Why, When and How

 An Origin Story

After Nigel turned 20,  just shy of nine years with us, it was time for a replacement. Krisanne's retirement was also a trigger; we wanted to be able to do more road trips.  And perhaps less fettling.  😂

But Otto was a surprise...to us both!

After many discussions of how much off road we're actually doing, the nature of that off road driving and what we'll likely be doing in the future, we were ok with a lighter duty, less capable off road vehicle than Nigel, who was at the top of that pyramid.  Basically, our off road excursions now consist of fire roads, nothing extreme or difficult.  That opened the list of "possibilities" significantly.  

We made a list and checked it twice; we were attracted to the various European brands, mostly because of their design language and "feel."  It is just different; it speaks to us both.  

This was likely going to be my last new car purchase; there had to be some lust involved, otherwise what's the point?  It's always the walk away test:  do you turn back and look?

I knew one thing for certain:  if we both didn't love the vehicle, we wouldn't keep it, and that's an expensive mistake no matter how "logical" the choice.

Of course we started with Land Rover.  Drove the full size Range Rover, the RR Sport, the Velar and what I initially thought would be the very, very clear winner, the Defender.  To my great surprise, even focusing on the smaller Defender 90, Krisanne nixed that..."It feels big, I don't like the interior, feels cheap for something so expensive."  That took the most off road capable, and natural successor to Nigel, off the table.

The full size Rover was nice, incredibly lux, but BIG.  Neither of us liked the Rover Sport...not really sporty, not as nice as its bigger brother.  The Velar was impressive, the air suspension and inline 6 a great combo.  Beautiful styling, very austere and modern inside; everything, and I mean everything, controlled thru the screen.  Didn't love that.  With the air suspension, you could get 9.5 inches of ground clearance, that would work, and it drove very well.

But there was a deal breaker.

The headrests.  

On the full size RR and RR Sport, the headrests adjust up/down/forward/back.  On the Velar, only up and down and they are waaaaaaay too far forward to me for comfort; a literal pain in the neck.  The ghetto-fix for this "affliction" on most new cars is to turn the headrest around.  The sales rep, her manager and the service manager could not figure out how to even remove the headrest...we left telling them "solve this for me and you will likely have a sale."

Crickets.

At least on that subject.  Many calls/texts/emails on other offers, but the problem remained.  We moved on to the rest of our list.

The VW Atlas CrossSport was comfortable, fairly nice inside and certainly would have met our needs relatively inexpensively.  No headrest issue.  But it didn't excite us.  Zero lust, I'd never look back.

We then went to Porsche Tucson...Krisanne and I met there, so it was a natural reunion.  😂. My 2006 Boxster S was the best built vehicle I've ever owned...still running strong with my friend Bill...and our intent was to drive the Macan and perhaps the Cayenne, which had just been "refreshed" for 2024.

We looked at the Macan, sat in it, evaluated it and said, "This will do nicely."  We liked the look, the size, the feel.  In the showroom.

Then we drove the Cayenne, because it was sitting out front.  Krisanne drove it off the lot; I forgot my wallet and driver's license, so she drove us home to get it.  Before we got two blocks, Krisanne remarked, "I love this, it's fantastic!"  From the passenger seat, it felt carved from granite, so solid and connected to the road.  Comfortable, very quiet and...serene.

I drove it back to the dealer...responsive, corners waaaaaay better than you could expect, comfortable and with incredible "feel"; steering, controls, everything weighted perfectly.  Just like every other Porsche.  Color me impressed.  And we loved the revamped interior, with actual buttons for the things you use most like climate control and audio.  The screen is well integrated into the dash, not like an iPad was stuck on as an afterthought.  The headrests are 4-way adjustable, no issues there.  Nice.

We took the Macan out next...what a disappointment compared to the Cayenne.  Literally, no comparison.

You know how sometimes things just click?  Our search was over.  The Cayenne was it, for both of us.  We ordered it to our exact specifications in March, and started the clock.

We chose the Coupe version because it is slightly sportier; the big decisions were V6 or V8 and color.  Although the "S" trim with the 450 hp twin-turbo V8 was very attractive, at $15k more, some logic prevailed and the 154 mph top speed, 350 hp turbo V6, will have to suffice.  With the "Premium Package Plus" because that has all the good stuff.  😎. And a trailer hitch...for our bicycle rack.  And the wing in black, so the roof floats.  😂

Color is called "Chalk," not white, not grey, an interesting in-between that frankly does not photograph well.  Here in the desert, lighter colors are better, but we wanted something interesting and this should do the trick.  It looks great in person; seems to take on slightly different hues depending on the light.  I snapped this pic of a GT3 in Chalk that was on the showroom floor.

The wheels are the modern version of the classic Porsche RS Spyder wheels, love them, with the subtle painted crest in the center.  Opting for the air suspension gives us 9.3 inches of ground clearance, plenty for our intended off road use.  Better ride and handling too.  Standard height is almost an inch lower than the steel spring suspension, another benefit.

When you order a Porsche, they create a web page that tracks progress:

Heading through the Panama Canal.

Otto was transported on The Daisy Leader, an almost new LNG cargo vessel.

The Daisy Leader

The garage made ready...glad I kept the Porsche poster!  Added the license plate; Krisanne brought it home from Heidelberg, it juuuuust fit in her suitcase.  We had to eliminate the large rack we had in front of the door with the sign (AC equipment) because Otto is 9 inches longer than Nigel...I think we'll still be able to access the side door with the bench and small rack on the right hand wall.

Pick up is scheduled for Friday, 30 August...woo hoo!