Originally posted by RichardS: Your car shots are always good, Jer.
Also regarding 4-door Porsches, one of my friends, Barry, has been driving Porsches for many years, all 911s. His comments about Cayennes have been along the lines of 'lumbering great heaps". He's not a fan. He's also less than complimentary about the 911 turbo he owned for a couple of years. "Very fast. Almost impossible to drive in traffic. If a Cayenne suits your needs, then go for it." He moved up to Carrera S about ten years ago and changes them over every three years when the warranty runs out. I have asked him if he changes them over because the car is only good for three years and then it dies.
Have you considered the Porsche Panamera? I met one about 6 years ago at a petrol station. It was being filled from a diesel pump. Shock-horror!. A diesel Porsche? And it's got 4 doors? And it's an automatic. It was a shock to the system. My world was rocked. I asked the owner about it. Moderate power (184 kW), good torque (max 550 Nm), max speed 250 km/h. The owner said that it was a joy to drive.
Regards,
Richard.
Thanks, Richard, for the very kind words.
Your friend sounds sort of like me - love 'em and leave 'em. However, I've got no plans to leave my 911 yet - I adore the thing and I've owned it for less than two years. Based on my past behavior, I expect I'll get the fever for a new 911 or something similar in a couple of years, but right now, the thought of trading it is genuinely unpalatable. In addition to the 911, we have Connie's 6-year-old Nissan Rogue and - perhaps you'll recall - a 2015 BMW M4 coupe we bought about 3.5 years ago. Eventually, we want to decrease the "fleet" to two cars, and Connie would like to replace the M4 with a 4-door something more user friendly for daily driving. For the time being, we'll keep the Rogue; it has only 29000 miles and is like brand new, yet it has depreciated to a value of no more than 10 grand (US) - so, for now, it's worth more to us as a vehicle for those jobs we'd prefer not to assign to one of the other cars.
Replacing the M4 may be something of a challenge; it's successor needs to please her yet be sufficiently engaging to keep me reasonably entertained. Ideas have ranged from something like a BMW M550i or Audi S6 to a BMW X3 M40i or Macan (both of which reportedly feel more like sport sedans than SUVs - we've driven neither). Frankly, I hadn't thought of a Panamera - primarily because I've assumed the price would make my eyes water too much.
I'll do a little research.
Jer