Years ago I used to be a sports car guy. Had a 911 at one point, also a BMW 5 series. Then I got into offroading and bought a Jeep GC. It has 145,000 miles on it. I am thinking about parking it with my girlfriend in Denver, and buying another car for where I live in Baltimore. A "hot" car that can handle mild offroad would be optimal. Thinking about a used electric or maybe just going for a turbo Cayenne. Some questions:

Can a Cayenne really do mild offroad?

What can I expect for maintenance costs? I remember them being killer on the 911. Edmunds estimates around $5000 per year once you get past the first few years. Is that about right?

Any electric owners out there? Are they worth considering? Impressive 0-60 times.

Does the turbo add a lot of maintenance costs? I had a Saab turbo years ago, and if something went wrong with the turbo, very expensive. Maybe worth it in terms of performance?

Truth be told, I can afford $5000 per year for maintenance, but much more than that would scare me away.

Thanks.

 

I'd suggest carefully reading the sticky https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...his-first.html if you're considering a 2003-2010 Cayenne, or https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...his-first.html if you're thinking of buying a 2011-current model. When done absorbing that info, please come back and ask some specific questions about specific models/years. Better questions get better answers.

 

Standard V8:
2K$ a year if you like to be serviced by the dealer.
500-700$ if DIY or indy
[tires & gas are extra]

 

Thanks. I’ll check out those links. Was a bit of a rambling question. Still getting my bearings.

 

My experience as well. There's a guy on here who put 30-inch tires on this P!g and used it as a ranch truck somewhere in Texas. I think he had over 200k on it.

 

Agree with this as well. I had 5 grand ready when I bought my 06S in 09. Eight years later i still have 2 grand of that fund left.

 

The 955 and face-lifted 957 (2008-2010) are the more capable off-road models due to the 4 wheel drive system. Porsche realized that not manycwere bring used this way so with the 958 changed it in 2011 to off road capable, but not quite as much. Personally I think the 957 is the best look - still a masculine beefy SUV but with the fresher look. The turbo doesn't require much more, if any more, maintenance than the other v8 models and they have better interiors (leather dash and doors), and more performance goodies like air suspension, etc. Turbo S and GTS models bring a premium. If you can find one with PDCC, it completely changes the handling.

Good luck with your search. Find one that has had the known issues corrected (coolant pipes, cardan shaft, etc) with a solid maintenance history and you should be good to go.

Find the threads on Otis the Cayenne for off-road info.

 

Again, many thanks to everyone. This is helping me get focused. Nice to hear $2000 per year is common for maintenance, though I assume with higher milesge, that could jump some. In the interim I have read that the electric version only perform at a “hot” level in electric mode, not so much in hybrid, which I assume is mostly where it will be. Based on what Petza is saying, trying to find, say, a 2010 turbo could be the way to go. Do the turbos hold up well? Massive repair cost when it fails.

 

I think there have only been 1 or 2 actual failures of the turbos themselves. Early in there were some replacements from what was thought to be blow-by when oil was found in the driver's side intercooler, but that was before it was figured out that tge emissions system ventilated the crankcase into the drivers side intake pipe to reburn oil vapor, but when that vapor condenses, it becomes oil in tge intercooler. You either empty the intercooler every other oil change or install a catch can to keep it out of the intake.

 

Thanks. So turbo and engine shoukd typically fail around the same time? Looks like a turbo is much easier to find than a turbo S.

 

In most cases, neither fails. There are some running around with 250,000 miles on them. There are some instances of bore scoring g in cold climate cars, and yes, turbos will be easier to find them turbo s models, though a 2009 Turbo S has PDCC standard and the sightly better touchscreen and color PCM. If you like manual transmissions, the 957 GTS was offered with one of those and has nice bodywork and a PSE exhaust. I almost went that way but couldn't get past the 150 HP difference between the GTS and Turbo S.

 

Be aware that Turbos and models with "turbo" packages without the actual turbo probably have very expensive-to-replace rotors, calipers, and brake pads, several multiples more expensive than those parts for S and base cars. Similarly, other expensive items come on the "uplevel" models... those suspension options add complexity and maintenance costs the "regular" models (S and base) don't have. Also note that while people are saying $2000 a year for dealer service and less than half that for independent service shops, there are plenty of things that can go wrong where the parts alone cost $2000 or more. Cylinder scoring on 955s in cold weather has been problematic and repairing that costs more than the vehicle might be worth when it has 100,000 or more miles.

 

Thanks again for all of the helpful feedback. If I go the Cayenne route, I will want something that will “perform.” Back in my hot car phase, I found I found that 0-60 in about 5 seconds is what I needed for “satisfying” performance. So I am shooting for around that. And Happy Thanksgiving.

 

PS The biggest problem with the Turbo S seems to be finding one. Autotrader had 5 (2008-10) nationwide.

 

Yeph, took me 9 months to find GTS. Setup an alert on cars.com - every morning while you sip your coffee decode the vins that show up for sale. Last I checked there were 64 2014 Caynee GTS for sale nationwide, vs 84 2014 Ferrari 458 Spyder.