MadFox

My family and I just completed a whirlwind tour of 7 countries in 16 days. Italy (Rome, Amalfi, Positano, Florence, Pisa, Naples/Pompeii, Palermo, Taormina), France (Paris, Eze, Nice, Cannes), England (London), Malta (Valleta), Tunisia (Carthage, Tunis), Monaco (Monte Carlo), and Spain (Barcelona). Great trip for my 25th anniversay... we were brave and included our 3 college kids with us!!

EnigmaWmn, I've got some great pics. Will post a few later in the week.. just for grins/giggles.

So, THE REAL reason for my post.. the Cayenne "see yourself coming" winner of these EU and N.African cities appears to be ----- LONDON. My gosh.. the Brits whose traffic is horrific in London and gas super expensive must have the highest per capita Cayenne city in the world! God help them if they tow!?Taormina and Amalfi had two in each city so based on population they could be "contenders".. but in London, we lost count after two dozen vehicles and we were only there for two days. Yes, two dozen and I know my signature has Alabama in it.. but no "dupes".. In fact, we saw one in almost every city.. but Barcelona had a few.. Monte Carlo, surprisingly, we only saw one. LOTS of Corvettes in Nice/Cannes/MonteCarlo.. the driver said they were the current playboy choice of sportscar... hmmmm over a 911??? really?

In London, our driver said that Cayennes ran about 120,000 POUNDS (current U.S. exchange rate is roughly $230,000).. and you thought your Turbo S was expensive in the U.S. at $120K US .. is he right?.. can anyone confirm that?

phantomias33

I can't confirm that price for the Cayenne, but it sounds about right. My wife and I trip up there often for the theatre and the first few times, we thought to ourselves, "Hmmm...it's actually about the same price as the States. In fact look, that Carrera GT is a bit underpriced at 390,000 Pounds." Then it dawned on us that we should just about double the price of everything we see when accounting for the exchange rate. So yeah, it's believable.

Glad you had fun on your trip. Funny how cars creep into all facets of your life, eh?...even vacations. My wife and I missed a good portion of our tour in Dublin because we were trailing an F430 for most of it.

EnigmaWmn

Hey, MadFox, welcome back! How was the weather in Italy?

I can't recall how many Cayennes exactly we saw while in Paris this new year's, but at least 3 in 5 days. Brits win hands down :-D

Looking forward to your photos.

James1

No, no, no. Our super unleaded has just topped £1 / litre but Cayenne prices are as follows;
V6; £35,560. S; £44,900. Turbo; £70,870. TS; £81,565

Ton

Five weeks ago I payed 171.871 USD for my CS in Holland.

Ton

James1

That's one helluva specced CS you've got there, or your taxes are ludicrously high. Works out at 94,648 GBP - OVER DOUBLE UK prices?

mjw930

Taxes are high in The Netherlands but not that high. There has to be more to that story.

Ton

Just the basic CS with air suspension, Tiptronic, full leather etc. It is the "wealth" tax of over 24,000 GBP/44,300 USD :-( which makes a car expensive in Holland. Over basic price and Wealth tax comes the VAT of 19 percent. The list price of the CS in Holland is 62,000 GBP/114,200 USD ....about 18,000 GBP/33,100 USD more than in the UK!

It is great to have a EU isn´t it ?

Ton

rome

MadFox-- Great trip. I will actually be in my name-sake city, and then Positano, in a couple of weeks.

Last time I was in Italy I arranged for a rental car with my hotel concierge to drive the Auto Strata from Rome to Florence. I asked for something "sporty and Italian". They couldn't guaranty what I would get, but the quoted rate was SO high (especially for an afternoon's use) I figured it would have to be something nice.

I was hoping for an Alpha Romeo convertible, or something similar. The rental car showed up and it was a Ford Fiesta station wagon (DIESEL no less).

Anyway, it had a 5 speed and actually wasn't half bad considering. I drove it out of Rome and through Umbria and Tuscany, all the way to Florence. The scenary was so great and the roads were so much fun to drive (twisty and different elevations, and loaded with F-Cars) I got over my disappointment.

cdodkin

Not surprised you saw so many Cayennes in London, we Brits did invent the SUV with the LR Range Rover, and SUV's have been a firm urban fave ever since.

You need that high clearance and 4wd to get to and from the shops in th e rain! LOL

Many UK Porsche dealerships used to also own Land Rover dealerships, as they'd sell a sports coupe and an SUV to the same family to cover all options.

The arrival of the Cayenne just brought it all in house - although many dealerships has to rebuild or move, to provide service facilities with enough headroom to put a Cayenne on a lift!

Also, remember that London is something like number 2 in the most expensive places to live in the world, ahead of all US cities, so there's plenty of folks there with money - and that usually means lots of P cars

Chris.

EnigmaWmn

I'm wondering what the Cayennes are selling for in Moscow :-D

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/23/pf/expensive_cities/

urban_alchemist

Its not just Cayennes that are 10-a-penny here in London. Today, for the rundown, I saw:

5 Murcielagos
12 Gallardos
At least 30 Ferraris (mostly 612s/430s/575s, but also one Enzo)
8 Vanquishes
11 DB9s
3 V8 Vantages
2 Ford GTs
And I can't count the number of Phantoms, Conti GTs, Porsches of all types etc...

I swear... if you want to drive a 'rare' car here... buy a Ford Focus...

Oh, and a well-specced CTT here is about £85K (approx $150K)...

Raptor

U-A: It's good to see actual numbers. Every time we go to London (frequent) I am overwhelmed by the desirable cars. Hang out on New Bond Street and watch them come and go and never thought to count 'em.

JW3

You went to Amalfi - I still have not been able to get down there. Got to Gmund and Villach, Austria then on Padua, Vicenza (had to visit a good buddy that just returned from Afghanistan), Genoa, San Remo, Ventimiglia, Monte Carlo and Nice in May (our anniversary) but no further south - ran out of free time. Maybe in the next ten months we'll make it to Almalfi. Ever since I saw that picture you had as your Avatar I am wanting to see Amalfi . I am anxious to see the pics of your trip to Almalfi, Positano and Pompeii. JW

MadFox

That picture was actually a view from Positano towards the coastal highway headed towards Amalfi. I'm going to shrink some pictures tonight and post.. Good to hear from you! The weather was perfect and the only real problems on the trip were lost luggage for four days with British Airways and the British Transport Police arresting me for my son's Lord of the Rings Hobbit sword (10 inches and duller than a butter knife) when at Waterloo station boarding the Eurostar..(no record -- more of a "booked" and apology for the trouble) --- a story over beer sometime!