I was reading my auto club magazine a few minutes ago and I happened upon an article that really should be of news to no one.

Auto manufacturers are engaging in “platform sharing,” it says. This is when the same basic skeleton of a Ford Explorer can be found in its sister model, the Mercury Mountaineer.

It goes on to say that the Volkswagen Toureg and Porsche Cayenne share some components, and you can save $9,000 by purchasing the former.

Baloney!

The actual cost of driving consists of several factors, not the least of which is DEPRECIATION. Models differ dramatically in what they fetch as used cars two, three, four and more years down the line.

Right now, for example, I understand Toureg is losing value at a fast clip, while Cayenne is maintaining it. For this reason, leasing a Porsche may be as cheap, or even cheaper than leasing the VW.

That article goes on to concede that the Cayenne has at least a few differences, including leather upholstery, a “somewhat different engine” and a “unique all-wheel drive system.”

Guess what? That little perk, the driving system, may have saved my life last year as lesser cars were careening off the icy Interstate 80 at Donner Pass. My Cayenne struggled, but it corrected my scary drift in plenty of time to enable me to stay on track.

Oh, there was a box that suddenly fell from a truck in front of me on the Santa Monica Freeway. I was able to steer around it, at 65 miles per hour, the while staying in my lane.

With a lesser car, I, along with my two passengers, would have been rolled over ground beef.

This year, Porsche earned top honors for quality in a JD Power survey. Undoubtedly, that distinction, along with better repair histories, will also buoy the used-car values of its models.