- suv 100,866
- 9,995 high price
- Nicholasville, KY
-
- autoshopper.com
- suv 100,866 red automatic
2004 porsche cayenne review this car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale. Its engineering wing has developed several all-wheel-drive military vehicles, and specially prepared porsche racecars ruled the grueling paris-dakar raid through the north african desert in the 1980s. Yet compared to automotive giants like general motors, toyota or daimler-chrysler, porsche is a cottage manufacturer, with a tiny fraction of the production volume. For 50 years the company carved its niche with quick, nimble, relatively small sports cars, cars built on values almost diametrically opposed to those represented by a big suv. The company's suv is what many expected it would be: technically slick and remarkably fast, with on-road handling that belies its bulk. For style, pure performance and a balance of sport-utility virtues, the porsche cayenne is very tough to be beat. like many porsches, the porsche of suvs is also very expensive. With tax and license, a loaded cayenne turbo can crack the $100,000 barrier, and that alone will knock it off most shopping lists. But even the well heeled can be value conscious. Many who can afford a cayenne will find much of the performance and all the satisfaction of use and ownership for half that $100,000 price. We'll call them connoisseurs. in that respect, the cayenne isn't much different than most porsches before it. lineupofficially, the cayenne was launched as a 2003 model and early models are called 2003s, but think of it as a 2004 model. The 2003 and 2004 models are identical. there are two versions of the cayenne, both built around porsche's new 4. 5-liter dohc v8 engine with automatic transmission and full-time, variable-torque all-wheel drive. The less expensive cayenne s retails at $55,900. Standard features include luxury-class requisites such as leather seating with 12-way power adjustment, automatic climate control with dual front-passenger settings, heated retractable exterior mirrors, multi-function trip computer and a 350-watt, 14-speaker bose stereo with cd. The cayenne s also comes with insulated laminated glass and sophisticated anti-skid electronics. beyond the electronic skid management and the latest-generation antilock brakes, all cayennes get luxury-grade passive safety features, starting with six airbags: dual-stage front and side-impact airbags for front passengers, and curtain-style head protection airbags on both sides of the cabin. All five seating positions have three-point belts with pretensioners to instantly tighten them and limit stretching on impact. The front belts also have automatic force limiters, reducing potential for belt-related injuries. from the cayenne s, porsche raises the ante considerably for the cayenne turbo. At $88,900, the turbo costs more than just about any suv on any planet, including land rover's range rover. Yet with a twin-turbocharged version of the v8 and a whopping 450 horsepower, the cayenne turbo also delivers more power than any other suv. the turbo also adds adjustable air suspension with porsche active suspension management (pasm), a variable dampening system that uses five accelerometers and electronically controlled adjustable shocks to manage body weight transfer both on and off road. The turbo includes upgrades such as heated front and rear seats, electric steering wheel adjustment and park-assist radar warning front and rear. It's equipped with porsche communications management (pcm), a gps navigation system with integrated telephone and audio controls. Finally, the cayenne turbo has bi-xenon headlights that turn, tucker-style, with the steering wheel. most everything on the turbo is offered on the cayenne s as an option (except the turbocharged engine). We drove both models, but the primary test vehicle was a cayenne s with these extras: air suspension 3,200), pcm 2,700), all-seat and steering wheel electric heaters 960); power glass sunroof 1,100), a dark burr walnut wood package 990), front and rear parking assist 990), tire-pressure monitor 590), a trailer hitch and ball 590), a roof carrying system 450) and lapis blue metallic paint 495). So equipped, this s model retails at a substantial $68,760 with destination charge. other popular options include a six-disc cd changer 715) and huge, 20-inch sport wheels 2,110). There are seat upgrades and a full smooth leather package that covers everything from grab handles to the center console in hide 3,200). There's also a light olive wood package, two different wood-trimmed steering wheels 240) and porsche entry and drive 1,960), which allows a driver to unlock and start the cayenne by pulling the door handle and touching the shift lever. Owners can customize their suv with porsche's tequipment line of dealer-installed accessories, from stowage systems to running boards to stainless steel brush guards. Finally, there is porsche's exclusive factory customization program. This is where sheiks go to have. walkaroundporsche maintains that styling is a crucial element of 'porscheness,' and it's easy so see porsche in the company's new suv. The family resemblance is most obvious in the cayenne's headlights and grille work, which closely resemble those on the 911 and boxster. Tastes in styling are truly subjective. More than one interested observer said it resembles a frog. Either way, the stylist's handiwork has produced a 0. 39 coefficient of drag, impressive for a big, boxy suv, and good for limiting wind noise at high speed. cayenne is not a small vehicle. Measuring 188. 3 inches in length, with a wheelbase of 112. 4 inches, it's longer than the bmw x5 and mercedes m-class and a few hundred pounds heavier than both. Conversely, at 4949 pounds in its lightest specification, cayenne weighs 550 pounds less than a lincoln navigator, which is two feet longer. An inspection underneath this suv suggests that it's well engineered, perhaps over-engineered, compared to many mass-market sport-utilities. Apparently porsche engineers preferred not to take chances with their first suv, in the event that some owners actually drive it aggressively off road. in size, cayenne most closely matches volkswagen's new touareg; indeed, in some respects the cayenne is a touareg. That's because both were created from the same basic blueprint. These days ground-up vehicle development runs in the $1 billion range, and that puts a small company like porsche (which sells 55,000 cars in a great year) at a distinct disadvantage, especially if it's venturing into new territory. Porsche had little choice but to find a partner, and it chose the volkswagen-audi group, a company that has previously worked with porsche on cars such as the 914 and 924. porsche was the project leader in the cayenne/touareg joint venture, and much of the work done on volkswagen's dime was conducted by porsche's contract engineering division, which accounts for a third of the company's business. Joint development was limited to the basic floor pan and some drivetrain components. Engines, suspension tuning, styling and all the finish work were the separate responsibility of each manufacturer. as a result of this cooperation, cayenne and touareg bodies are built at a new plant in bratislava, slovakia. Engines and other cayenne components are built by porsche in zuffenhausen, germany, and mated to the cayenne shells at a new assembly plant in leipzig, constructed exclusively for cayenne with its own pavement and off-road test tracks. this auto-industry backgrounder is relevant to any consumer preparing to part with a substantial amount of money for a high-end suv because if two vehicles share a foundation, they're likely to share a basic quality, or lack thereof. A well-equipped vw touareg will sell for about 40 percent of the price of a high-end cayenne. to porsche's view, the touareg is more utilitarian than cayenne, and built for comfort. Cayenne has porsche emotion, and it's built for speed. Porsche executives express confidence that, with the suv's unique porsche characteristics, consumers will easily recognize cayenne as a special vehicle. We'd agree that some undetermined percentage of consumers would do exactly that. those 'unique porsche characteristics' include the engine. The cayenne's 4. 5-liter v8 has all the latest high-tech goodies, including porsche's variocam variable valve timing, which allows an impressive combination of smooth idling, good low-end torque and free-revving high-end horsepower. The 4. 5. interiorinside the cayenne. Anti-lock Brakes✔ Climate Control✔ CD Changer✔ Sunroof/Moonroof✔ Navigation System
9,995 Nicholasville, KYNicholasville, KY at autoshopper.com