When you think of legendary Porsche products, cars like today’s Cayenne probably won’t be at the top of the list. The diesel model’s lack of popularity has driven extraordinary depreciation, meaning perhaps more of us could drive it as well.

Provenance is a word that describes an object or idea’s place of origin. Providence is the largest city in the tiny state of Rhode Island. I often get the spelling of those two confused. Provenance was a factor in the contemplation of last Friday’s . That was due to the car having been owned at one time by legendary racer, car tuner and hat wearer, Carroll Shelby.

The seller played upon that history, asking an inflated $249,900 to become the car’s next owner. Most of you saw through that charade however, and dunned both the price and the provenance with a 73 percent Crack Pipe loss. Maybe things would have turned out differently if Shelby had autographed the Pantera’s dashboard?

Speaking of different, today’s we have a to investigate.

Yes, a tall, oil-burning AWD wagon is perhaps the last thing you would have ever expected to come out of Stuttgart’s most famous automaker, but this is the world we live in.

Well, actually this was the world we lived in four or five years ago, back before Volkswagen’s mega-corporate diesel emissions cheating scandal rocked the auto industry. That tainted oil burners from almost all manufacturers irreparably. Oh, and I refuse to call it Dieselgate because I feel the use of anything-gate is so done).

Today, Porsche has given up on diesel engines for the U.S. choosing instead to focus their fuel economy goals on hybrids, including the Cayenne. You’d expect there to be a hybrid Cayenne, seeing as it’s Porsche’s best selling model, and almost all automakers catering to this price range seem to have an electrified version of their most popular cars. It’s almost as though the hybrid badge is coin of the realm among status seekers these days.

That shift has, however, left a lot of diesel Cayennes lying around, and most of those are priced well below their somewhat astronomical original asking prices. We’ll get to this one’s in a sec, but first, let’s see what you’re getting for your moolah.

This 2015 is from the Cayenne’s second generation and that rides on a platform that, like its forerunner, is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7. The diesel engine is a 2967cc DOHC V6 that too is shared with the Touareg and Q7. Here in the Porsche, it gives it up to the tune of 240 horsepower and a more notable 406 lb-ft of twist. That’s all able to scoot the Cayenne diesel’s nearly 5,000 pounds to sixty in a little over 6 seconds while still making almost 30 MPG on the highway. Not too shabby. Backing up the smoker is an Aisin-sourced but Porsche programmed 8-speed automatic with Triptronic manumatic mode.

This one rocks a modest 55K on the clock, and speaking of timepieces, it also has the optional compass on the dash top, which is sort of like a clock. In fact, this Cayenne sports a number of added options, including the luxurious Premium Package and Burmester sound system.

The exterior is Umber Metallic which is sort of brown. Both paint and underlying bodywork look to be in excellent shape. The factory alloys look to be in acceptable shape although the ones in front are a bit dank with brake dust.

The interior is awash in leather, Alcantara, and upscale plastics. It also has enough buttons and switches to trigger an OCD overload. I’m sure each one has a unique and important function, but damn there’s a lot to learn in here. Like the exterior, the interior presents very nicely. The only issue here is an overly shiny steering wheel which may portend its early retirement.

The car comes with a clean title and, attractively, an extended warranty that’s supposedly good through February of 2021. It’s noted to be a one-owner car and to be both accident and smoker-free.

Okay, let’s get back to that crazy depreciation, shall we? The Porsche Certificate of Authenticity included with the car states its original MSRP as being $83,725. The base price on this at the time was around $56,000 so that’s nearly $30K just in options. Hell, you could have bought a base edition of the car without all the fanci-fications and a VW GTI for the same grand total.

Like all things really expensive and tenuously relevant, the Cayenne’s depreciation has been enormous. The asking price on this one is $43,000, which is still a lot of money, but less than half of what one would have cost you new just four years ago. The question for you is, could this diesel Porsche now be a steal of a deal?

You decide!

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