Zed.

1600 mile 2005 loaner is my daily ride for the past week while the dealer orders me a new rear polished rim for the 996. Hit a small chunk of concrete/rock at freeway speed and blew the tire and a hole in the rim (that's another story). What's with this Cayenne though?

1. From a start, hesitates like an 80 year old man, even when cornering after a downshift.
2. Steering wheel has intermittent vibration ranging from none to a little to wicked, unpredictable.
3. Tire pressure indicator warning light comes on after about 5 minutes of driving.

Is this usual experience or is this a dealer lemon loaner?
I thought they would have the bugs out by now?
Thought I might replace my Navigator with one next month, but now I dont know.
-Richard

ltc

OK, so I guess I can mark you down in the "No, I don't think so" column under potential Cayenne ownership?
Run and don't look back..............

MadFox

Wow, you don't know what a can of worms you opened on this forum fellow Porsche owner! These are issues that have dogged the Cayenne for two plus years. Hesitation seems to be more the norm than not.. no real fix but I seem to be in the minority of not having it... steering wheel vibration is common on loaners.. they don't align/balance or give a schitzu about the tires.. Cayenne has had issues in probably a 1/3 of the vehicles with shimmy/vibration at interstate speeds. There is a fix out now (supposedly) or tires have to be on the better end of manf. tolerance to not have the issue. Tire pressure indicator has been of much less problem.. seems to be a typical thing where kind of depends on lots of factors.. I would highly recommend a 05 S.. IF and only IF you are prepared to deal with some minor headaches and performance is a factor in the vehicle.. if all you need is a something big to cart things and don't care about performance.. you may get frustrated with the Cayenne and Suburban/Navigator may be a better fit. Now.. hold on.. you'll get some wide range of opinions!? .

Brent 89-GT

I don't have the hesitation in my Cayenne either. When we have some Cayennes here at the end of the month for the PCA Cayenne Escape maybe someone will be able to demonstrate this flaw. The shimmy is a wheel balance problem, too bad that dealer hasn't taken care of it. Maybe they would sell more Cayennes to loyal customers like yourself. That one is a dealer fault, not the car IMO. I have both 18 and 20" wheel sets and no vibes in mine. I took it up to 120mph shortly after having fresh 20's mounted a few weeks ago, smooth like a Porsche should be. I don't have the TPMS so I can't speak to that.

My Cayenne is a 2004 and I had a 2005 loaner for a couple days once as well. The 2005 seemed to have a louder exhaust note and was a steel spring car where mine has air suspension. Get the air susp, skip the TPMS and NAV, keep it simple, it has worked excellent for me. The cool thing about the Cayenne is that it carts the kids and grocerieslike any plebian SUV but it is also very capable at speed and has handling better than any 5000lb truck has a right to. In general it seems that most Cayennes cared for by paying owners would not have all of those issues becuase you would want them fixed, and there are fixes for everything but that hesitation. That dealer should fix that car.

ltc

! th!nk there are some !ssues wh!ch may be st!ll wa!t!ng for a f!x, so ! wouldn't say everyth!ng "!"

skl

Lewis, you couldn't mean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! could you?

ltc

Oh, !'m sorry....must have been a typo

Zed.

Well, just back from a 450 mile round trip to Cleveland to check out a 72 911 (she wasnt the one, unfortunately, for me). The Cayenne a very capable SUV on the highway but the wheel vibration bewteen 2000-2800 rpm was exhausting. The only smooth driving I could do was .80mph. At least my daughters love driving it, as its a PORSCHE.

Jeff W.

We have two Cayennes. My wife has a late '04 V6 with 32k miles and I have an early '05 V8 loaded with options with 13k miles. The only problem with the V6 was dripping rear window washer. The only problem with the V8 was a wind noise on the driver's window seal. The dealer had fixes for both problems. Yes the V8 can be a little sluggish at times, but all that is needed to get it out of this mode is a quick stab at the gas peddle. I've found that if I drive it like a grandma, the engine management goes into grandma mode. I have not experienced this with the V6 - it is always ready and willing.

Before the '05 S, I had an early '04 S that had most of the typical problems (sluggishness that could not be corrected with throttle stab, heavy tire wear, wheel and shaft vibration among others)

The V6 has been a dream to own. My wife loves it. The steel suspension handling is as good or better than my V8's air suspension (obviously due to lighter front), even after I removed the V6's 18" wheels to install 17's. We are using Bridgestone Dueler H/L tires on the V6 - inexepensive and excellent all season tire. Much better than the Continental Contacts that came on the car.

On the V8 I'm using Kumhos - again inexpensive but far superior to any of the 18" "Porsche approved" tires. I was getting only 8k miles per set on the OEM tires, so I am happy to have found a good, inexpensive tire. The worst tire I've used were the stock Bridgesone ER30's, followed by the Scorpions, followed by the Continentals.

Even with all the tire changes, I have not had any trouble with balancing the V8 or the V6. I had a lot of trouble with my early '04.

Based on my experience, I think Porsche is sorting out the problems. I would have traded both the '04 and '05 in for '06's if Porsche would have made the '06 IPOD compatible, but of course they didn't. If fact, it seems there are very few enhancements on the '06 model so I will keep our current cars as I'm more than satisfied with them.

However, I am still frustrated with the Nav system. Even the DVD Nav is useless in rural areas. After spending $$$$ on the DVD, I still find myself using my $250 hand held magellan when I need GPS.

In general; however, the Cayennes are very well designed and built cars that are getting even better each year. I would encourage those who are unwilling to accept a handful of quirks to acheive the unique design of a low volume production, specialized SUV to continue purchasing Japanese (while accepting the consequences of the mundane).

skl

Somebody complaining about a Cayenne loaner????? I usually get a Pontiac Grand Am as a loaner as the local dealer also sells Pontiacs. I'd rather have a 3 wheeled Cayenne... (and you wonder why GM has to almost give those things away???)

996FLT6

Maybe I'm lucky but I had no vibration issues since day 1 and as far as hesitation issues I don't have that either. My wife and I both love the damn thing-best damn SUV we ever owned : ). Regards. Mike

Zed.

If you had to shudder down the road for 400 miles you might want the GM ride. Lookin good is not always feelin good. You dont need to sell me on Porsches.
What's the lesson here? If youre gonna buy one, dont order it, but drive the hell out of one on the lot first?

JFScheck

TPMS = needs air
Vibration = fixed with balance
Hesitation = start out in M1
!!!!!!!!!! with my LED Trailer = Oh cr@p......

But other than "!!!!!!!!!!!!" I LOVE my (stop talking to sip some "Porsche Purple Dino KoolAid") Cayenne.

No serisouly, I really do love my Pepper but as you can see on our forums, they can be lots of fun...

ltc

Did my Cayenne "!" detector just go off?

ltc

I've been in for Cayenne service so many times, most people at the dealership assume I work there at this point.

Here are the loaner cars I've been given:
Cayennes (V6, S and Turbo)
Boxster (S)...it was a nice day, wife enjoyed tooling around in it, kids thought it was neat.
BMW 530i (yikes, iDrive is hideous).

I'll bet if I asked to drive the Carrera GT sitting in the showroom, they'd say yes.