Cayenne Advice Needed

She wants a mid size SUV. We were looking at a new escalade, it was marked down from 60 something to 50. Just too big though. Blinging on 22's and grills though, lol. The cayenne is a cool looking SUV and while I havent driven it yet, Ive heard good things. She would keep it completely stock so the cost of aftermarket stuff isnt an issue. Also....... Im gonna try and get a set of GT3 seats out of it. If I like it a whole lot, and my mom likes it, and were gonna buy it, Id try and get it so wed buy it if they threw in a pair of GT3 seats and hardware. Maybe a long shot, but if he wants to sell it, hed take a 2 grand discount to move it off the lot.

[yellowboxster01]

I highly doubt a stealership is going to just give you some GT3 seats. In fact I'm 99.9% sure having worked at a high end dealership.

Well, theres always that .1%, I can hope cant I?

[1JB]

I would not buy a new base Cayenne or a used Turbo. I drive the base as a dealer loaner when my car has been in and it's underpowered imho. The Tip on it also behaves very strangely under certain conditions, downshifting in turns and when I was rolling down an entrance ramp. That may be becuas of all the different drivers in a loaner and a resulting screwed up "adaptive" trasnmission. I recommend the Acura MDX. Drive one, it's one heck of a great SUV. I've owned one since 2002 and new models are even better.

The turbo Cayenne is off the charts in cost and a used one expensive in turns of maintenance. -Jim

The main agreement is "get the S if your gonna get one". Im gonna go test drive it today or tomorrow or something. I will let ya know my impressions then.

[RandallNeighbour]

Ditto on both poster's comments on the Acura and the VW... depending if you want Jap or German. Both are excellent specimens and will be very reliable. Neither are very strong sellers in their class though... at least in my part of the country. Maybe your mom could get a good deal on one.

I would not talk her into buying a Porsche SUV unless she has her heart set on one... an Acura or even a VW will be a lot less money to maintain in a couple of years when maintenance is required.

It is almost hard to believe that the Cayenne (new ones) is a 4.5L V8 with 450-520 HP (Turbo and Turbo S modles). That's a lot of engine!

[John V]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Ditto on both poster's comments on the Acura and the VW... depending if you want Jap or German. Both are excellent specimens and will be very reliable. Neither are very strong sellers in their class though... at least in my part of the country. Maybe your mom could get a good deal on one.

I would not talk her into buying a Porsche SUV unless she has her heart set on one... an Acura or even a VW will be a lot less money to maintain in a couple of years when maintenance is required.

The VW and the Cayenne will probably be equally bad to maintain - they're basically the same vehicle. We've had some pretty terrible experiences with our VW - they just haven't figured out how to make electrical components that are reliable for the long term.

Acura has been having major problems with their autotragic transmissions for the past five years, and even though I've had Hondas in the past and loved them, I wouldn't risk it at this point.

I'd probably start looking at preowned X5s if I HAD to have an SUV .