multi21

Going from a 2000 Yukon XL to a Germanic diesel for mileage and towing. This will be wife's daily driver, but I'll use it to tow a flat aluminum trailer with race car every once in a while

MB had a vibration in the rear axle when you put your foot on the gas with gusto. Weird. Wife also heard a rattle somewhere up front. I liked the viability and cabin. Wife thought the steering was too sensitive.

2nd test drive was the Cayenne. Certainly the smallest of the bunch in terms of interior space. Very nice interior, good handling, but poor rear ward visability through the rear view mirror and wife complained about the smallish size side mirrors that are "triangle shape". Wife also was overwhelmed by the amount of buttons in the cabin area.

3rd was the Audi Q7. Most spacious, but and drove well as it has the same engine basically as the Cayenne Diesel. Interior was underwhelming when coming from the Cayenne. ***** and buttons seemed cheap as if they were going to break. Owning an Audi off warranty is scary for me though.

4th was the BMW X5d. Not my favorite exterior, but a lot of space inside when compared to the Cayenne. Wife liked this one the best as she liked the seating position and the simplicity of the interior cabin. I don't know how she'd do once she had to learn the iDrive that BMW uses. Huge incentives right now on the X5d. $4500 Eco Rebate another $500 for CCA member and more that can be shaved on on wheeling and dealing. I don't think you can do that with the others. For towing, the BMW has the least towing capacity as it's rated at 6k, Q7 at 6600, MB ML at 7200and Cayenne at 7716. However, once again, I have a flat aluminum trailer for towing so there is no threat of going over the 6k.... I hope....

What am I missing? I know this is a Pcar board, so it's going to be biased. I've even spoken with Lewis (ltc) personally about the Cayenne. Why shouldn't I go with the X5?

mudman2

Sounds like you don't care so get what she wants

TexasRider

I am too shopping the Cayenne vs one of the Range Rovers, Evoque first or the Sport for my wife as I had in the other thread.

If towing is on the list then I think the Cayenne with its 7700 lbs is probably first up on the list.

We had an earlier X5 and my wife didnt care for another one, plus we had a few too manyy mechanical gremlins with it too. It is too far back for me to offer any X5 inputs other than it cerainly wasnt for us if we were on a longer trip of more than 250 miles of so. We went to the Escalade which she did like. Her ideas on the Mercedes were about the same as yours too. Our friends had a couple of them and were tag teaming the repair shop.

Reading back two or three years worth of posts here in the Cayenne forums has my eyebrows raised on it too. It is unlikely that you or I could have it for the length of time of your Yukon without some larger expenditures and / or problems though, from what I saw of the posts. So get the longest warranty you can - same for me. Having said that , and after owning several BMWs, I would never own a BMW out of warranty! Probably going to the be the same on the Cayenne. While the $$$$ costs are high, the aggravation is too.

mudman2

Stupid question I suppose, why not another Caddy ?

endless_corners

If you get the one she likes best... You won't get thrown under the bus if things go awry.

Not a direct comparison.. But I leased an 07 x3 for a few years and thought it was great. The BMW experience was pretty nice.

I still don't understand buying a new car to save money on gas. When a lightly preowned vehicle of 1-3 years is so much cheaper that it makes moot any fuel savings or unexpected repairs.

What about the touareg diesel? Might have a better rear view than the egg. The new ones look pretty sharp.

mudman2

A wise man

ltc

Perhaps a CPO Cayenne from the previous generation, with a more "traditional" interior and known reliability/history is another option?

ltc

BTW, the correct answer is a Ford Excursion diesel...the ultimate force in the family tow vehicle.

44 gallon tank, seats 8 and still has a tailgate, tows 12000 lbs, propr tow mirrors and gets 20mpg.

But I digress ...

TexasRider

If for me, the reason is she wanted to go "down" some in size and some in fuel costs too. The darn Escalades are $80K now and probably their days are numbered too. My Avalanche and Garys EXt are no longer after this year so I am thinking the Escalade maybe a couple more years.

