Porsche SUV? Is That an Oxymoron?

How does a dad, or even a mom for that matter, stay cool in the sports car category when they acquire a little extra luggage- like car seats and soccer balls?

Enter the 2008 Porsche Cayenne. Or perhaps what might be called the grown-up Porsche.

For those unfamiliar with the Porsche sport utility vehicle first introduced in 2003, it's quick like a sports car, but with ample room for kids, pets, and anything else that happens to hop in along the way.

When Porsche decided to enter the SUV market, the company known for its sports cars hoped to appeal to a sports car buyer who perhaps had a few more mouths to feed than when they bought their first Porsche.

"You take a guy who's owned a Porsche 911 all his life and suddenly he's married and has kids but he still wants a Porsche," said Sonny Rose, general manager of Bob Moore Infiniti Porsche and Audi in Edmond.

And while a Porsche SUV might seem the ultimate oxymoron, the Cayenne sports smooth sleek lines and curves that, while not as shapely as your traditional Porsche, is unmistakably sportier than many other luxury SUV's on the market.

After launching the Porsche Cayenne, the company continued to tweak the vehicle's look and performance slightly and recently introduced its first redesign in the 2008 model. The company did not produce a Cayenne for 2007.

So who would want a Porsche SUV?

Rose said with SUV's everywhere, he believes the Porsche leads the pack and opens up the market to drivers who never saw themselves behind the wheel of a bulky SUV. He also said most of the buyers are male.

"The SUV market is the largest segment in America and to a certain extent its gotten saturated," Rose said. "People buy SUV's because they need room for their kids. But the Porsche is different in the sense that it's not like an SUV at all. It's a big four-door Porsche."

And while other comparable luxury SUV's by the likes of BMW and Lexus focus their vehicles on comfort, Rose said the Cayenne buyer wants to feel the road.

Built in Stuttgart, Germany and available in three models, buyers can choose from the V-6 Cayenne, the V-8 Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo, all three a symphony of speed and style.

Rose said he sells the most of the V-8 model with the Turbo in second and the fewest number of Cayenne sales are the V-6 models.

And when it comes to speed, the Cayenne literally blows the doors off its competitors.

Built on a truck frame, but by no means a truck, the Cayenne is all-wheel drive without sacrificing horsepower.

Weighing in at just under 5,000 pounds, the Cayenne has 290 horsepower and a top track speed of 141 miles per hour; the Cayenne S has 385 horsepower and a top track speed of 155 miles per hour.

But for real performance the Cayenne Turbo boasts 500 horsepower and a top track speed of 171 miles per hour.

The Cayenne can also be customized with a Preferred Package or the upgraded Preferred Package Plus, which includes such perks as a six-disk CD changer and a Bose surround sound system.

And it's likely no surprise that the Cayenne doesn't come cheap.

For the V-6 model buyers can expect to pay more than $50,000. The V-8 will set you back more than $70,000 and the Turbo can run well over $100,000 depending on the options.

But despite the comfy, swift, family-friendly Cayenne, Rose said buyers are like most luxury car buyers: they don't generally keep the vehicles for long. He said he has already seen people trade in recent model Cayenne's for the 2008.

"With luxury buyers, they don't stick around with the same car long," he said. "They want the newest, the latest the greatest. People just like new things."

(c) 2007 Journal Record - Oklahoma City. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.