You know when you’re sitting at the mamak with your car buddies and those “what-if scenarios” crop up about the types of vehicles you’ll have in your garage for a given scenario?

On the question of “one SUV to do it all,” the Porsche Cayenne will inadvertently pop up. How can it not though? It’s the OG performance SUV that carved a niche in the premium SUV segment that led to the premium performance SUV.

Don’t get us wrong, carmakers sell SUVs not because they want to but because they have to. Porsche had to at that point or be forced to stop making the evergreen 911 that we all love.

The Cayenne was a masterstroke of business acumen, and it forced every other premium carmaker to buck the trend and follow suit with their own take on it. Everyone from Bentley, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Maserati and now even Ferrari are in on it.

Again, much like all premium vehicles, depreciation is your best friend and prices for a used Cayenne will almost certainly convince you to risk it all and have a Porsche parked in your porch.

It's no 911 but a Porsche is a Porsche; regardless of what the Porsche puritans will say. It’ll handle the grocery runs as easily as it’ll put a smile on your face up Genting Sempah.

In this buying guide, we’ll be exploring the facelift of the second-generation Cayenne. Identified by its 985 chassis code, the facelift is referred to as the 958.2. The reason behind the specific focus is simply the age of the vehicle that still makes it viable for a loan.

Reasons to get a Cayenne 958

Nobody buys an SUV because of how it handles but, and it’s a huge but… if you can only have one vehicle to tick all the boxes of being a family-mover as well as putting a little fun in every drive and it has to be an SUV, just get the Cayenne and be done with it.

The 958 Cayenne was based on the VW PL72 platform shared with the Volkswagen Touareg. Humble origins indeed but that’s before the Porsche engineers waved their magic wands over it.

Also Read: Customisable Porsche Cayenne is the first CKD model for Malaysia, price from RM 550k

It’s larger and roomier than its predecessor but this second-gen appeared visually smaller with smart design cues and was also around 200 kg lighter on average, courtesy of lightweight materials. Most of the weight savings came from Porsche ditching the low range four-wheel-drive transfer case.

The 958.2 came ran from 2015-2018 and saw major changes in the engine bay that’ll be covered further down in this piece.

A quick tip, the easiest way to distinguish the 958.2 is via the headlights that now come with the brand’s familiar four-pointed LED DRLs. However, bear in mind that this was exclusive to the official Porsche imports from Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP) and some of the grey import facelifted units wouldn't come with the signature headlights.

Also Read: Snapped up in 1 week: Malaysia’s first allocation of CKD Porsche Cayenne all spoken for

But we digress with the lights, at the end of the day the Cayenne is as capable as any other SUV as it is tackling corners or simply exerting grunt on the highway. Heck, it’ll even take on some mild off-roading with relative ease. Bear in mind that the low transfer case has been binned so don’t attempt anything a Land Rover Defender would think twice about.

Of course, there’s plenty of tech and hardware that goes into making something with this much poundage capable on every front. Adaptive air suspension, Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) and the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) all combine to make it as capable across such a wide spectrum of motoring needs.

Lastly, did we mention that the SUV lap record for the Nurburgring is held by the current third-gen Cayenne.

Bragging rights at the supermarket parking lot? Absolutely.

How many variants of the Cayenne 958 are there?

As we mentioned above, the 958.2 Cayenne saw major changes under the hood but before that, here’s a quick refresher on the various iterations of the Cayenne.

Base model – Entry level
S – About 30% more power
GTS – Sportier S
Turbo – More power
Turbo S – Even more power
Hybrid – Sporty and good MPG
Diesel – MPG and torque for days

The 958.2 saw the V8 dropped from the popular Cayenne S and GTS; replaced by a more powerful and more efficient twin-turbo 3.6-litre V6. Therefore, if you wanted the V8, you had to splurge on the Turbo or Turbo S.

Whichever variant you went for, they all had an 8-speed Tiptronic auto transmission.

Market prices for the Cayenne 958.2

This is where things get a little messy. Alright, we lied. This is where it gets absolutely filthy. Premium SUVs such as the Cayenne are prime candidates for grey imports and hence, the market is filled with them. Most grey imports come from Europe, especially the UK.

How this affects pricing is that the grey imports will be priced lower than the officially imported Cayennes. Does this actually have an impact on performance? We’ll get to that further down as well.

Furthermore, given the glut of variants available, the pricing spectrum stretches quite a bit more than Kim Kardashian in yoga pants.

Unsurprisingly, a quick search online will land you at either a 2015 Cayenne Diesel as the most affordable variant followed by the base Cayenne before things start to climb faster than the price of RON97 petrol these days.

