I got to a point mid last year where I was in the garage and stared and had a moment. I came to the realization that I basically had two toys in the garage and no real daily driver. The H3 has been serving me well, but its not the most refined thing on the road. I was up over 420k miles around this time. The second toy was a 2003 Audi RS6. This car also served a good purpose for the time I've owned it but it had over 240k miles and had gone through two extended downtimes with suspension refresh work and recently just short of an engine pull to fix coolant leaks, a power steering pump and a timing belt job. I decided to list the Audi for sale and planned to earmark the funds for upgrades to the next garage addition.
At this point I wasn't sure what I wanted in a daily driver and went through an inventory of what was out there. I kept the search to something that was fairly modern, not older that 10 years old and reliable enough that I could treat it like a reliable daily. I settled on a Porsche Cayenne platform. The first gen Cayennes are sought after for off roading as they included a transfer case with low range. The second gen kept the lockable 4wd case but dropped the low range. This fit the mission as I do not intend to tackle much more than backroads or gravel trails if I "overland" it.
The second gen was produced from 2011 to 2018. The 958.1 from 2011-2014 and a facelifted 958.2 from 2015-2018. I decided on the 958.2 to stay with more recent model years. There are several engine options and trims including a 3.6 VR6 base, a twin turbo 3.6 v6 S model, and a 4.8 twin turbo v8 Turbo model. I found a great deal on a 2016 S model and picked it up from a private seller in Houston. Under $16k and 117k miles on the clock. Soccer mom vehicle that was in good mechanical condition but was in need of a good detailing.
Here it is the day I picked it up.
The S trim gives me a 420 HP twin turbo 3.6 v6 with plenty of guts, 8 speed transmission, AWD and PLENTY of comfort. I've taken it up for a dash to 120 and its super smooth with plenty more in it. Its not super "quick" per se, but if you lay into it, it keeps giving.
At this point I wasn't sure what I wanted in a daily driver and went through an inventory of what was out there. I kept the search to something that was fairly modern, not older that 10 years old and reliable enough that I could treat it like a reliable daily. I settled on a Porsche Cayenne platform. The first gen Cayennes are sought after for off roading as they included a transfer case with low range. The second gen kept the lockable 4wd case but dropped the low range. This fit the mission as I do not intend to tackle much more than backroads or gravel trails if I "overland" it.
The second gen was produced from 2011 to 2018. The 958.1 from 2011-2014 and a facelifted 958.2 from 2015-2018. I decided on the 958.2 to stay with more recent model years. There are several engine options and trims including a 3.6 VR6 base, a twin turbo 3.6 v6 S model, and a 4.8 twin turbo v8 Turbo model. I found a great deal on a 2016 S model and picked it up from a private seller in Houston. Under $16k and 117k miles on the clock. Soccer mom vehicle that was in good mechanical condition but was in need of a good detailing.
Here it is the day I picked it up.
The S trim gives me a 420 HP twin turbo 3.6 v6 with plenty of guts, 8 speed transmission, AWD and PLENTY of comfort. I've taken it up for a dash to 120 and its super smooth with plenty more in it. Its not super "quick" per se, but if you lay into it, it keeps giving.