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      04-10-2011, 01:21 AM   #34
Ultimate Driver
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Drives: X3
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: North America

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Strange, but I was just considering these two cars myself. Glad to know I am not the only one who is looking at apples and oranges. For me, the only criteria was that I wanted a luxury SUV with good looks and performance, and both of these appealed to me (GLK, Q5, Q7, X5, ML et al just didn't do it for me). I previously owned two X3s so I had a definite bias going in, but I did shop both extensively. BTW, I am past my "racing days" so I looked at the non-turbo versions of each, although I wanted a decent road performance.

I liked what they did to the Cayenne (the old one looked like a tank to me) without sacrificing size or space. However, the price differential (once you add all the options) just didn't measure up. You need at least 25K price add-on to the Cayenne to feel that it matches the X3 in equipment, when fully loaded. I also had some issues with the Cayenne's performance. Put simply, the X3 w/o turbo did not seem as bad as the Cayenne w/o turbo, compared respectively to their turbo brethren. The increased size of the new X3 helped, as I no longer felt that the Cayenne's advantage there was a deal braker. In the end, I could not justify the 20-30 K price differential to myself.

Bottom line, I got the X3, MS with black leather, fully optioned and so far am very happy (a week and counting). I still think that the Cayenne would have been a good option as well, but this was my choice.
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