test drove '06 cayenne s and '09 q5

[lizBox]

I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to buy a neighbour's '07 Cayman this Spring. But to do the deal, my wife says she needs a replacement for her daily first. She's currently in an Odyssey. Tonite we drove a 2006 Cayenne S that was pretty loaded, about 50K miles, CPO for $36K. Very nice but I'm scared to death about the crappy fuel mileage (~12mpg). At same dealer, we also drove an insanely loaded 2009 Audi Q5 with 2K miles, CPO for $48K.

The Cayenne has 2yrs and 50K of warranty. The Q5 has 100K and 5yr warranty.

She and the daughter both liked the Cayenne's ride better. I like the power of the Cayenne but thought the Q5 was smoother and a better looking vehicle. Both are black.

I've been looking at the online reviews and forums for both cars. Both have pros/cons but are both fairly well liked. Anyone here have comments?

thanks

[gschotland]

Haven't driven them so I can't comment on either, although my Dad's considering the '10 Q7 diesel, mostly for its towing capacity. Seems like the Q7 is more comparable to the '06 Cayenne S in terms of size/capabilities, but not in terms of purchase price, which starts at ~$55k.

According to fueleconomy.com, the '06 Cayenne S gets 14mpg avg. and the '09 Q5 20mpg avg. Based on 15k mi/yr, 45% hwy/55% city, and gas @ $2.91/gal, the Cayenne's going to cost about $1,000/yr more to gas up than the Q5.

With 50k miles on the Cayenne and no more warranty, I'd be a lot more concerned about the repairs & maintenance cost than the gas. If the Boxster's r&m costs are any indication, I bet you'll average $2k/yr min. With the Q5 you have the balance of the warranty and I think all Audis have free scheduled maintenance for the first 50k mi. Combine that with the lower mileage and the Cayenne's going to be $3k more to run.

Of course a Q5 isn't a Cayenne S. If this were a decision purely about numbers you'd be shopping for another Honda or a Toyota. Maybe you should visit some Cayenne forums to get a better idea what you're going to be in for in terms of r&m.

[husker boxster]

Pardon me for asking, but if the vehicle's for your wife and daughter why do you need an SUV? Would a sports sedan, say an Audi A6 or Acura TL-S, fit the bill? Way better gas mileage and can save you a bunch of $$$, depending on what you buy.

I rarely see SUVs loaded up with people and I live close to a soccer field. If you're not hauling a bunch of people, why do you need one? Think outside the box and break away from the herd.

[lizBox]

good comments, thanks. I have been lurking in both audi and cayenne forums to hear their problems and praises. Your opinions are worth more than non boxster owning strangers!

Since both vehicles are certified pre-owned (cpo), those warranty numbers I gave were remaining (or additional). The Cayenne has 2yrs and 50K of warranty left. The Q5 has 100K and 5yr warranty left.

I agree about your suv comment. She had a Durango prior to the Odyssey and has her mind set on a Cayenne. I was trying to get her to consider others such as the Q5 which is less truck like and is built on a car frame.

[VRsyncro]

Originally Posted by lizBox

The Cayenne has 2yrs and 50K of warranty. The Q5 has 100K and 5yr warranty.

I would take the Q5 purely based on the amount of warranty remaining. I would do more research on electrical gremlins that seem to plague the Cayenne.

[23109VC]

If you want to stick with a german car like Porsche/Audi have you considered the X5? A friend has one of the older ones and he loves it. He has the 3.0, so while it's not super fast, it gets reasonable mileage for an SUV.

If you do get an SUV, you might want to consider the Acura MDX. I have one and REALLY like it. Before getting it, we cross shopped quite a few different SUVs/Vans, and we felt the MDX was the best bang for the buck. Not long after I bought ours, ,C&D did a shootout among the V6 powere SUVs and the MDX came out on top.

The MDX has 300hp, plenty of power, and a great AWD system. when you take a turn and give it gas, ,it applies power to the outside wheels and actually assists you through the turn. It's not a gimmick, it really works. Our SUV handles better than some sedans I've driven.

