After my new to me Audi Q7 got totaled last October, I went on the hunt again for another SUV. Didn’ know I would end up in a Porsche Cayenne yet. I loved the Audi, it was great! It was exactly what I wanted at that moment and I enjoyed it for the time I had it. That was a whole month and a half before being t-boned by a Lowe’s delivery truck that ran a stop sign. They may have been able to repair it. But it had a perfect record and was immaculate so I really didn’t want it back after it was involved in such a hard crash.
The Search
I looked at a lot of different things to replace it. I wanted to stay with a German brand after having such a great experience with Audi. There was nothing wrong with the Q7, another would have been great, But, I decided I wanted to get something else that was a little smaller and maybe even a little off-road capable. I looked at Audi Q8, BMW X5, and a few other things.
While scrolling Instagram, I happen to see some posts about Porsche Cayenne’s. They looked fun! Well-equipped, and surprisingly capable they are off-road. Porsche wasn’t even on my radar, but now I was interested so I started my search for a Cayenne to drive to see if I even liked them. I found a white 17′ GTS locally and got it out on a drive. I loved it. Air suspension, heated/cooled seats… all the things. It was decided, I wanted a Cayenne – but not that one which was a GTS model, and the ride height is slightly lower than others.
I looked all over the country over the next few months for a Cayenne S with air suspension in black. Not that specific, but not that easy to find either! The air suspension made it a little tricky to find. Found a black one in Dallas, TX. in January, looked great online and sounded good – so I booked a 1-way ticket to Texas! Got a weird vibe talking with the dealership that had it before I went, so ultimately, I canceled my ticket. Bummer.
Located, finally.
The following morning a dealership in Vegas got back to me about a vehicle I had inquired about earlier that week. I hadn’t seen even photos yet until I got their email. It was everything I was looking for, except for the color! But, it was a dark color, it’s super clean and I thought it was pretty good looking in “midnight blue” and it had really low miles on it (36k). Booked a 1-way ticket to Vegas and picked this baby up.
Finally, got a replacement ride and was ready to start an off-road build with it! I hadn’t done anything to the Audi besides ceramic tinting and a ceramic coating, but I had all kinds of plans for the Cayenne.
To get started, first things first… ceramic coated the exterior, ceramic tint all the way around including the windshield and a wheel and tire setup. Went with 18×8.5 O.Z. Racing Rally Raid wrapped and Falken Wildpeak A/T3W in a 265/60r18. I had thought about doing some kind of lift on it, like a 2″ lift, but ultimately decided I didn’t need a lift since it had air suspension and could lift a few inches from regular ride height when needed.
I briefly tried a Front Runner roof rack on it and decided to take it off after just a few weeks. The impact on mpg was atrocious! And, I don’t see myself really using it very often if at all. It looked cool, but at the cost of 15mpg on the freeway – no thanks.
Next up
I’ve been loving the Porsche! Such a fun SUV to drive and I’m looking to start getting it out for some camping and more off-roading. I’ve been considering building a sleep/storage platform in the back to do some car camping. Probably start that little project soon.
So, wheels/tires and ceramic coating and tint are all that I’ve done and I’m pretty happy with it! Have done some techie off-roading outside of Moab and it performed really well for a more or less “stock” Cayenne. I love seeing the super-modified Cayennes lifted with big tires, roof racks, and all the off-road goods. They look like a lot of fun! But for my purposes, this is gonna do just fine for the moment. I am going to dive into building that storage/sleep platform in the rear though, more to come on that.
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