'04 Cayenne Turbo..good buy?
 

I am looking at purchasing a 2004 Cayenne Turbo for my sister. This Cayenne has 84,000 miles and is listed for $10,900. Is a 2 owner vehicle with ample service records and no accidents. Just wanted to get thoughts as to if this is a good deal and something we should consider, or if it is something to stay clear of. The only thing that makes me nervous is that it is a turbo. I am not very literate on Porsches, however have owned a lot of BMW, Mercedes, Audis, and Range Rovers. I am used to the higher maintenance costs, that is not what I am scared of. Just more concerned on reliability as this will be her first car. Any input would be much appreciated!

Welcome to the forum. First thing I'd suggest is to read the sticky at the top of the forum on "Thinking of buying a 955/957 Cayenne.." then come back if you have any specific concerns. FWIW - the turbo isn't really more trouble than the normally aspirated engines, both share the same flaws.

I was under the strong impression that the turbos were much less likely to suffer bore scoring.

unfortunately, no.

I thought the survey showed that they are still vulnerable?

I think the current belief is that late 08+ engines are safe...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...8b5e60fda0.jpg

It is generally thought now that mid-2009 engines and newer are much less susceptible to bore scoring. So far we haven't had any 958 reports of bore scoring.

If you've owned BMW & RR, then you understand what you are getting into. However, an 04 CTT (common abbreviation for 'Cayenne Twin Turbo') is a whole lot more fun than either of those.
Keep in mind that it's a 15 year old car. Some stuff will wear out & break from age, regardless of miles. When it breaks, it will be expensive to fix. Keep in mind that this was a ~$80k - $90k car when new.
Find a good independent mechanic who knows these cars well. They are out there. Many of us on here call the big building with the Crest on it the 'stealership'. There's reason for that.
Read through the 'thinking about buying' sticky. There are a few common issues. The one that you need to know about is the coolant pipes (there's an entire sticky devoted to that issue). It's possible that they have not been done on that car. Find out for certain. If you can, find out if they were replaced proactively, or after they blew. If they blew, there's a good chance the torque converter seal will go out within a few months, The coolant washes over it, dries to a hard 'crystalline' surface and chews up the seal. It needs to be well flushed with clean water fairly soon after the failure. There's also a near certainty that the starter will fail within a few months (hint - if they blew recently, and this stuff wasn't done at the time, take the price down a good amount).
If they haven't been replaced, they need to be done now. Budget a couple thousand for that. Make your offer accordingly.

955 CTTs seem to see it less (not zero). 957s seem to see it more in the CTTs.

Wrong car
Get her a PPV, the Crown Vic replacement, to nerf into things with
https://www.autotempest.com/results?model_kw=ppv

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...b8eb4a5ee7.jpg

Reliable first car for a sister? Cayenne TT not even in the top 100 cars I would recommend lol.

But good luck with your choice whichever way you go.

What part of the world is it from...cold climate?

I have this debate with my family quite often. They ask me what cars they should get (because I'm the car person in the family I guess). I always and immediately suggest a used Toyota Corolla, or Honda Civic or Ford Focus or something cheap and reliable... Maybe a Lexus if they really want to go fancy and they always get annoyed with me because I am always shopping for 'nice' cars for myself and apparently I don't think they are 'good enough' for a 'nice car'.

They are high maintenance and either you need to view it as buying into a hobby or you need to be rich enough that you can just throw money at the problem until it goes away. Oil changes are already more than what most people want to think about and the car just won't last very long if that's the level of mental energy the owner can give it.

Are you or your sister willing to throw money at the problem to make it go away? You should probably just buy a much much newer Cayenne with warranty in that case. It'll cost you less.

Or is your sister willing to view this as a hobby? Will she have a secondary car to get around in while you or her are working on the Cayenne? Its not that I think the cars are unreliable, they are just delicate and require some TLC to keep running well.

If OP sister is dating or married to a Porsche Tech.... then by all means GO FOR IT!

^^^This.

If she does not have high mechanical aptitude and/or quite a bit of money to throw at problems and you do not want to be her personal mechanic, then this is not going to go well. It is just about a constant effort to keep everything working 100% on these cars at this age. There is more complexity and expense to the turbo model. Some of the little projects are annoying like boost leaks, diverter valves, emptying oil out of the driver's side charge tube regularly, etc.

Is she someone who would gripe about checking the oil level and topping it off every 1,000 to 2,000 miles between oil changes? That is almost a given on most CTT's. I can't see my sisters or wife ever staying on top of that. If basic maintenance like this is a question, then this is not your car.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ct...916801258.html

$6,000 for that one with service history.