After a few years away from a 4x4 I’m looking to get back into one now that I’m working close to home and only doing 6-7k miles a year, plus with the impending doom of diesel I don’t fancy risking one, both of these are Euro 4 petrols so if other places start introducing pollution charging neither will be a problem.
Budget is about £9k and there are decent examples of both cars around, Cayenne absolutely has the RRS (sorry) on performance but really don’t know if I could get used to the looks!.
Both are going to be equally horrific on petrol but I’ve already worked out I’m only looking at £10-£15 more a week than a diesel so I wouldn’t miss it much.
Are the Superchargeds pretty reliable compared to the diesels?, I had EGR and gearbox issues on my last one which wernt cheap to sort, especially the gearbox!.

I have never owned a Cayenne but I've driven one. Long time ago now. The interiors are crap IMO, and still are even in the £18-24k range when I was looking around before buying my 5.0 SC. RRS wins the interior and exterior looks hands down. The Cayenne is just so ugly. I can't imagine parking one, walking away and turning round for another look. I do that regularly with my RRS.

The RRS looks better for sure, the later facelifted interior of the RRS looks really smart and modern still but the earlier ones (2005 ish for both cars) I sort of think the Porsche one looks more modern than the early RRS.
I’m not sure about the reliability either, general view on the Porsche is the S model can have self destructing engines so either get a Turbo or a V6 and I’d much prefer the Turbo for the price difference, they seem to suffer from needing some coolant pipes replaced and rear propshafts.
The RRS can throw up loads of problems but if you find a good one they’re lovely to drive, I’d also consider a FFRR Supercharged to be fair, but think the Sport handles much nicer.

Probably right about the 2005 Porsche looking more modern, but the RRS IMO is a nicer place to sit. You just can't beat the arm rests and seats. I had the old interior for over a year and honestly preferred sitting there than I did in my 2015 Mercedes C250 which had a fantastic interior. The LCD radio leaves a lot to be desired looks wise, but the 2005 Cayenne isn't up to much in that area either from what I remember. The Cayenne turbo is certainly very quick!

Definitely consider an FFRR as well, yeah.

I went through the exact same loop, changed jobs, mileage went sub 10k a year, decided that it was time for a loud, thirsty comfortable petrol.

For your budget, I think the RRS has it on a number of fronts, or at least it did for me, i think the mid 2000’s RRS is a much better looking car than a mid 2000’s Cayenne, they just look very spongy and 90’s old now. The RRS has kid of a timeless classic style that just doesn’t seem to age as badly. The interior on the Cayenne is very dated too, look at the switches on the inside.....Fuel economy on a Turbo Cayenne is way worse than a 4.2 SC (9mpg v 12-15mpg), and i think the SC sounds better too, love that whine from the Supercharger, especially at about 4K rpm......

Porsches are renowned for 4 figure servicing bills and dealer lock in, on most models of that era (not 100% sure on the Cayenne) the rims require special double beaded tyres which are mega £ and are only available from a couple of manufacturers. On the flip side, i think the Cayenne possibly handles a bit better in normal mode, at least the body roll is less noticeable. Might be a feature, might be a fault, but my handling only seems to sharpen up when the car is in sport mode.

My SC has active cruise control and adaptive front lights, standard fitment, never saw this as even an optional fitment on the Cayenne’s I looked at.

The Porsche might be a more reliable vehicle, maybe, but when it goes bad is goes big bad. There are way more options for parts and modifications on the RRS in my view, I think you can make it your own with more options than you can with a Cayenne. It seems from my experience, and from what I have read on here, that the SC’s are a little more reliable generally than the Diesel versions.

But, if we all liked the same things, the world would be a boring place. Go with your gut feel, if you prefer one over the other, run with it! Either way, you will end up with a top end vehicle that will bring on the smiles.

Having owned a Cayenne of 2004 and now an 05 RRSS I can tell you that the RR is way better inside. My Cayenne as not a Turbo but it still went like stink. I found the Porsche interior fragile with heating vent grills breaking etc whereas the RR is much better.
Looks wise.. Hmm.. The Porsche was called ugly at first but I think they look better than the later ones. The RR just looks like it's carved from a solid block of something. Slab sided with the side steps. It's a tough one as I've just spotted a Cayenne turbo not far from me which I may take a look at..

This is the problem, I quite like both cars, my last RR needed a few bits doing, most of which to be fair were wear and tear things like lower arms, discs and pads etc, which is fine.
The thing that makes me slightly nervous about another RR was the gearbox failing at just over 100k, now to be fair this could be down to it never having the fluid changed as it wasn’t the best maintained example before I had it.
If they love had the fluid changed on time are the boxes usually ok?.
In honesty I like both cars, I know neither are cheap to run and am ok with that, I’d just prefer picking one or the other that’s less likely to throw up a £3k bill!.

Would emissions not be a big issue for both cars in the London area? Both are old cars now and had pretty breathtaking emissions when they were new......... 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Before plunging for a new RRS I was in a similar dilemma to you.

But once you take a long, hard look at a Cayenne compared to a RRS there is no competition. Sure, on performance alone the former is better but in most other departments the RRS wins hands-down.

Reliability wise I can't comment as a comparison between the two so maybe that's a significant factor but I just p/ex'ed a First Edition SuperCharged with 92K on the clock after 7.5 years/30,000 miles of ownership and it didn't have a single serious issue; think the most expensive cost (outside the expected) was the suspension compressor which JLR wanted £650ish for but I sourced externally for half that price.

Tim in Scotland wrote:

Would emissions not be a big issue for both cars in the London area? Both are old cars now and had pretty breathtaking emissions when they were new.........

Looks wise....the RR wins hands down for me. I`ve always looked admiringly at Sports...Cayenne have never even been worth a glance for me. I`d personally rather sacrifice a little power for a more aesthetically pleasing vehicle  Steve.

Nobody prepared to comment on the offroad capablities of both cars then? Cayenne is basically a Touareg underneath and is very good offroad but like RRS you rarely see one where it was designed to go............. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Good point Tim - I don't really challenge mine off road (apart from when we go camping), but the roads in West Oxfordshire are so bad it's basically off-roading whenever I leave the house at this point.

Hoople wrote:

The thing that makes me slightly nervous about another RR was the gearbox failing at just over 100k, now to be fair this could be down to it never having the fluid changed as it wasn’t the best maintained example before I had it.
If they love had the fluid changed on time are the boxes usually ok?.

Tim in Scotland wrote:

Nobody prepared to comment on the offroad capablities of both cars then? Cayenne is basically a Touareg underneath and is very good offroad but like RRS you rarely see one where it was designed to go.............