nickmaire

Cheers! Build quality is always hit and miss... I had up until the end of last year the '06 Audi 4.2l V8 RS4 Avant... talk about lack of build quality! Fantastic engine, average gearbox, decent grip and the only Audi that communicated on the road. But sh*t kept on breaking!!! Failing shocks, transmission replaced, rear blind snapped, hole wore through floor mat at 30,000Km, rear calipers failed, and more! Honestly does not matter what the brand is you always come across build/batch/material quality issues. Love my '86 M635CSi because when something breaks it is because it is 24 years old! Nicko.

I was a huge sceptic of the Porsche Cayenne. Being a very loyal BM guy I got the old man to buy the e53 X5 4.6is over them when it first came out... yet what do I own and enjoyed for the last two or three years? The Cayenne - an '07 pre-facelift Turbo model. The X5 iS of the same vintage feels positively archaic when you jump from one to the other. I've done plenty of miles in both. Recently I drove the Cayenne diesel up and down to Ohakune and was again amazed. You only really missed two things: the petrol turbo in overtaking as you would expect and the air-suspension. The later is again probably why the X5 is feel heavy, labouring and less accurate. I have not driven the latest X5 and can't comment on what got better or worse when this was introduced. I have driven the '10 Cayenne S and Turbo which are yet again a massive leap forward for the driver. Especially the interior creature comforts. The seats feel like those of a 911/M3 sports buckets and the driving position is about as good as you could hope for in a 'truck'. I won't comment on the styling as that is pretty subjective. I actually really like both the X5 and the Cayenne looks - all models to date. Q7 drivers are so cut off from the road you may as well take a bus. The big turbo diesel engine is impressive but that was about all you could say. The ML styling I can't get past to want to actually drive one. I've driven plenty of the yank tanks in the US on business over the years (I even was stupid enough to own an H2 for two years! After living there you loose perspective!) and don't rate any of the Jeep, GM, Cadi trucks. I have not driven the SRT Hemi but sounds like it should be on the test drive list. If you are going to find a Cayenne you must buy one with the Porsche factory warranty in place. It is worth the $2k+ per annum insurance on anything going wrong. Sure, the running costs are high (especially the fuel) but I have bought pretty good and pretty affordable brakes and tyres that have get replaced once every two years which is fine for a 2 tonne truck with 450+hp. Hope that helps.