You’ll be able to find a 958.2 Cayenne Diesel starting around the RM 300,000 mark while the base Cayenne with the 3.6-litre V6 starts a little higher around RM 340,000. From here, it can crest the RM 600,000 mark for a Cayenne Turbo in its last year; 2018, before the third gen arrived.

Which variant should I go for?

Much like trying to narrow down the pricing, picking the right variant is akin to an exercise in futility.

While it might severely narrow down the options available, we’d like to stress that you should always prioritise an officially imported unit by SDAP. Yes, there aren’t many on the market but practice some patience and you’ll be duly rewarded.

The reason is simple; the SDAP units have been acclimatised to our tropical climate and should go the distance with age. Most of the grey imports come from markets with much colder climates and may not be suitable for the extreme temperature variations we see here; something that’ll be more apparent with time.

Our pick of the bunch? The Cayenne S. A 3.6-litre twin-turbo V6 with 420 PS and 550 Nm is plenty of fun for an SUV. Not convinced? How about a 259 kph top speed and a century sprint of 5.5-seconds.

It’s a perfect middle ground between all the various variants.

On that note, the Cayenne GTS qualifies for a recommendation as well given that it runs the same powertrain but with a little more boost.

Nonetheless, we reckon the Cayenne S would be easier to come across but either of the two will be the sensible purchase.

Common problems and maintenance costs with the Cayenne 958

You know why depreciation hits premium cars the worst? Problems and maintenance costs. Remember that you might be able to easily afford a used premium car but maintaining one is a whole different ballgame and an offence that your bank account might not be able to defend against.

On the bright side, the surplus of Cayennes; and other Porsche specimens, in the used market has led to the mushrooming of experience and expertise in independent Porsche repair shops that might be able to save you a leg and just sacrifice an arm to keep them running. Most importantly, they can perform a full diagnosis and inspection to ascertain the condition before you hand over your money.

Before you even buy one, there’re a few steps we strongly urge you take to ensure you end up with the best possible specimen. Firstly, as we mentioned before, aim for an officially imported unit. That also gives you the liberty of acquiring the service history from SDAP before making the purchase. Information is key here; or rather how much of it you can acquire.

SDAP also has its own certified pre-owned programme. It goes without saying that’s the best place to begin your search as they don’t place recond cars under the programme; meaning only official imports will make their way there. Additionally, it’s probably that a direct owner traded up, likely indicating a unit that’s well-maintained by official channels.

We hate to stereotype but recond cars and tampered mileage go hand-in-hand like Taylor Swift and bad breakups. So, don’t be afraid of a high-mileage unit. It’s better to go for a high-mileage Cayenne with a detailed service record over a low-mileage one with discrepancies in service history.

Being a Porsche, there’s no cheap fix for any of the common problems.

When you take it for a test drive, pay close attention to the transmission’s shifting. A failing transfer case is pretty common and can be identified by jerky shifting or a slipping clutch. Best case scenario, it’s the fluid that’s been contaminated and most experts recommend using Ravenol; a proven brand. Worst case scenario? A new transfer case that’ll set you back in the region of RM 15,000.

A number of owners have also mentioned that the start-stop system can fail, resulting in the car not restarting after the engine shuts off at a traffic light or any time you come to a standstill on the road. The culprit here is possibly the starter and a Bosch replacement unit will see you around RM 1,800 poorer.

A preventive measure to this would be to simply deactivate the start-stop system before you drive off in your Cayenne.

On the maintenance side of things, it’s equally heavy on the wallet. Stuff like an oil change and other scheduled maintenance jobs will swallow a lot more but to keep the Cayenne at peak performance, you shouldn’t skimp on these.

The Cayenne 958 maintenance schedule calls for an oil change at 10,000 km. One aspect of paramount concern is the supposed transmission fluid that’s a “lifetime” item. Proven to be absolute garbage by any Porsche specialist, it’s recommended the transmission filter and fluid be replaced every 80,000 km at a minimum. Let’s not even go into what replacing the transmission will cost if you neglect this.

Hint: It’s about the cost of a Proton Saga.

This behemoth also doesn’t exactly weigh as much as a Saga. Expect heavy wear on the brakes and tyres the harder you drive or if you opted for the twin-turbo V8 models. Again, tyres and brakes are the last thing you should cheap out on with a machine of this caliber. Expect to pay in the region of RM 1,300 a piece for new tyres.

Here's a breakdown of the service interval:

Conclusion

Call it cliché but in terms of performance SUVs, there’s nothing quite like it. There’re plenty of imitators but the Cayenne is still truly an innovator in its segment.

Nobody actually needs a performance SUV but that’s simply essence of the premium carmaking business; delivering what people want and not necessarily need.

How else do you not only create an all-new segment but also continue to stay at the top of it? Try arguing against the current Nurburgring lap record holder for an SUV? We dare you… if you can catch it.