BMW's legendary bad service? I assume you must be referring to a specific BMW dealership in your area? I certainly do not think that BMW as a whole offers bad service. These dealerships and independently owned and operated.

 

Everytime you enter the Porsche service bay be ready for atleast a 200.00 payment for service

 

Both the Cayenne and the E60 will be fully renewed in the spring 2010!

Pro E60, lower mileage - pro Cayenne, a SUV plus 4x4.

 

My next door neighbor loves his Cayenne S--probably about the same year as the one you're considering give or take. He doesn't have kids, but always seems to be hauling the GF, friends, and a lot of camping gear in there without problems. Interestingly, he traded in his daily driver e46 2000 328Ci for it--said he wanted something roomier and easier to pop in and out of. He also has a 1999 911. He's always making favorable comments about the local Porsche dealer's service.

Also, you're not totally giving up "sporty" driving by any means. It's still a Porsche! That thing is really fast and handles in many respects like a sports sedan. Believe me, we've put that thing into some corners and it's not tipping anytime soon!

 

Well when we bought are BMW we where thinking of trading in are Land Cruiser for a Cayenne S or maybe the Turbo. So started my research and hung out at some of the Porsche forums for about six months or so. All I can say is most of the Porsche diehards hate the Cayenne. To me it seemed like about 2 or 3 people out of 10 had no issues and the rest had many issues. The 04 through 06 have been riddled with many problems. Some problems there is no fix for. Think of them as a 2002 or 2003 BMW 7 series, electrical nightmares. Also many had engine issues (if my memory serves me correctly the biggest issue was coils where bad in many of them). Then people on the forums where very informative on real world gas mileage and it wasn't good. Many where avg. around 10 to 12 in the city and lucky if they hit 16 on the HWY. Well even after my research we went to drive one. Overall not bad. But you usually buy a SUV for the room. The Cayenne has hardly any room in it. On a day to day basis the 5 series has just as much room. Sure if you throw down the seats the Cayenne has lots of room but when there up its a small area. Basically in the end after all my research I just came to the conclusion the odds of the Cayenne being a shop whore was just to great to spend that kind of money on and have it in the shop multiple times a year.

Personally if it was my choice and I was set on a SUV I'd look at a Toyota Land Cruiser, Lexus LX 470, Lexus GX if you really wanted a true SUV. If room isn't a huge concern but want more space then the Cayenne and keep the performance aspect then I'd turn to the BMW X5 (maybe IS version if you really want the performance).


I think you need to really rethink what your really want. Like you said apple to oranges. Just such a huge difference in what your looking at.

 

Exactly! Go with a 550i Sport!

Seriously, though, if you're considering a Cayenne S (an SUV at these fuel prices??? ), don't overlook a VW Touareg V8. Or if you just want to throw money down, go all out and get the V10 TDI!

 

I had a last generation X5 as a winter car, and it was a great vehicle in every respect. The new X5 is larger, more comfortable and drives much heavier IMHO (meaning less fun). Every Cayenne I've driven with the notable exception of the GTS, which is so different in feel it should be a separate model, drives heavier than any X5 I've ever driven. Whereas the X5 is a converted 5 series, the Cayenne is a converted Touareg. I don't dispute that the Cayenne is a good vehicle, its just the farthest thing from a sports car (demographics which I read once but can't cite right now showed that a larger percentage of Cayenne drivers {mothers} were previous SUV drivers [Tahoe, Cherokee, ML, RX Lexus etc..) whose 911 driving husbands bought the Cayenne in keeping with brand loyaly. Meaning, they didn't cross shop, they were sold waiting for an oil change on the 911. And they Loooooove their Cayennes b/c they ride sportier than a Tahoe.

Get the Cayenne (which is the best buy due to heavy depreciation) if you want a truck. If you require a sporting vehicle, get a 5 series. Our first is on the way and I don't think I could have a more ideal car than my 550 sport. Its a true chameleon. It is a better luxury sedan than the X5 is a truck and a better sporting car than any SUV (even the X6 and GTS Cayenne both of which I have driven). It just stinks in the snow.... Good luck

DRP

 

Let the wifey drive the minivan/SUV, and keep a nice personal car for yourself. I say 545/550.

My $.02

 

Which is exactly why the Cayenne was built! Conquest sales. Nothing more, nothing less. Also why the Panamera is being released...

 

I was at press conference years ago when Porsche had announced the creation of the Cayenne, and if memory serves it might have been the LA auto show in 1998. The power point presentation showed the demographics of the average Porsche 911 owner, including the fact that over 60% of them had an SUV in the garage, and I recall they said something to the effect that they wanted to tap into this market. At the time, I reall the most popular SUV in a Porsche garage was a Ford Explorer...go figure... any how, Porsche decided to go forward with the project in conjunction with VW, which dramataticaly reduced the up front developmental costs to Porsche. Porsche also needed a vehicle to prop up sagging 911 and Boxster sales, and it made sense to build the SUV. The watershed year was 2004, when Porsche sold more than 18,000 units. One interesting factoid about the Cayenne is that 911 sales increased dramaticaly when the SUV came out. It begs for better data, but one could postulate that people came into the stores to buy the Cayenne, and drove away with the 911. I personaly, an old fashion 911 bigot type guy, always felt that the Range Rover was by far superior to the Porsche. But to be fair, my wife took over my Rover, and I had every intention of buying the Cayenne till I drove it, and then fell in love with the 550i