With their lofty driving positions, year-round usability, and impressively stout performance, it’s easy to see why hot SUVs are all the rage. But such flexibility doesn’t come cheap… or does it?
Need a vehicle that’s fast, practical, safe and, above all else, versatile? Then you buy a fast SUV, of course. But with many of the latest spicy flagship 4X4s now commanding six-figure price tags, owning one is but a dream to many.
Unless you look toward the classifieds, of course. Thanks to the wonders of depreciation — if you’re prepared to keep a rainy-day fund for some routine maintenance and repairs — it’s now possible to own a proper sports off-roader for less than the price of a high-end mountain bike.
With vast alloys and hefty kerbweights, their tyres will need to be carefully considered, though. Luckily, Kumho’s ultra-high performance
ECSTA PS71 SUV range offers a similarly alluring blend of performance and value — in a wide range of sizes.
So, without further ado, get ready to gawp at how much performance and practicality you can get for so little cash. Here’s our five favourite fast SUVs for £35,000 or less.
£5,000 – Porsche Cayenne S 4.8 (2007)
Image credit: Shutterstock - James Hime
Sure, it’s not the fire-breathing turbo model — although particularly well-loved examples of those can be picked up for £5,000 — but this 4.8-litre version of
Porsche’s inaugural
Cayenne still offers just shy of 400 bhp. And that’s not all, it was also one of the first SUVs to feel properly sporty to drive. With steering and braking performance that could trouble far more focused performance cars, the Cayenne really did what it said on the tin.
Granted, the styling of early models wasn’t (and still isn’t) to all tastes, but at this price point we wouldn’t quibble. And, of course, upkeep and repair costs are a significant consideration with any 18-year-old machine. However, you can soften that slightly scary proposition by fitting Kumho’s affordable PS71 SUV tyres, without compromising on performance. Designed with a reinforced sidewall to improve handling performance and durability, the PS71 SUV should have little trouble taming the Cayenne’s considerable power and mass.