For us we arent getting a new car to save gas, it is just that the lease is up on the Infiniti and she wants back to the SUV style, but smaller .

endless_corners

used car rates from a credit union are 2.5%... just saying.

theporscheguy

Wife drives our Q7TDI and really likes it. Purchased it as a CPO with 13K on the clock and saved. Get whatever makes your wife comfortable as I think any of the above will tow your trailer combo.

tetice

I own a previous gen X5 and towed an open trailer with it. It was a great tow vehicle for an open trailer - the diesel would only make it better. I kept it well past the extended warranty (115K) and had no major issues. It does have it's quirks like needing front CV joint boots around 90K and various cooling system components but overall it has been relatively trouble free. The new X5 with 4 more inches of wheel base will only be a better tow vehicle. Since I just bought an '08 Cayenne GTS I now feel qualified to comment on that one as well. Although both are prior gen cars (trucks?) many characteristics of them remain the same. My view is that the BMW is a more refined vehicle (which my wife would prefer - with the possible exception of the Idrive) while the Cayenne has lots of luxury car features, they just aren't executed with the same level of refinement. With that said, I find the Cayenne more engaging and enjoyable to drive. It simply handles better and gives you more confidence on the road. Comparing the GTS version to the more standard X5 on handling may not be fair - I'm sure an X5M would be quite different.

I have moved on to an enclosed trailer and the X5 just is not up to this task. I bought the Cayenne on the hope (and word of several on this forum) that a 20 foot enclosed trailer is well within it's capabilities in spite of the fact that the dimensional towing characteristics are very similar?? Time will tell once I get that massive oem hitch out of the box and bolted on. Either way, I'm liking the GTS with a manual transmission (another selling point for me) as a fun part time daily driver and family hauler. Long term, I don't think my wife would appreciate the positive characteristics of the Cayenne the way I do.

Tom

'02 X5/4.4 sport (looking for a new home)
'98 M3/4/5
'93 325iS SE36 Race car
'08 Cayenne GTS 6sp

daddyscar

All are solid vehicles. Get what she wants. I believe the current X5 is at the tail end of it's life cycle though.

blazing928

We have just looked at the same cars , Cayenne won, over RR TDV8. LR cars have same towing capacity as Cayenne, also both use the stability control to assist in towing to remove trailer sway.
We have a 03 X5.
The Q7 I thought was smaller inside than the Cayenne & we just didn't like the interior at all. The boot height seems lower
X5 is not as nice inside either as Cayenne, [a bit over BMW], also the low speed ride is poor, no spare tire.
cayenne has a better ride than the otthers, drives better, buttons will be familiar after a few days. I agree the mirrors are wierd at first, you end up trusting that your not missing anything.

Agree that the best deal is a demo car, I think you boys call it CPO? depreciation is your greatest cost.

I posted a few days ago about the "Car" magazine test of Cayenne, LR D4, ML250, BMW X53.0d, Cayenne was the 'boss'!!

As an aside my brother has a ML, I think a few years old now,- maybe 5, He has so far had three major gearboxes/transmission failures whilst towing his caravan. Not good....

DRJMK

I am currently driving an X5 diesel and really like it. Got a really great deal with the Eco credit and invoice plus 500 when ordering back in Dec 2010. BMW CCA rebate is 1000 if a member for more than 1 year and there are other incentives right now like an app that credits 700 and other driving events that you can get another 1000 off. One could be had below invoice, mine was right at invoice ending up with about 10k off. One drawback now is the new body style is coming out next year and the diesel engine may change to a smaller one than is currently available. Overall, I like it, but I am defiantly coming back to Porsche when the lease ends next year. I think your wife would like it! I am female and if you get it, just tell to load up on hand wipes since the diesel handles are usually pretty greasy and smelly!