Retiring the Cayenne from daily use

At ten years old and showing over 132,000 miles on the odometer, the Cayenne has been retired as a daily driver. It has been my wife's daily driver for the last 5 years and it has served my family well. We aren't getting rid of the Cayenne. It's worth more to me than I'd ever get for it if I decided to sell it or trade it. It will stay with us and be relegated to use as a dog hauler, airport mule, bad weather vehicle. This will allow my Carrera 4S to spend more time in my garage, especially during foul weather. We considered many small SUV options, including a new Cayenne. At this point in our lives, our kids are both off to college and we no longer need a vehicle as large as the Cayenne. We would look at the Macan if it was available, but it's not available quite yet. We narrowed it down to three choices: Audi SQ5, BMW X3 xdrive35i and Mecedes GLK350. We did give serious consideration to the diesel options offered by Audi and Mercedes, but ultimately decided against this. The Mercedes was quickly eliminated from our list because it's simply too small. The interior space is considerably smaller than the Audi and the BMW. We were really pleasantly surprised with the BMW. It drove very nicely and we were both really impressed. It's a nice car. Ultimately, the Audi came out on top. I put a deposit down this morning on a 2014 SQ5. It has already been manufactured and it is currently in transit to the USA. It's Estoril Blue Crystal with black Fine Nappa Leather interior. It has the 21" wheel package, along with the MMI Plus navigation package, Side Assist Package and the Atlas Carbon Fiber interior trim package. We're hoping to have it in about a month. Edit: I meant to post this in the Cayenne forum!

My wife has wanted one of these.....she has 180K on her 2007 A4 Quattro and we will also be in the market. Audi is top of their game. Enjoy it!

I'll give you a report once we get it. I think it will be fun to have an SUV that has modern electronic conveniences like Bluetooth, streaming audio from an iPhone/iPod, Sirius XM, keyless ignition, etc. The Cayenne is feeling very dated at 10 years old.

I am waiting on a pdk diesel Macan with air suspension, then I will retire the Cayenne Turbo from DD. Not sure there is any point in not keeping it as it pretty much worth nothing now. The Macan will be welcomed for its fuel efficiency but not sure its worth it when I can drive the Ctt free with no payments but at double the fuel cost.

Our CS is in the same boat - paid off with no car payment. If I sell it, I'll end up buying something like a Jeep or maybe an Audi Allroad. The CS works just fine for now.

I got a chance to drive one of these SQ5s and came away truly impressed! That engine goes great with that SUV. Power to burn. You will thoroughly enjoy it and you picked the best color to boot! I have a 2013 s4 as my DD and save my turbo for sunny days.

Sometimes I drive my girlfriends ford explorer to work

Congrats!, one of my neighbor also bought brand new 2013 model Q5 in that color and looked awesome!

Very sad Dennis, at 132,000 miles the Cayenne is still very young; its like being compulsorily retired when you'r 45! ...and how did this end up in the 996 forum?

It's still here! It's just going to be used in a different way. I'm actually considering putting some proper off-road tires and a roof rack on it. It would be great for some of my fly fishing trips out in the high country.

so a consultancy role?

Yes...yes... that's it. A senior consultant.

Hey Dennis... Your (to be built) gorgeous SQ5 inspired me to get off my *** and order the Audi I've been thinking about. 2014 Q5 Premium 2.0 TFSI Lava Gray pearl Black Leather Fine Grain Ash Inlays Lighting Package (HID's) Heated Seats It's going to be a relatively low mileage car so I didn't want to go off the deep end with the options, but I think even the base cars are very nicely appointed... After Audi Club pricing & loyalty rebate, ~$37K, build scheduled for early March. See you over on the Audi forums :-)

We have a '10 S4 and a '12 Q5. I think you just got the best of both worlds. Jealous!!!

Sounds great! Which Audi forums do you recommend? I've signed up for Audizine.com and Audiforums.com. The SQ5 that I originally tried to purchase was sold before we had a chance to sign paperwork. I ended up ordering one, almost exactly the same as the one I tried to buy. My dealer had an order in the system from last December that I was able to change. Our new SQ5 is due in the port in Houston, TX on March 17th. We should take delivery the first week of April. I just bought a new set of winter wheels and tires for the new SQ5 that will be installed when it arrives. I'll need them for another couple of months before warm weather. I bought BBS CF 017 wheels in 19x8.5 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R tires.

Congrats! Good choice over the BMW, I see Audi as on the upswing with BMW going the opposite direction. Audis have always been higher quality cars, particularly inside. Now they have managed to capture much of BMW's fun to drive quotient, at the same time that BMWs are getting more bloated and detached. After 3 BMWs and 2 Minis I will likely never own another, but I rate my S8 as one of the best cars that I've ever owned.

Looks great. My friend's wife has one in the exact same color. The CF interior is beautiful. Audi has been building great cars of late. Great choice!