Love and Hate
10-13-2014, 09:51 PM
#1
Track Day
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Love and Hate
To begin, I have to say that my wife and I love our "new" Cayenne. We bought an 05' CTT with 36k miles a few months ago. It spent the first 30 days in our possession breaking, and went into the shop for repairs for an incredibly long 6 weeks.
To start, we bought a car that I thought might have issues. Despite only having 36k miles on the odometer, and being a one-owner, all but 2k of those were put on through 2011. Beginning in 2011, the Cayenne only saw 2k miles until we bought it, and for reasons unknown. I wasn't too worried though as I purchased the vehicle through Carmax and was able to purchase a 5 year, + an additional 39k miles, $0 deductible bumper to bumper warranty for an inexpensive $2,400. I could have purchased the warranty with more mileage but my wife and I have very small commutes and typically only put 6k miles on each car per year.
So within the 30 days of ownership, here's what happened.
1) panoramic sunroof stopped working properly
2) air suspension warning msg
3) dipped beam headlight
4) parking brake wouldn't fully release
5) front seat seatbacks detached
God forbid your panoramic sunroof ever break out of warranty. CarMax didn't want to fix it and sent the car to Porsche for repairs. Their quote was for $13,000. WTF, it's just a sunroof! After Carmax got the quote back (unfortunately I never saw it) they offered to purchase the car back from me and refund me in whole (presumably to send it off to auction afterwards). Because the car was in such excellent condition cosmetically (the interior and exterior looked untouched) I refused and asked them to figure out another solution. They ended up fixing the sunroof themselves, replacing a motor and wind deflector. Apparently they had to remove a vast majority of the interior panels (labor time must be insane). Unfortunately afterwards I was able to see small scratches to various painted areas on the interior and small fitment issues with panels that weren't previously there prior to the repair.
Porsche ended up replacing the air suspension compressor for $3200.
Carmax replaced one xenon bulb and didn't level it properly. I ended up leveling both headlamps afterwards (thanks to instructions within this forum).
Carmax replaced the parking brake shock.
Carmax "fixed" the front seatbacks (no idea how, probably just glued them).
Despite not having the car in my possession for half of my 3 month ownership, I still love the vehicle. There's something special about a 2.5 ton vehicle accelerating so incredibly fast. I've owned faster cars, but I've never owned a car that's weighed this much and has been this fast. It's a different feeling.
I'm lucky to have the warranty though, assuming there will be the usual Cardan shaft and coolant pipe repairs among others.
I'll be performing an ignition coil and spark plug replacement soon, again without knowing any of the service history and with the possibility that they're 9 years old and possibly way overdue for replacement.
Despite my troubles thus far, it's a car that makes me feel more special than any other car in its price range. It's unique and turns heads, even if it's turning those heads in the repair shop.
To start, we bought a car that I thought might have issues. Despite only having 36k miles on the odometer, and being a one-owner, all but 2k of those were put on through 2011. Beginning in 2011, the Cayenne only saw 2k miles until we bought it, and for reasons unknown. I wasn't too worried though as I purchased the vehicle through Carmax and was able to purchase a 5 year, + an additional 39k miles, $0 deductible bumper to bumper warranty for an inexpensive $2,400. I could have purchased the warranty with more mileage but my wife and I have very small commutes and typically only put 6k miles on each car per year.
So within the 30 days of ownership, here's what happened.
1) panoramic sunroof stopped working properly
2) air suspension warning msg
3) dipped beam headlight
4) parking brake wouldn't fully release
5) front seat seatbacks detached
God forbid your panoramic sunroof ever break out of warranty. CarMax didn't want to fix it and sent the car to Porsche for repairs. Their quote was for $13,000. WTF, it's just a sunroof! After Carmax got the quote back (unfortunately I never saw it) they offered to purchase the car back from me and refund me in whole (presumably to send it off to auction afterwards). Because the car was in such excellent condition cosmetically (the interior and exterior looked untouched) I refused and asked them to figure out another solution. They ended up fixing the sunroof themselves, replacing a motor and wind deflector. Apparently they had to remove a vast majority of the interior panels (labor time must be insane). Unfortunately afterwards I was able to see small scratches to various painted areas on the interior and small fitment issues with panels that weren't previously there prior to the repair.
Porsche ended up replacing the air suspension compressor for $3200.
Carmax replaced one xenon bulb and didn't level it properly. I ended up leveling both headlamps afterwards (thanks to instructions within this forum).
Carmax replaced the parking brake shock.
Carmax "fixed" the front seatbacks (no idea how, probably just glued them).
Despite not having the car in my possession for half of my 3 month ownership, I still love the vehicle. There's something special about a 2.5 ton vehicle accelerating so incredibly fast. I've owned faster cars, but I've never owned a car that's weighed this much and has been this fast. It's a different feeling.
I'm lucky to have the warranty though, assuming there will be the usual Cardan shaft and coolant pipe repairs among others.
I'll be performing an ignition coil and spark plug replacement soon, again without knowing any of the service history and with the possibility that they're 9 years old and possibly way overdue for replacement.
Despite my troubles thus far, it's a car that makes me feel more special than any other car in its price range. It's unique and turns heads, even if it's turning those heads in the repair shop.
10-13-2014, 11:30 PM
#2
Drifting
Don't know much about the pano roof.
Air susp warning can be intermittent and resets with just restarting, If not it usually is the compressor which can be rebuilt very easily and cheaply.
Dipped beam can be a few things. Mine was the bulb was not lining up to the contacts properly.
Parking brake is replace the shock or just pull it up with your foot.
I have heard about the seat backs but have not had it happen to me at 120000 mi.
Having one with such low mileage , many of the usual problems may not have been addressed. I would think that once you have dealt with everything you will have a great car.
Have the coolant pipes been done yet? If not do them. There are really good DIY instructions available. I like the one from ECS tuning.
LOL, just fully read your post. Anyway check for the coolant pipes. If they have not been replaced for the aluminum versions do it as preventative maintenance.
The air susp compressor can be rebuilt for about $100. Easy DIY. I hope that it was warranted for you, as $3200 is way off base, unless there was a lot more to it.
Air susp warning can be intermittent and resets with just restarting, If not it usually is the compressor which can be rebuilt very easily and cheaply.
Dipped beam can be a few things. Mine was the bulb was not lining up to the contacts properly.
Parking brake is replace the shock or just pull it up with your foot.
I have heard about the seat backs but have not had it happen to me at 120000 mi.
Having one with such low mileage , many of the usual problems may not have been addressed. I would think that once you have dealt with everything you will have a great car.
Have the coolant pipes been done yet? If not do them. There are really good DIY instructions available. I like the one from ECS tuning.
LOL, just fully read your post. Anyway check for the coolant pipes. If they have not been replaced for the aluminum versions do it as preventative maintenance.
The air susp compressor can be rebuilt for about $100. Easy DIY. I hope that it was warranted for you, as $3200 is way off base, unless there was a lot more to it.
10-14-2014, 12:10 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Nice work on the Carmax warranty. The vehicles they warranty are insane: there's guy on Jalopnik who posted regularly about his adventures with Carmax fixing a Range Rover he bought from them.
