4x4s in credit crunch | News & FAQs

Hi

I am looking for a bigger car. At the moment I have a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S but recently became a Granddad so need something a little more practical for carrying around a little baby.

I like 4x4's but would want something with good performance. I have looked at the Range Rover Sports, Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, Audi Q7 and BMW X5. I have also owned BMW Alpinas in the past so would consider a B5 or B6. I have about £40,000 to spend and don’t driving petrol or diesel. What would you recommend?

Rory

Growing old disgracefully, hey Rory? Good for you.

I drove the Cayenne RS around Milbrook’s high speed bowl at 200mph and was frankly terrified. It wasn’t so much the speed as the height at which I was sitting while doing the speed. It’s an impressive bit of engineering in terms of handling but I don’t really like it.

The Audi Q7 looks great but there’s bugger-all room inside.

So that gets us to the Range Rover Sport and the BMW X5. 2006-year 4.2 litre Sports start at around £28,000, while an equivalent M5 will be more like £20-22,000. So that’s the kind of depreciation you will suffer if you buy new.

You would need to like the Range Rover an awful lot to pay a premium like that. Although 8 weeks ago it was up in the early £30,000s, so you could argue that you are quids in anyway. It turns out, the credit crunch isn’t all bad.