I bought a 2005 Cayenne Turbo a month ago to replace a pickup we were using as a tow vehicle.

Me having a bad back ( Ankylosing Spondylitis ) and my wife with MS, meant the ute was both too hard sprung for me unladen ( as my daily drive ) , and too high off the gound for my wife to get into unaided.

Love it. Although yet to tow the caravan with it, so will reserve final judgement until then


While the air suspension allows us to drop the vehicle to assist my wifes entry , i have seen these things advertised on ebay to permanently set the ride height at a lower point for each level.

I understand there are also replacement modules available too ( at a much higher cost ).

Has anyone used these links, and was the experience a good or bad one ??


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120986724991?_t...K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


Cheers

Dale

The new tug....

Your basically just tricking the level sensor at this point. I think it could cause for some errors, and you might look to see if there is an electrical option. For the Allroad you could adjust the level via the ecu by telling it it was reading the ride height wrong and adjusting it via a laptop. It was commonly refereed to as a "402 mod" since it was in Vag-Com 402 block for correcting ride height errors.


That being said, this mechanical mod would probably be easier and cheaper..

I wouldn't even mess around. Take it to a dealer and explain the situation and have it professionally lowered. You can drop it 3 inches before it looks slammed. GTS suspension components will get you close.

Maybe I would mess around and do it myself. There are lots of options for lowering springs and "air bag delete".

The issue may be towing capacity once you mess with it.

Hi Dale,

You can also get the factory side step rails used to mount to aid entry, in addition to the dealer/indie shop lowering mentioned above.

Eric Shea @ PMB has an `04 Cay S that he's towed his 22' "Caravan" with for years, so he can give you good feedback if you PM to him.

We're currently looking for an `06 Cay S Titanium Edition in Iceland Blue or a `08-10 Cay S to tug our 1960 Avion T20 around to vintage trailer events & DD duties, so we'll soon be in the same boat as you in OZ!

I think you'll love it as a TV & DD from everything I've checked out with others who have towed with Cayennes & their Taureg cousins.

PS - what type of caravan are you towing?

Cheers!
Tom
///////

Hey Tom,

Caravan at the moment is a 16FT New Age Caravans " Bilby Family " model.

east west bed, bunks and a bathroom in a small'ish package.

TARE weight is 1860 kilograms ith 160 kg ball weight, ATM is 2200kg max loaded.

We have always been campers, using tents or small camper trailers, but Bernadette's MS got to the point where we had no choice but to buy a van with more room and a bathroom for those 3am trips....

If you go here http://www.newagecaravans.com.au/range/ and click on the Bilby link, then the bunk combo link, you will see pictures of our van ( hooked up to my old white ute ).

Im actually thinking about importing a 50 -60's Airstream to Australia. Might be a project for the new few years .
Something like this....
http://www.homedsgn.com/2011/12/02/stunnin...travel-trailer/

Cheers

Dale

Thanks for your replies,

Will go to the dealer ( and a local Porsche independant ) in the next week or so, to discuss options and pricing.

Cheers

Dale

Hey Dale, that's a real nice rig you've got with a lot in a small package.

Oddly enough, we bought our Avion from a couple with very similar disabilities that the wife's MS had progressed so that she couldn't camp in it anymore. So that plus your using a Cayenne TV was quite a coincidence!

The Avion is an Airstream kin/competitor & at 20' it has a full bathroom + full galley, 2 full/double beds in the gaucho sofa & dinette conversion/fold-down. It was my wife's idea to step up to "Glamping" & go to vintage trailer events, from our VW Camper.

This is ours:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f417/new-1...ners-99135.html

We've had our `88 VW Westfalia since new & camped all over the US & some BC Canada with it over the past 28 years, & it's still in the fleet & freshly resto/refurb to like new, but a porta-potty & ports-solar-bag shower are the only bathroom facilities for it.

If you look at vintage caravans/trailers, then the advice I got was to buy one somebody else has already restored & just needs cosmetics or personal touches, because they can get very pricey to restore very fast, & that $5000 bargain turns into a $50,000 nightmare black hole very fast!

