Porsche Cayenne Rear-Mounted Spare: Feature Fail

Porsche Cayenne Rear-Mounted Spare: Feature Fail

When the Cayenne first came out, Porsche really had no idea what the hell they were doing. Evidence of this includes the attempt to make it both the best off-road SUV in the world and the best-handling SUV in the world, resulting in creating little more than the heaviest SUV in the world.

If you’re still not convinced Porsche was out of its element in the SUV world, check out today’s feature fail: the Cayenne’s rear-mounted spare tire. Yes, that’s right: the first few years of Cayenne production included a rear-mounted spare tire option, sort of like the old-school Land Rover Discovery.

The rear-mounted spare was exactly as you might expect: tremendously cumbersome. And since you had to move the heavy housing and tire before you could open the rear hatch, you couldn’t back into parking spots if you wanted to load anything into the cargo area.

It gets worse.

The rear-mounted spare was actually an option, and a rather expensive one. (I can’t remember the figure, but easily above $1,000.) And since it extended the length of the car – at the expense of visibility – the spare made it easier to back into solid objects. Of course, this damaged the housing, which is probably on back order until they can get at least five orders for it. In other words, never.

Obviously, Porsche dropped the option after only a few years. But there are still a few Cayennes roaming around out there with rear-mounted spare tires.

18 Responses to “ “Porsche Cayenne Rear-Mounted Spare: Feature Fail”

  1. tmillgohawks says:

    That has to be the ugliest rear mount spares ever made, the way the housing kind of wraps around the spare..the whole thing just ick. I live in the middle of nowhere Iowa(which could be said about just about everywhere in Iowa)so Cayenne’s are pretty rare, but crazy enough the one that tools around my area actually has one of those rear-mounted spares.

    • Doug DeMuro says:

      Crazy indeed! What are the odds? I didn’t start working at Porsche until late 2009 and this was STILL being discussed. I think the “take rate” was well below a half of a percent.

  2. tentacles says:

    Is this option actually the only way to get a spare tire of any kind from the factory? Because I think the standard equipment just includes the sealant bottle, no spare tire of any kind and where would you put it anyway?

    I had thought that this was some kind of wacky Chinese market option, as around 1/3 to 1/2 of the Cayennes here are driving around with them, while I have never seen one ever in North America. In Beijing at least all vehicles on the road are theoretically required to have a spare tire with them at all times, and a fire extinguisher and various other sundry stuff, so I initially thought this was some kind of slap-dash thing they put together to meet the regulation.

    • Doug DeMuro says:

      I believe there was a collapsible spare tire that functions like the “donut” in other cars. This was the only full-size spare.

      In China, do any of the new-body Cayennes have the spare?

      • tentacles says:

        Nope, only ever seen them on the previous gen.

        The best part of it is that unlike your dash vents and door sill plates the spare tire carrier only comes in that awful matte silver(i.e. *clearly* the cheapest plastic money can buy) color, regardless of what color the car is. You’ve unfortunately chosen to use 2 examples that also happen to be silver in the photos. It looks much more awesome on a guards red or dark blue example, very much like one has just concluded a smash-and-grab of the local Hyundai dealer’s aftermarket parts rack.

        On the bright side, the base engine in the Chinese Cayenne is the supercharged 3.0T from the S4 and Hybrid, I guess because the displacement tax cuts off at 3 liters.

  3. JMII says:

    Working in the Boca/West Palm Beach area means I see countless Cayenne’s daily and have NEVER seen one with the spare out back. I had an Isuzu Rodeo with this same “feature” and can confirm its suckage level was quite high. Pretty much makes the whole concept of loading the vehicle difficult and cumbersome.

    • Doug DeMuro says:

      My mom had the same Rodeo when I was growing up. That latch on the right to release the tire… ugh. I believe every single automaker has now abandoned this wheel placement.

  4. becauseCAR says:

    The rear-mounted spare makes a lot of sense in the Asian countries (especially India and China) because of the increased tendency of flat tires. I remember the Mercedes M-Class of the time, (W163, I think) also came with the rear mounted spare and a lot of people took that option.

  5. Mazda Monkey says:

    I had no idea this was a thing. The pictures are mind-boggling. I don’t believe for a second that anyone bought this on purpose. Only way I can imagine is a stupid dealer accidentally ordered a few and then pawned them off to customers in exchange for $4K off.

  6. Ltd783 says:

    I remember these being on Porsche’s configurator back in the day, but I’ve never seen one in person. I agree it looks hideous… except I the only one kind of digging the looks of that one overdone with the cargo box unnecessary running boards? Kind of has an ultimate roadtrip, road warrior look to it. Granted I’d still be embarrassed to take that to work, but I’d rock that look in a national park.

  7. Kozy says:

    I am proud to say I have the rare 2005 Cayenne w/ the spare tire.
    It’s part of Porsche’s tequipment which is OEM on my car, along w/ running boards, 3 piece panoramic roof, roof rails, black 19″ rims.
    all original.
    This had the off-road air suspension package raising the car 6″ if need be.
    I loved the look in 2005 and still love my car now. You can say it separates the Cayenne from the other soccer mom’s cayennes…haha

    • Doug DeMuro says:

      Nice!! Which model Cayenne? The spare certainly does separate the Cayenne from the soccer moms!!!

    • Vanten says:

      I got the 2005 cayenne turbo with the spare tire holder. My porsche is white and the silver in the tire holder goes really well with the white. And the fact that it says “Cayenne Turbo” with big letters on it is just a big plus.. :)

  8. Kozy says:

    Pros of having the rear tire rack.
    No one dares bump into your back… don’t even have a scratch on my bumper after 8 years of parking in NYC.
    Had two blowouts and boy was it easy to change my tire. in fact didn’t have to worry about putting a temp donut and have to change again. it’s the same 5th tire.. voila
    it has a nice shiny gold porsche crest on the center cap… classy and noticeable
    makes my cayenne have some cohonas….haha

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