sweet928

So I have been thinking about another toy. Looked seriously at Ferrari's and then got the idea of buying a Beck 500 Spyder. Just wanted something different to play with. Came very very close to pulling the trigger. Tonight the Wife said why don't you just get a new Panamera and get rid of your DD MB S500?

Hmmm. Why do I need another sports car anyway? I love my 928 and being a two Porsche owner doesn't sound too bad. So I test drove a 2012 4 tonight and I really liked it. Coming out of the Benz it's totally different. There's a lease special right now on a demo and the price is attractive. The weird thing is I'm not thrilled with the performance of the 6 cyl engine. It feels less like a Porsche than I expected and more like - well a Lexus. I was expecting a modern 928 but that's not what it is. I am more impressed by the design than the feel of the car. It doesn't feel as solid as my MB but it's way more appealing to sit in and look at. I think i'm going to do the deal tomorrow. Provided a get a decent trade on my benz. What do you guys think? I can't think of another 4 door that has the Panache of the Porsche in the price point. I don't care if some think they are ugly. It works for me. But I haven't done my homework. Are these cars getting good reviews? Happy owners? I've loved every Porsche I ever owned and there's been six of them but Porsche is a different company today.

The lease on this car seems like a better bang for the buck then say a finance on something else. And IF something else, I'm not sure what. For sure, I want all the latest goodies like blue tooth, nav, XM, etc. The other cars I like are the MB CLS and the CL coupe. But the Benz's are nice but not sporty. I don't like the BMW's at all and the Audi's are sort of the same as the MB's. Really nice but less exotic. The Porsche just seems sexy to me. Like a space ship inside with the buttons and design. I think it's just really dam cool. Just wish it felt more like a 928!

dr bob

Did you drive the 4S with the V8? It's more like the performance I expect from a 928 successor. The awd adds a lot of stability, or at least feels like it does. Local pca guy says that the v6 is by far the most popular seller right now.

mickster

My next door neighbor who has driven nearly every exotic and every variant of Panamera advises against the 6, used or new. Said it has no power for the size/weight of the car. S or 4S.

depami

Just get a fully loaded Ford Taurus AWD with Ecoboost.

928mac

jheis

The nice thing about driving a Panamera is that you can't see the exterior of the car from the driver's seat - you only see the good stuff.

James

Avar928

Get a Turbo or Turbo S and run laps around all the other cars who don't think you're fast enough in something so big o.o

Dictys

I have been looking at an Aston Martin Rapide, a year old model is not that much more than the non turbo v8 panamera, at least in the UK. Room for four adults, fast, good looking, there is a lot going for it.

destructo_low

NEVER lease. Why rent a car and throw money away? My mother leased a brand new RX8 for three years. She paid $15,000 and has absolutely nothing to show for it. She had the car half paid off! It makes no logical sense.

Hilton

Get the S or 4S. The extra 100hp is a huge difference in a 1.9 ton car.

tv

I would not get a 6 cylinder in a car that big and I don't like the panny looks.

I would suggest an Audi S7 -- best looking traditional sedan

or

a Tesla Model S -- the future

both better than the panny imo

mickster

So if you buy a car will it be worth 1/2 when in 3 years? In most cases, yes. Same money when you go to sell.

If you only plan to be in a car for a few years-or for the duration of warranty/maintenance (if included) it makes sense.

Besides-depending on how the lease is written, you may end up getting equity back if the value of the car is higher than your buyout. She could have bought the RX8 and paid off the rest at the lease buy out term.

Luxury cars lose a lot of value.

destructo_low

Why would you buy anything with a plan to sell it later? I don't see why anyone would want to spend money only to have an empty space in their garage afterwards. If I wanted to rent a way from point a to point b, I'd take a taxi everywhere. Luxury cars might lose value, but I would still like to have it sitting in the driveway after paying half the cost for it. Do as you wish though.

catamount

Around here the Panamera seems to be holding it's value better than many people expected. But I think the same thing happened with the Cayenne initially too. A v-6 Cayenne isn't worth much now though.

I think you already know the answer to how satisfied you'll be when you said "The weird thing is I'm not thrilled with the performance of the 6 cyl engine. It feels less like a Porsche than I expected and more like - well a Lexus." What I hear there is you already knowing you won't be happy with the car. It might be a great deal financially but emotionally the car always be a letdown.

MGW-Fla

Not everyone plans on keeping a vehicle forever. Some people want a new car every few years. I've done both. I would suggest that you always consider the back end of selling, while you weigh your options on the front end, with a car or a house. Although you may intend to be keeping forever, there can be many factors that arise in life that can change your planned intentions. Better take that into account if you are buying or leasing a vehicle you are already saying you think might have market resistance to it(the 6 cyl.)

The other consideration is your monthly payments of lease vs purchase. Since on a lease you are only paying for the amortized portion during the lease, the payments are much much less than if you purchase, with equal down payments. This allows many people to be able to afford to lease a higher end vehicle than they normally could afford. To purchase it would require a much higher down payment to have that lower payment. It also results in a much lower total outlay of money over the same time period of ownership.

It also causes you strong competition if you go to sell an above average car model, when you are competing against the marketabilty of new lease vehicles, when many of the potential buyers are simply "buying a payment".

I found this out when we sold our 5 yr old 2002 BMW 325. We had the 100k warranty, owned it since day one, mostly lady driven, only dealer serviced, red with tan, spoiler added, etc. I had it priced at the bottom of 29 other 2002 325s in the Auto Trader. But it just wasn't selling, in spite of a fair number of people looking at it. I started asking questions of potential buyers to get an idea of what I was competing against, knowing where I was priced compared to the other similar used 325s. Some of the potential buyers admitted that although they liked our car very much, their alternate & stronger consideration was to go lease a new one. This allowed for them to drive a brand new car, for either the same or potentially a lower payment that they could more afford, compared to the payment if they bought a used one. I was competing with the BMW dealership, not only on new models being leased, but also on the 3 yr old models that were constantly being turned in on leases too. And they had the power & clout of the Dealer & Factory marketing. I learned my lesson of that resale market with knowing your competition.