Thinking of Buying a Cayenne

[Guvernator]

Thinking about a Porsche Cayenne as the next family wagon, probably looking at one about 3 years old. Can anyone comment on what they are like in terms of reliability and things to look out for?

Also living on the suburbs of London, I'm a bit worried about the talk of banning diesels in the near future. Does anyone know when the Cayenne Diesel became euro 6? Was it during the 2014 face-lift? If it's euro 6 I'm assuming it will be safe from the governments meddling for a while?

Alternatively are the Cayenne Hybrids any good? The newer SE plugin hybrid is probably a little out of my price range and the older tech one's don't seem to get very good reviews.

[Cheib]

Euro 6 was indeed part of the 2014 (approximately) facelift....think that's a must if you live in London. Euro 6 cars have an Ad Blue tank.

I think generally their very reliable cars/good build quality etc. Did a lot of reading before ordering the one I am picking up on Saturday. Got very close to buying an ex-demo Hybrid...you need to be doing the kind of journeys that maximise the ability to run electric only for the 20 mile range the battery's will give you for it to make sense...or have the tax advantages that some people have as they can run them through companies. Otherwise in real world I am not sure the positives outweigh the negatives and you definitely have to change your driving style to maximise the economy etc.

I declined because my use wouldn't have maximised the Hybrid element and also because it drives a bit differently and I didn't really like the "two stage" feel to the braking.

Oh and the Cayenne Hybrid isn't eligible for the OLEV grant so to get a charging point installed at home can cost you £1000 if you have the 7kw (higher capacity) charger.

[Guvernator]

Thanks Chieb, I'm seeing 64 plate cars on here and autotrader listed with slightly lower c02 emissions and 262bhp rather than the 245bhp of the 14 plate and older cars so I'm assuming this was the cut-over point. I just hope Euro 6 means it's safe from the predation of the government for at least a few years. I'm still slightly worried about the impact a diesel ban could have on residuals though. I don't mind pissing money away on toys but this is supposed to be our sensible car!

We do a lot of short journeys and also have a drive for charging so the hybrid might make sense for us tbh but I've read reviews that say the hybrid system isn't as seamless as it could be so I'm not too sure about them, might need to take one for a spin.

The OH has brought me round to the idea of a SUV for our next family wagon but with the majority of the SUV market being made up of diesel, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I wish the government would hurry and make an announcement so I can get on with buying a car.

[Cheib]

If it's Euro 6 compliant I wouldn't worry personally.

Personally I'd actually be more worried about the residuals on the Hybrid.....the tech is advancing all the time and certainly Porsche Finance quote worse residual values for the Hybrid than they do for the Diesel when I looked at it. The Panamera Hybrid is also very aggressively priced when compared to the V8 diesel (£10k cheaper) which worried me they would do the same when they launch the new Cayenne. That said the new Panamera's hybrid range/battery doesn't seem much of an improvement on the current Cayenne so presumably the new Cayenne will not be a massive improvement on the current car.

I didn't notice any noticeable "handover" from electric to hybrid mode when I drove the car.