Porche Cayenne S (some help needed)

I think your Cayenne will cost 1.5-2x the cost of maintenance for your ML350.

While you are shopping around for the Cayenne, you might want to take a look at the VW Touareg(?) too. Basically they are the same cars underneath, except for the engine, etc...and obviously price, as the VW is a better deal.

Maintenance costs for the Porsche will be comparable to the Mercedes.

no offence mate

but if you cant afford maintainence on a porsche, you cant afford a porsche

I agree. Hard to complain about high prices of any car related service or product once you own a $70K Porsche. I think I'm getting ripped off at the car wash at $25 a pop but heck if I'm making a big stink with the owner/manager. I'd look like a jackass if I did.

When was the model change for the ML? Was 06 the last year of that generation? The reason I ask is we just went through a couple of months of SUV shopping for the wife and settled on the 08 ML 550. This is a respectable performing SUV, 0 - 60 in well under 6 seconds (5.6 in the literature). The fit and finish is far superior to the two Cayennes we drove, the driver's cockpit was much better designed, the level of luxury is far superior in the Merc, and to my eye, the car is also better looking. Ride quality is all the Merc over the Porsche. The only thing the Porsche has superior is that the road inputs are somewhat more direct to the steering wheel.

Price? The ML was considerably less than an equally dressed Porche.

Didn't Porsche take a year off making Cayennes too? I seem to remember something about that while we were test driving. We really wanted to like the Porsche but were deeply disappointed. I would even put the Infiniti FX 45 over the Cayenne, given the combination of new technology the Porsche lacked and that the FX 45 with the sport package is really quite a nice handling vehicle. And way, way cheaper, and unless you're net worth is measured in 10's of millions, always a good idea not to toss money around when you are not getting value for it other than a name plate.

Cayenne skipped 07. If he's looking for a 05 Cayenne S, I doubt he'd be in the same market as a 08 ML550 though.

Here's my beef with the "sport" attribute in SUVs: why would you want to have your SUV handle like a sports car? You buy an SUV for three primary reasons: interior room, higher seating position, and AWD. An SUV will never handle as good as a sports car, and paying for such a thing is like trying to paint an apple orange to turn it into an orange. It may look like one, but it will never be like one. My general feeling about this is that you should get a real sports car, albeit something lesser than a Porsche if you can't yet afford one; then buy a cheap, but proper SUV, e.g. Jeep Grand Cherokee. You can both afford a nice sports car and a nice SUV, then get both. Buying a "sport" SUV is a waste of money, IMO, because you're paying for a feature that's incongruous with the rest of the car.

Guessing you never drove an ML 55 (amg)?

wait for bmw x6

Can't say that I have, but I've driven various "sport" SUVs, including some older MLs, X5 4.4 and 4.6, FX45, and the Cayenne S. I drove the BMWs on a test track as well. I have no doubt that the ML55 hauls ass like a bat out of hell--just as any other AMG cars. But, what separates a sports car from a roided out SUV is the ability to turn. As good as these SUVs handle, there's no comparison to a pure sports car.

No I understand what you mean but I guess some guys who have families don't want to sacrifice performance so they don't feel like a castrated 40 year old in some douchy, quasi soccer dad car. I agree that's not what you should be buying if you're into good machinery, but it's just a compromise for people and clearly it's been quite successful for the car companies.

Bingo! The Billion dollar niche. However, it's arguable whether a soccer dad in a Porsche Cayenne S is less douchy than one in a Honda Odyssey.