2007 PORSCHE CAYENNE

This is not a Cayenne GTS Manual, the prices of which in Europe and the US are north of £20,000 and a RHD UK example sold earlier this year for £24,000. But with the same engine and 97% of the looks, it's the next best thing at half the price.

And it might be a rarer car too. Porsche hasn't released exact numbers into the public domain but it's reckoned about 3% of GTS's worldwide were manual. The S however (which along with the base six cylinder Cayenne and GTS came standard with a manual) was almost exclusively optioned with a Tiptronic transmission. Since the S was neither budget-restrained nor explicitly positioned by Porsche to be driver focused, that makes sense and the case for a manual would be poorest in that car. But the 6-speed gearbox suits its off-road capabilities more readily and one shouldn't downplay its road handling on tarmac which - as befits a Porsche from the end of the noughties, is pretty darn good and deserves to be enjoyed via three pedals.

I have always considered the 957 the sweet spot in the Cayenne's history. The 955 was Porsche's first crack at a 4x4 in 2002 and is often credited (along with the Boxster) for saving the company. Famously over-engineered to deliver outstanding off-road capability despite more frequently falling into the category of Chelsea Tractor in practice, the 955's rather suburban front end appearance was made over in 2007 for the 957. This featured more aggressive headlights which still look modern today thanks to the treatment being borrowed to some extent by the Lotus Eletre, deeper sills and taillights which brought the car into alignment with the rest of the contemporary Porsche range rather than harking back to the 968's red eyes. Where 4.5Litre V8 units in the 955 became 4.8 L in the 957, the engines also proved to be more reliable. After 2010, the looks softened again, particularly in the rear end treatment. The off-road prowess of the 958 was dialled down substantially from the first generation cars and after that generation you couldn't get a manual.

The car for sale is a 2007 Cayenne S in Basalt black with black interior powered by a naturally aspirated 4.8L Porsche V8. It's a testament to how well Porsche's interiors hold up over time as well as to the general care this car has experienced during its ownership that there are no missing trim pieces including the somewhat delicate rear cupholders which are often damaged by children kicking them from the back seats. There is no rust to be found anywhere on the exterior of the car; nor, I hasten to add is there any structural rust beneath it! The drainage holes have been cleaned out to ensure no collection of rainwater - a common problem on the Cayenne, as is rusting to the rear doors. All clear here. The only cosmetic points to mention are a small scuff to the nearside front alloy as well as some superficial aluminium corrosion to the decorative strip adjacent to the front wheel arch. The front and rear light lenses are crystal clear having been replaced within the last 2 years.

The car is shod with P Zeros all round on 20" SportTechno alloys and I have always used 99 RON petrol. Although I've not used the car off-road, I have made a point of engaging low range and centre differential lock periodically to ensure the system does not seize up. There is mixed Porsche Centre, specialist and non-specialist service history up to 2023 but since then the car has been serviced annually at Zentrum, an independent Porsche specialist in Calverton near Nottingham with oil changes on each of those occasions. It's not burning oil, there's no hint of bore score and the car really punches down the road, particularly if you engage Sport mode which gives you a shove in the back more convincingly than when you usually engage such buttons on other cars and certainly more so than with my Panamera.

As time has passed, the bare specification of this car has made for trouble-free maintenance. There's no Tiptronic to go wrong which if it did would be terminal on a 19 year old SUV. The car doesn't have a sun-roof hence none of the leakage and water collection that can lead to rusting on Cayennes that do. There's also no air suspension which is another cause of death for 957s when they go wrong. I should note though that the road handling is composed and the air-conditioning runs ice cold. I replaced the air circulation fan 8 months ago after one of the bearings in the old one began to whine.

So there you have it. A rare car in good condition which would make an excellent family car daily driver as I have used it, a welcome presence at Porsche meetings or even the basis for a Cayenne Transsyberia homage.