3rd row seating is standard..so if you do need to occasionally have that feature it's there. the third row is not as accessible as it woudl be in a van...so if you use it ALL the time, a van would be better.

We were so happy with our MDX, that when we recently replaced my DD, we picked up a CPO Acura RL. THAT is a sweet ride. talk about an underappreciated car...the styling is somewhat bland..which did it no favors in the car market...but given the depreciation that car suffers..you get SO much for your money.

on a related note, the Acura CPO program is pretty good. You get the factory warranty extended to 6 years / 100k for all powertrain items. The bumper to bumper warranty which is normally 4yr 50k is extended to 5 yr 60k. but, if you pay an extra $1000 when you buy the car, they will extend teh bumper to bumper to 100k just like the powertrain warranty. We have been very pleased with the Acura service in our area. every time we've dropped off for serfice, we've received a new Acura vehicle as a loaner..

I don't know exactly what CPO MDXs are going for, but I would suspect you would find a nciely equipped low mileage MDX in the 35k range.

as to pricing - it's weird...I think used car prices have slightly gone up in the past year. IIRC, CPO MDXs were more like in the 30k range 6-12 months ago..now I"m seeing them in the 35-40k range... I have seen this same trend among other cars too. perhaps as the economy has tanked and new car sales have dropped off the face of the earth, and more people are looking to CPO cars as an alternative to buying new, if the dealers are hiking prices on the CPO cars? supply and demand in action....

[crios]

If you can afford to buy a 07 Cayman next year, and a Audi or Porsche SUV, $36K-$48K today, I would not worry about affording to pay for gas. :ah:

I've been married for 10 years now, buy the car the wife wants. A happy wife is a happy life!!

[lizBox]

>> If you can afford ... I would not worry about affording to pay for gas.

Ha! Good point but as a tight wad, I still hate crappy mpg.

As for happy wives, this past July was our 20th anniversary, so I'm a firm believer of the happy life effect.

We looked at the Honda CRV, Pilot, and Ridgeline, all were nice but never thought about the Acura MDX. Just mentioned that to the wife and she's looking at them online. Thanks

[RandallNeighbour]

Tell her to humor you and test drive a cpo 07 550i BMW. She'll fall in love with it.

I bought mine for $37k and does 0-60 in 5.1 seconds. The ride is great too.

She might just decide that a sport sedan is just as good as an SUV.

[gschotland]

Originally Posted by 23109VC

As to pricing - it's weird...I think used car prices have slightly gone up in the past year. IIRC, CPO MDXs were more like in the 30k range 6-12 months ago..now I"m seeing them in the 35-40k range... I have seen this same trend among other cars too. perhaps as the economy has tanked and new car sales have dropped off the face of the earth, and more people are looking to CPO cars as an alternative to buying new, if the dealers are hiking prices on the CPO cars? supply and demand in action....

You're not imagining things. Check out this Manheim Auction Used Vehicle Value Index:

http://www.manheimconsulting.com/Used_Vehicle_Value_Index/Current_Monthly_Index.html

Prices tanked around October '08 and are up quite a bit since then. SUV and full size pickup values took a huge hit when gas made it to an avg of $4/gal. Remember when people couldn't dump them fast enough and Prius sales were booming with ~10 days of inventory? And then when gas dropped back to $2/gal Toyota had 180 days of Prius inventory, despite sweetheart lease deals, and lots of people went back to SUVs because they were so cheap to buy and no longer so painful to fill up. Gotta love people's short term memory.

Every couple of months I run into the owner of an local indy BMW service/body shop who buys BMWs at Manheim in PA at cost plus $500 for his regular customers, and he's been telling me consistently that prices are up, up, up. He says in the last two years many more of his customers who would normal buy new are opting for slightly used w/low miles. His business is doing great.

Buyers of high end cars are obviously paying close attention to the stock market and the direction of the economy. That said, 986 prices still seem to be falling...