Also look beyond Airstreams to their vintage kin - Silver Streaks, Spartans, Avions, etc. - since they'll be often less pricey, since all the lemmings go to the crowd pleasing Airstreams & drive up the prices, while the others are more unique but still with all the features & cachet of a vintage AS. Often times the kin were better built than the Airstreams, as was the case with Avion & Silver Streak.

Also the shorter sub-19-20' AS & others tend to be more pricey than 19-26' ones (16' Bambi/Bubble, 17' Caravelle, etc.), but then folks find they're too tight & small for much trip fun, so they'll upgrade to a longer vintage trailer. Since the 50's-70's trailers were all generally lighter than today's C'vans, you can have a vintage 19-25' that weighs what your current caravan or a new 16' Bambi does today. For example, our Avion T20 was 2680# wt. with 275# hitch wt. per the factory stock/dry, & is probably only 3000-3500# wet & loaded with a 340# hitch wt. wet & loaded - even with the upgraded fresh water, black water & propane tanks of the PO's resto & all our crap in it!

So you can still tow a vintage 19-25' with with your Cayenne, & if you look at CanAm RV in Ontario Canada under the trailers section of their website (look under the hitch hints article section) , they've actually set-up & towed a new 30' AS with a Cayenne V6 TDI!

Best to look at Airforums.com , TinCanTourists.com & a few others to find them for sale. I know folks have exported to the UK & OZ/NZ, but have no idea on shipping costs, but it will cost the same to ship a good restored one, as a cheap project C'van! You're Cay Turbo would be the same but burning petrol.

http://www.canamrv.ca/
http://www.canamrv.ca/hitch-hints/

Go to pg. 6 for Cayenne TDI....
http://rvlifemag.dgtlpub.com/?i=2546

More info on towing with Cayenne here...
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463/input...8-a-128005.html


Cheers!
Tom
///////

Thanks for the info Tom, much appreciated

Your Avion looks great. That is just the type / size / style of van we are looking at for the future with one consideration.

I'm sure you love caming in it

Our son goes to bed before we do most nights, so his bed would need to be a permanent one, not a dinette conversion.
Not in any hurry though, as the current one is only 18 months old.

Will join the forums, and start becoming familiar with the varios brands, layouts etc.


Cheers

Dale

Hi Dale,

They do have models a bit larger than ours which had bunk or 2x double beds (e.g.: Avion H24) that you could look at. The Avions & others back then also had a fold-away/roll-up canvas bunk that went above the gaucho sofa for a kid, that another T20 we considered had in it.

So another option for you is to put the gaucho sofa down for the kid(s), as I'm sure we'll do with our grandkids eventually.

We mostly keep the Gaucho sofa made up as a bed to use the space under to store all the outside gear, then push it back into sofa mode only for the public open house tours of the old trailers at these vintage rallies.

I think they have them in OZ too for the vintage trailers, & there & here they also turn out to be vintage car/truck shows too, for those with period matching old tow vehicles. So they have a double value to us old car guys, & then the gals can show off their cute trailers!

So are/were you a Footie or Rugby player in your youth?

Good Luck!
Tom
///////

Thanks

No, no pointy football codes for me, played a bit of soccer though.
I follow the AFL code here a bit, and call myself a Collingwood supporter, but i'm by no means fanatical about it.

I was a cyclist ( until 3 years ago when i got sick, although i do have an Electric mountain bike these days , a BH Neo Extrem) and boxer (for 11 years, until my now wife complained about the bruises.... )

LOL Dale - yes, my wife too complained about my Rugby (Union) bruises, cuts, scrapes, aches, etc. too!

I played round ball in High School & College, but the I preferred the fulll contact of American Football & Rugby, so I stuck with the latter 26 years from college, club then old boyz & stopped at 46.

At 62+ today, I'd be in the Lead Div. of Old Boyz, having slowed down & progressed thru silver, gold, platinum, then decomposed to lead now!

I still like to follow both the FIFA & Olympics World Cups & any Rugby - 7's or XVs, sometimes Footie when they broadcast it (very similar to the Gaelic Football I did some during college back in the 70's).

It's mostly walking or biking for me nowadays though. Dang, getting old is a bummer!

Feel free to PM or email me if you want any trailer/caravan info.

I'll probably post a new topic on here whenever we get our Cayenne S & tow with it for something photogenic (my wife is the photo arteest ;-).

Cheers!
Tom
///////