GT500 is my barometer. I expected it to feel at least kind of like that. Nope. Not at all. It was so uninspiring that I now question whether the people who laud Hellcats so much have ever actually driven a high HP car before. Because if that's what's knocking their hair back... And if you're wondering, yes, we were using the red key. (Does the Trackhawk even do the red key/black key thing?) It was a lot of raucous noise but no commensurate acceleration.
I was really disappointed because I really, really wanted to like it. I have no complaints about the interior, other than the fake carbon fiber. It was a black interior with the upgraded leather. VERY nice leather, BTW. The seats were nice and comfy, but not as comfy as the Cayenne GTS seats. The ride itself felt a bit truck-ish like the GLE63 S. Overall, IMO, it's not worth the $95K that this particular one costs. If it were, say, $65K, I could probably overlook its shortcomings. At near $100K, it's getting too close to some much better vehicles where its shortcomings can't be overlooked. Truthfully, though, its only real shortcoming was the NVH. The acceleration honestly didn't feel any faster than the GLE63 S and Cayenne GTS. And the GTS is down over 200HP!
So the Cayenne Turbo S is the one for us. That is, unless the upcoming RSQ8 comes with a V8, has a proper tow rating, and wows us... (Though, my wife pretty much has her mind set on the Cayenne and doesn't even want to consider a Q8 even though they're mostly rebodied versions of the same vehicle.)
Next we drove a Cayenne GTS. The Turbo is basically impossible to come across. According to the dealership guy, Cayennes, especially the Turbo S, are pretty much made-to-order and don't really languish on the lots. So we're going to have to order a '19 Turbo S, but they won't be available in the States until next summer. Anyway, we really enjoyed the Cayenne GTS. Unfortunately, it's only a turbo V6. The ride and drive actually reminded us a lot of the S4 we had. We really loved that car. Based on how much we liked the GTS, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we will like the Turbo S even more.
Finally, we tested the Trackhawk. The only expectation I had going in was that it would be a monster in acceleration. That was solely based on how much people praise the godliness of the Hellcats/Trackhawk. I was wide open with zero preconceived notions in any other area. I noticed the Grand Cherokee is a very big vehicle! Kudos to the designers for hiding its size so well. Every time I've seen one in the streets, it always looked like a compact or midsize SUV. Anyway, I was really hoping to like it and probably drive off with it since it was the cheapest vehicle in the group by far.
The test pretty much started off on the wrong foot. The battery was dead from it just sitting in the showroom for so long not being driven. The salesman said they have a hard time even selling the Trackhawks. As typical with American car dealerships, they treat the "high end" cars like gold nuggets and don't want to let anybody drive them. I told the salesman and his manager, if we don't get to drive it first, we can just scratch it off our list and move on. So the manager relented and let us take it out for a test. All the tires were flat-spotted, but that's not a big deal at all. The things that turned us off the most was that it was so loud, and not in a good way. There was just lots of noises and vibrations being generated by the powertrain. When I got on the gas, it just vibrated the whole vehicle like the headers are hard mounted to the body or something.
Speaking of getting on the gas, that brings me to the underwhelming part. Based on what I've read and watched about the Hellcat engine, I was expecting it to be a rip-roaring monster. It was not. Compared to what I was imagining, it was borderline mundane. When talking "big" HP vehicles, my GT500 is my barometer. I expected it to feel at least kind of like that. Nope. Not at all. It was so uninspiring that I now question whether the people who laud Hellcats so much have ever actually driven a high HP car before. Because if that's what's knocking their hair back... And if you're wondering, yes, we were using the red key. (Does the Trackhawk even do the red key/black key thing?) It was a lot of raucous noise but no commensurate acceleration.
I was really disappointed because I really, really wanted to like it. I have no complaints about the interior, other than the fake carbon fiber. It was a black interior with the upgraded leather. VERY nice leather, BTW. The seats were nice and comfy, but not as comfy as the Cayenne GTS seats. The ride itself felt a bit truck-ish like the GLE63 S. Overall, IMO, it's not worth the $95K that this particular one costs. If it were, say, $65K, I could probably overlook its shortcomings. At near $100K, it's getting too close to some much better vehicles where its shortcomings can't be overlooked. Truthfully, though, its only real shortcoming was the NVH. The acceleration honestly didn't feel any faster than the GLE63 S and Cayenne GTS. And the GTS is down over 200HP!
So the Cayenne Turbo S is the one for us. That is, unless the upcoming RSQ8 comes with a V8, has a proper tow rating, and wows us... (Though, my wife pretty much has her mind set on the Cayenne and doesn't even want to consider a Q8 even though they're mostly rebodied versions of the same vehicle.)
