Hi all,
A little background: I’ve had 3 958’s of different variants (base, S, GTS) and one 944 in my past. I then left for BMW, again, left BMW, again, and bought a Tesla Model 3 Performance. I love my Tesla and it’s an amazing vehicle, but I went on a road trip to visit family for the holiday and quickly realized I am not a fan of stopping to charge frequently. That got me moving on a 957 Turbo, as I’ve heard the S isn’t very reliable. I found a nice Turbo for $11k with 145,000 miles that has been well maintained and had a recent major service (records attached). Am I going down a bad path? Should I consider something else? Thanks all in advance.

I read the sticky about what to expect, this is more a question about this exact year and vehicle.

 

S reliability? How does it differ with any other 957 model?

The issue with the leaking crossover pipe was addressed, along with the water pump and valley coolant pipe. This is a good thing, which should assure against unexpected coolant blowouts.

Although this Turbo could make a great weekend cruiser I would not take extended family trips in any 957 with 145K mi. on the clock.

 

Make sure you have more than one car if reliable transportation is of concern to you.

 

I would take an S over a turbo (in the same model) for reliability, any day. The turbo adds lots more potential areas to break. But if you want reliability, get a V6. My 2010 with 106k miles is for sale... First $9k.

 

What are your goals for the car? If you're coming from newer vehicles to an older one, you have to realize that chances are good the older vehicle will likely require more attention. It may not, you may get a vehicle that'll need nothing but gas and oil for the next 50k miles, but the statistic is not in your favor. That is a big part of the reason this $130k or whatever MSRP vehicle is being offered to you with a massive 90%+ discount

 

Is this mostly a fun money almost impulse buy type thing for you? Because a Cayenne Turbo will certainly deliver in that regard. It'll be reliable enough for you to have your fun with it. Maybe not reliable enough to be your daily driver if it was your only vehicle.

You have experience with the 958, and I personally drove a 958 for a couple months and beyond the steering wheel and more modern navigation system, I preferred my 957 CTTS. The 957's interior feels nicer and more luxurious to me. The steering felt tighter but less communicative in the 958.

It looks like a well maintained example from what you've presented and since I'm assuming any break downs won't be anything more than an inconvenience - I say go for it.

From your previous car history, I'm guessing you won't be surprised or financially ruined by the needs of the car.

 

 

As I recall, Porsche chose the Cayenne S over the Turbo for the Transsyberia. It was easier to fix and less complicated.

 

Hmm. I am reading here I should not be using my Turbo S as a 1800 mile per weekend trip vehicle? My S has been entirely reliable. The Turbo S will not be?

 

I think it would be fine.

I haven't seen any real issues show up any more in the Turbos than non.
I've been reading this board regularly for about 5 years.

While there is a decent cross section of issues, I haven't seen the actual turbo charger units ever come up. Nor have I seen any issues that were traced back to having extra power (trans, diffs, ect).

For something as brutal and unforgiving as an off road race, I can see the factory going 'simple' and sacrificing power for less to go wrong. Unless you plan on doing something like the Baja, I would think a stock Turbo or Turbo S would be as reliable as a NA car.

 

OEM Pads - Meh,
I would really question the place who would do that.
It needs low dust performance pads.

 

I like the OEM pagid pads. You just need to get black wheels, so you don't have to worry about the dust!

 

I been using Porterfield R4S for last 15 years - after you try it - you never go back to OEM