RUNNINGS
BY HARRY KIRSBAUM
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGIE BAAN
0 CHILD LEFT BEHIND
t's Friday morning, and I've just dropped off my Mini-Cooper to
test drive one of the world's fastest SUV's: the Porsche Cayenne S.
This isn't your typical suburban assault vehicle. With a base price
of $55,900, the 2004 model I drove costs $66,030, gets 14 miles per
gallon in the city, and has a top speed of 150 miles per hour.
I'll need every bit of that power, because I'm playing the role of
a soccer-NASCAR dad today. I don't have a child of my own, so
8 • NOVEMBER 2004 • JNPLATINUM
I've borrowed one from my attorney's daughter.
"Porsche doesn't build cars for the passengers," says Kevin Tierney, a
sales manager at Fred Lavery Company in Birmingham. "They build
them for the drivers."
I'm taking Revvin' Evan, 2 years old, on a run, and there's no DVD
player in the back seat. The soft leather seats and beautiful interior also
prevent the introduction of nums-nums and sippy cups into the back
seat. So that explains the helmets.
Speed and handling are essential.
It's heavy, at almost 5,000 pounds, but the Cayenne's
6-speed automatic is connected to a 4.5-liter V-8 with 350
horses, and the suspension is almost as tight as those
Porsches that are built a bit lower to the ground.
In fact, Tierney says the Cayenne is built so a blind-
folded person could be driven in one and not know that
he's in an SUV.
The Cayenne's suspension can be raised and lowered
depending on driving conditions, and it handles itself as
well as a Range Rover in the outback, he says.
The S-version is in the middle of the Cayenne pack
in power and performance, able to get from 0 to 60 mph
in 7.2 seconds. The Turbo, with a turbocharged 4.5 liter
450 horsepower engine has a base price of $88,900, a top
speed of 165 mph, and can get to 60 in 5.6 seconds.
In the slower lane, the new 2005 V-6 Cayenne 3.2
liter engine holds 250 horses and can go from 0 to 60 in
9 seconds for a base price of $43,665. Less powerful, but
reasonably priced enough to buy a battery-run DVD
player for your Revvin' Evan. ❑