With the snowy weather causing its usual spate of mayhem this month, unsurprisingly 4×4’s seem to be the preference at the moment. Funny that. Speaking of which and leading nicely into our recent virtual trade in, a Porsche Cayenne, here are a few lines from a well known anti-4×4 website (wonder how they’re feeling now?)
“With 4×4 sales now falling fast, through this website you can still find lots of constructive, creative and peaceful ways to deal with your frustration at the unnecessary use of big 4×4 vehicles on urban streets.”
Anti or not, our latest bargain of the week taking pride and place on our virtual forecourt hardly needs to convince anyone. For a measly fourteen grand you can now afford to own what is a very under rated Porsche.
Considering you can buy an equivalent 4×4 with barely any badge status, having a Cayenne on your driveway will certainly perk the interest of your neighbours and give the impression that you’ve come into a small fortune and are moving up in the world. Moreover, deciding between this and its cousin, the VW Touareg, the Porsche will certainly make you feel more important, and wouldn’t that give your ego a nice New Year boost?
But before we move on, we need to deal with one important issue: Styling. I can see it now; anyone leaving a comment at the bottom of this article is bound to mention the Cayenne’s looks. Let me join you, here. I for one thought Porsche were having a right old laugh when they launched their first off-roader. But several years on and with yet another facelift due this year, I have to say that the original Cayanne has grown on me.
In fact, all upmarket 4×4’s have but that’s for another time. The Porsche was absolutely slated when it was launched and few would have predicted its huge global success. If you ever get the opportunity to drive one I can promise that you’ll be extremely surprised. It is a fabulous SUV and it does everything you would expect a family-sized 4×4 to do and does it all without breaking a sweat.
Now onto the price and I can’t spell it out clearly enough: Porsche, fourteen grand. You certainly can’t get near a new-ish 911 for that. Plus most Cayenne’s seem to be loaded with nearly every factory option available at the time. I hate to associate the words bargain and Porsche together, but they really make a great pair.
With petrol prices creeping to over £1.15 per litre buying a Cayenne is going to cost you around £100 to fill up and falls in and around the latest high road tax price band. Nevertheless, you’ll experience pretty much trouble free motoring all year round, and with most up for sale with 70,000 miles plus, I wouldn’t even take it to a Porsche dealer for servicing anymore. It doesn’t really matter about main dealer maintenance in its later life but instead use a reputable independent garage so you can happily forget paying £130 per hour.
Taking all of this into consideration my best advice would be to stick with the V6 engine taken from the Volkswagen family, unless you can really afford to run the sublime V8. VW’s six is smooth, powerful, somewhat economical and bullet-proof. It also weighs slightly less than the V8 Cayenne and feels slightly better to drive despite the massive power gap.
To sum it up then, if you’re looking at a new 4×4 / SUV, then put your doubts aside about the Cayenne’s looks and go and test drive one, I’m certain you’ll be glad you did.
Ad reads:
Porsche Cayenne S, 5 Doors, Automatic, Estate, Petrol, 90,000 miles, Metallic Silver, full Porsche service history, Mot & tax,6 Month Warranty, Sat Nav, Air Suspension, Xenon headlights, Black leather seats, Electric heated seats,19″ Alloys, Multifunction steering wheel, Computer, Radio, CD changer, Telephone module, Front & rear parking censors, ABS, PAS, Air con, Dual Climate Control, Traction control, Airbags, Remote locking, Alarm, Immobiliser Spare key, Motorway miles drives as new. £13,950
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