Glaze88

Hi Guys,

Im in the market for another Cayenne and wanted some feedback on either a 03 Turbo or 08/09 GTS.

All 3 cars have impeccable service records and in excellent condition, the Turbo has 200,000kms and is cheap! Probably can purchase for approx $16K AUD and the GTS's cars have 150,000kms and I can purchase for $27KAUD.

What are people's thoughts on the 2 variants? I have owned an 06 Turbo before and loved it and always loved the look of the GTS, but not sure of main differences other than aesthetics and engine configuration.

The 03 Turbo is immaculate, owned by a 75yr old gentlemen who has kept it in his garage under a cover doing minimal miles over the past 5yrs or so.

Your thoughts/opinions are appreciated.

jellonailer

I would say the Turbo has 6-7 more years of gobs of deteriorating brittle plastic parts and corroded wiring harnesses and connectors. When I run Durametric on my '05 and find no faults - I am shocked.
You will spend your free time chasing CEL codes or waiting for the mechanic to call advising you of the damage.
In my opinion, based on my experience with mine, there is a reason $120K usd vehicles lose 95+ % of their value and can be had for $6K. (but you can't touch a same generation Land Cruiser for twice that)
A long time ago I was advised when buying a Porsche, to buy the best condition, newest model year, you can afford. Others may disagree but this seems to be especially true for Cayenne
Just my take.

(BTW, I miss the Gin Palace, travel restrictions suck)

Glaze88

Thanks, yeh I understand but they are just such a great car for the price. Point taken re the Newer and best condition car I can buy.

hugh smith

So I think you will miss the power and urgency of the Turbo, but the GTS will have better road handling, a nicer sound and feel more agile (for an SUV). I agree with the comments on age. My 08 GTS feels old and there is always something to fix. Imagine a car 5 years older is no better. That said, condition is king. which is the nicer car. which has had the better maint schedule adhered to. Which looks the more original. I'd be tempted to buy on condition. neither is going to be cheap to run in my opinion.

jellonailer

Agree with Hugh ^ about the power. Thing is like a F15. I bought mine for the torque to pull my race trailer.

I would like to add - I've had mine about 7 years now and it was reasonably dependable until it was about 12 years old. The next few years have been non-stop fixing gremlins and not all annoying ones, many impact driveability. So being good for quite a few years in the beginning wouldn't make me think mine is some kind of lemon. On the other hand, my garage mates have two other Cayennes, not Turbos, that are the next gen you are looking at. They don't have nearly the headaches I do with their 957's.

After 5 years of working on my '05 I always feel Porsche got a bit ahead of themselves on the design and certainly the complexity, exceeding their ability to design for dependability and ease of repair.

Dave Waldo

The 955's - pre 2007 don't have as good a reputation as the 957's. Havings said that in the month I've owned a 957 Turbo the PDCC failed. I was pushing it a bit but ....... Porsche

You should get a 957 turbo for under 30k. I just bought mine as virusgate was starting for less and now you should be able to do even better but don't cross the boarder.


P.S. I'm reading between the lines here so I might be quite wrong but I think there are more changes in the GTS other than just the ride height. They were not available with any of the non cosmetic Advanced Off-road Technology options and the instructions in the workshop manual for removing some suspension parts is different which leads me to think there are some meaningful design changes but I could easily be wrong. You would have to drive each to know.

PPS The steering has no feedback and the seats have no grip and with so much leg room you can't wedge yourself in and have to hang on tight to the steering wheel to stop sliding all over the place.... bad practice. The GTS has better seats, these were a no cost option on the Turbo so I'd look for them.

Petza914

The GTS looks better, sounds the best of any Cayenne, and if it has PDCC, that's an impressive option for handling, but it doesn't pull like the a turbo. You need to drive the GTS and see if you're as excited about it from your previous Turbo frame of reference.

I started my Cayenne acquisition looking for a Manual GTS and drove a couple, then drove a couple Turbo S and ended up buying a Turbo S.

Has all the anesthetics of the GTS but with 150 more HP is stock trim and 250 more HP in my trim.

19psi

Are you looking at an '08, '09 or both? The 2008 models seem to be the kiss of death when it comes to cylinder scoring (especially the turbo).
The '03 turbo with that many miles may need rear coolant Tees, motor mounts, trans valve body or have an alternator nearing the end of its life...none of that is easy or cheap.

2009 on up is the way to go.

thesteve

I like my 03 turbo. I found it with only 64,000 miles though, and it was owned and garaged by a 70 year old millionaire on the California coast.
Stills feels like getting into a brand new car every time I start her up.
Not very relevant but just wanted to join the conversation.

Libast

The power of the Turbo is intoxicating.

jellonailer

When it runs...

Glaze88

Thanks guys, appreciate all your feedback. Tough decision for sure, I am looking at both an 08 and 09 GTS and 03 Turbo. I am leaning towards the Turbo for a variety of reasons, an immaculate owner that looks after this car like his 1st born. I can get it at a great price and happy to put money into it when needed, as it will be at least $10K cheaper than the GTS. But I will drive the GTS and see how it feels versus the Turbo.

Keep the feedback coming and I look forward to keeping you guys in the Loop.

Dave Waldo

Take a picture of the build/option code sticker in the spare tyre compartment and compare to this list here - https://www.stuttcars.com/technical/option-codes/957/ each car is unique because they all have some options. Some options won't be of interest to you and some will.

What do you want from the car ?

If your prepared to wait you will be able to buy a turbo with less k's than the GTS for the same money. My turbo has PDCC and it handles pretty well, enough to make you smile, much better than it looks like it would handle, it's not great driven properly hard but very nice on a windy road for a 7/10ths drive. I haven't driven a GTS because I wanted an on/off road car but I expect the GTS will handle better because that's how it is advertised and Porsche know how to do that.

​​​​​​HP isn't everything, for me, I think handling is more important, but it will still be a very heavy car. While Porsche have done a good job to hide it from the driver it is still a limitation that you are aware of. If you expect to drive it with the traction control off and still have it coming on sometimes maybe the GTS is the car for you but if you like a spirited drive on a mountain road, I think you will like either car but the turbo has the power. The other difference is the turbo doesn't come with the manual gearbox and the auto's are not great I end up using it in manual most of the time but that feels odd somehow.

Glaze88

Thanks Dave regarding the link, which is very useful. I wondered why the 08 GTS had the Porsche Crest in the headrest, I thought it must have been an option.
I probably should mention I am based in Australia and no manual models available in the Cayenne. Or they are extremely, extremely rare if they were available.

thesteve

10k covers a lot of unplanned maintenance.
My first BMW was a 1995 740iL. I bought in 1999 for way too much money (after crashing my 2nd car, an 84 928).
It was nice, but when I eventually junked it 13 years later after lots of good times and many miles, I bought a much nicer 2001 740i sport for 1/3 the price.
My point is... actually I forgot my point.