Why The 2004 Porsche Cayenne First Edition Was An Overengineered Super SUV

When Porsche was in financial turmoil in the early 2000s, they were looking for some brilliant ideas to save the business. The term “Sporty SUV” arose when the German luxury carmaker decided to bring in new elements to make an impact on the company. Porsche debuted the first generation Cayenne at a time when different car manufacturers were catching up with the SUV trend and started investing in development.
When they entered the American market, it seemed that they were a bit lost in terms of how to position the car. They tried to put in as much as possible, but the new elements were not appealing to American consumers. Even Matt Farah from the YouTube channel The Smoking Tire and Doug DeMuro, the founder of Cars & Bids, agree. Speaking on The Smoking Tire Podcast, the two automotive journalists confirmed that Porsche overengineered the 2004 Porsche Cayenne First Edition by including too many options in which the customers were not really interested at the time. People were anticipating a monumental failure from the carmaker in this pioneering super SUV.
The Porsche Super SUV Concept Has Proven Everyone Wrong
The family-friendly touring vehicle debuted at Paris Motor Show in 2002 and was a huge success shortly after. Porsche once described that the Cayenne rescued the company from a financial crisis. At that time, Porsche was trying to build a capable off-roader, which at the same time could be an extremely versatile sports car featuring typical Porsche high performance.
It was also the first Porsche vehicle to feature Porsche’s Active Suspension Management system (PASM), which was a newly developed feature back then. The most powerful variant of the first generation (E1), the Cayenne Turbo, packed 444 hp in a 4.5-liter engine. Even Doug mentioned in the podcast that the Cayenne stunned his customers when he floored it during a test drive. Little did they know, the overengineered E1 witnessed a drastic depreciation of itself.
First-Gen Porsche Cayenne Had A Cool Yet Pointless Feature
When Porsche first introduced the super SUV to the American market, they did not have a clue about what to offer to the potential buyers. Doug stated that he heard a story that Porsche even considered adapting the Cayenne by putting in a gun rack mount. To be fair, although it does not sound feasible, it does prove that Porsche was really trying to bend their best efforts to penetrate the automotive market in the US at that time.
In the end, Porsche fitted a spare tire carrier on a Cayenne for their first batch of clients. Here is the problem – is that a luxury SUV or a utilitarian car built to withstand extreme conditions? Despite the fact that the German carmaker ensured the performance, ride quality, and handling, the Cayenne E1 struggled to make a name for itself due to the unclear positioning.
Apart from this, the conspicuous design of the rear-mounted spare tire tainted the elegant and curvy design of the Cayenne. It makes perfect sense to install a spare tire rack on an off-roader with a rugged design, such as a Jeep Wrangler or a Land Rover Defender. Nonetheless, at that time, people thought it was entirely the opposite when you do it on a Cayenne.
Yet, these spare tire racks are, in fact, extremely sought-after nowadays as people are looking to rebuild an overlander with the Cayenne E1 now. Although it came out as a surprise, Porsche deserves all the credit for having the fortitude to go there indeed.
Unnecessary Options For The First-Gen Cayenne Buyers In The US
The Cayenne E1 also came with options in which the American customers were not interested. In addition to the spare tire rack, the first generation SUV was one of the first Porsche vehicles to feature the KESSY keyless start option. Basically, the option provided owners with a key receiver, so they no longer had to put their car key into the ignition. Therefore, it becomes a ‘keyless’ start feature in principle. However, it was something that people were not really paying attention to, as Matt and Doug mentioned in the Podcast. The system also has reasonably low reliability and is a common fault of the Cayenne E1. Every second is irreplaceable – would it be better if there was a button instead of a key receiver?
Porsche, in fact, included numerous fantastic features to make the Cayenne E1 more competitive in the market. There was a nice air suspension system and outstanding performance considering its heavy curb weight. The unrealistic high performance of the SUV literally astonished both Matt and Doug in the past. However, despite a good four-wheel drive, customers did not really value the two-speed transfer case. Considering that there had been a plethora of rugged vehicle choices back then, it is not surprising that they did not care about how stunning the transfer case was. Perhaps what they were looking for from a Porsche SUV was pure extravagance and luxurious ride quality.
For all the above reasons, it would not have been a surprise to see a huge drop in the value of the car. Matt mentioned in the podcast that his father bought it for $108,000 in 2004 and sold it for only $25,000 with merely 40,000 miles done in it. However, almost 20 years have passed, and the Porsche Cayenne has established its unique market position as a luxurious fast SUV. People are also looking to rebuild this behemoth for its off-road ability. Overengineered or not overengineered, that is the question.
Sources: The Smoking Tire Podcast, Porsche