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What money can’t buy
Ted Macauley takes the rough with the smooth in the Porsche Cayenne
When it comes to holidaying in the UK, there is no region more picturesque than the Lake District, 270 miles north of London. You can get there by train, but you’ll miss all the joy of motoring over mountain passes and along lakeside roads – and the train won’t get you to Holbeck Ghyll, a Victorian hunting lodge now superbly converted to a hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant from which diners can look out across neighbouring Lake Windermere.
Recently I drove up there in a Porsche Cayenne, and I could not have chosen a more fitting carriage for me, my wife and all her designer luggage. The Cayenne is not the prettiest of 4WDs and it has an elephantine thirst for fuel, but it motors along smoothly, sticks tight to the twistiest of roads and – crucial on a long drive – is comfort personified. It was equally at home zooming along the open stretches of the motorways and going off-road on the muddy, slippery and bumpy byways of the beautiful northern English countryside.
Most makers of 4WDs will tell you that their cars can do all of this, but in reality, few of them can cope with the real off-road stuff as well as the Cayenne does.
The price tag for the basic model we drove is US$77,000, but if you want an upgrade, US$114,000 gets you the S-Type with all the extras, including a Bose surround-sound system, custom leather interior, Porsche crest headrest and privacy glass. The pleasure of motoring around the Lake District, however, remains priceless.
www.porsche.com
PORSCHE CAYENNE
Price from US$77,000
Engine V8, 4806cc
Top speed 250kph
Acceleration 0-100kph in 6.8 secs
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