... testimony of appreciation:

It's been 2 years since I ordered a 2004 CS (regularly drove a 911 and pickup before the CS). I was greatly helped prior to the order and subsequent to delivery by this forum. (KevinM was a huge help.) During the 2 years many owners have posted complaints, so I thought I'd weigh in with my experiences.

The CS has been at the dealer twice. First time for a software upgrade and second time for 30,000 km service. Ther have been zero problems. No alignment issues, no leaks, no oil usage. Zero!

The wheels are 22" TechArt with Michelin Damaris. No harsh ride. Can't tell how much left on the tires, but it looks to be another 10,000 miles. No undue vibration, even with 43-48 psi. I realize that I am not as discriminating as many Rennlisters, but I do get frustrated at occassional early morning hesitation on cold days. I could (and do, sometimes) allow some warm up and avoid the problem by so doing. It has hesitated at awkward times, also, but I attribute that to docile driving habits and the impact on driving program, as it is a daily commuter in NoCal traffic.

FACTORY Options - I woulod choose all of them again:
Delete Model Designation
PCM
Air Suspension
Sport Aluminum Pkg.
Moon Roof
Thermally Insulated Glass
Steering Variable Assist
Bi-Xenon Headlamps
Parking Assist System
Electric Comfort System
Sport Seats
Seats Heated
Air Conditioning 4-zone
Smooth Leather
Trailer Hitch
Fire Extinguisher
Turbo Wheels
Floor mats

AFTERMARKET:
White-painted lowers (had them smoothed first - Porsche should do so)
Alum-painted grill (Tequioment option, now, at Suncoast Porsche)
TechArt 22s with Diamaris (probbably too low profile for my curb inclination)
TechArt headlight trim (should have been more demanding on paint match)
Gemballa pedal set (best looking pedals I've seen)
Tequipment tips with TT valence (should be standard - they are really nice)
Fabspeed cat by-pass pipes (not much difference in my experience)
Boothe no-turn center caps with silver crests (great, but pricey)
Boothe silver steering wheel crest (a unique effort removing the old one)
Silver hood crest
Clear side markers
Tinted front side windows
FM modulator for iPod
Rear section mat

I would recommend all of the above, except maybe substitute 20" TechArts with higher profile and pass on cat bypass (for a real sound, straight pipes).

In any event, the CS is a very good car. Is it twice as good as a Jeep GC SRT-8? My wife's new hemi GC is not as nice as the CS (obviously) but was more than $40M less. I will keep the CS indefinetly, as it will age gracefully and is problem free. My sympathies to all the CS owners who have had myriad problems.

For those of you who've run the car hard, I suggest a new 600 cc track bike and rider schools for a speed experience that will curtail any need for speed on 4 wheels.

One man's thoughts and opinions.

 

Great post regarding your experience. You are indeed a fortunate Cayenne owner. I have had no "show stopper" issues... rather, I have had nagging problems or "glitches"... and thanks to a great dealership at this point --- ALL has been resolved. If I make 100K miles without any major incident, I will have an overall positive ownership experience. However, until then, it has been a little irritating to constantly be visiting a dealer that is 15 or so miles away.

I will have my 2004 S for 3 years in May. I will exceed 65K miles by then. The DEALER was the difference.. had I had no resolution to the nearly monthly visits for things they replaced or repaired, I would have been a FORMER Cayenne owner. I really do think most owners have had your experience.. but JDPower doesn't make it up.. the awful ratings are REAL.. The Cayenne was not ready... they should have "beta" tested more in Europe.

Get the software re-mapped... it can fix that hesitation. May we both have another two years like YOUR EXPERIENCE.

 

MadFox: On re-reading my post, it smacks of gloating on my part - definitely not the intention. I know I am fortunate in not (yet?) having many of the problems others have had. I'm also aware of owners' experiences in general. As I implied, I was using my pickup as a daily driver so that tells you how discrimnating I am. Thanks for the nice response and I hope we both (and all other owners) have good luck with the Cayenne in the future. BTW, 2,000 miles a month is a lot of wheel time. At least it has been comfortable!?

 

kool cayenne, do you have more pics. I too have the Gemballa pedal set they are great

 

Have a '04 Cayenne S, with 20,000 miles. No real issues-except the dealership where it was purchased. Changed dealers to one 3 hours away and then purchased a new 911 from them. First dealer gave us no information about vehicle to speak of and it took five hours to complete the transaction, etc. (It hindsight I should have walked out of the dealership, but wife wanted this SUV)
The Cayenne is much more enjoyable to drive than the ML-320 it replaced. Probably will give to our daughter, when it's time for a different vehicle as it seems trade-ins values are terrible for just about all SUV's.

 

26,000 miles on a 2004 V6 and NO probelms. Still have the factory tires and probably 10,000 more miles on them. Had oil change at 10,000 miles and 20,000 mile service. Got new windshield wipers once and probably could use new ones again...that it. I always cringe when I hear about all the problems out there & our Cayenne has been so problem free that I almost find them hard to believe. Anyway we love the truck - we have had it for 25 months and it is the most problem free new car we have ever owned!

 

No problem. I think most (more than 50%) Cayenne owners are closer/similar to your experience. But, a few of us have been LUCKY!! A forum is to help fix problems that you encounter.. so the nature of the beast is that it will have more posts like: "how do you get that fixed" or "my dealer wouldn't do under warranty" etc. etc. My point was simple. There is still too high of a percentage of Cayennes that had easily identifiable and fixable issues PRIOR to release. PAG.. wanted SUV profits sooner than later.. but took a solid black eye in the JDPower surveys as a result. I wouldn't touch a Cayman for two years and the same with a Panamera... now, a 911 different story (although a few RMS problems have me nervous). And a Cayenne upgrade from my current may be in my future if the long term reliability proves to be consistent with the last 10-20K miles of ownership. Don't be a stranger and if we get too NEGATIVE.. just throw some cold Kool-aid on us and we'll start to drink and be all happy again.

And as far as comfort goes.. it has been a truly luxury, powerful, fun daily driver!

 

Sweet Sweet SWEET ride!

Nice aesthetic mods, very tasteful. I too have been problem free (little over 33K miles) other than a few electronic freakouts. All quickly and easily fixed by dealer. I will probably proceed with getting the bypass pipes like you did, as well as DME mods, evo v-flow air intake system, and change diverter valves. I have heard that this cures the "hesitation" and makes a fair change from stock 450hp to about 500 - 530HP, depending on who you talk to. In any event - a noticeable difference.

The Techart 22's look very very nice on your ride and I am going back and forth between OEM 20" sport technos or the 22 techarts. I read many posts regarding vibration issues and felt that if I got the sport technos through the dealer and if they balanced and mounted them...then they would have to make sure that any vibration issues would be corrected to my satisfaction. If I purchased 22's on my own and had issues then I would be on my own to deal with them.

Please post some more pics when you get a chance from different angles.
Continue to enjoy your vehicle, she is worthy of praise!

 

Gorgeous CS! How about pictures of the aluminum painted grille?

 

http://rap.about.com/b/a/paulwallcover.jpg
How about that grille?

The tequipment option of an "aluminum look" painted grille looks great on certain cars. IMO it looks best on black ones and white ones. The grille basically matches the trim on the vehicle and pops on the front of the car. The Techarts have a nice finish on them too, which is consistent with the car's trim. They are pimpin' with style and they are not screaming "hey look at my huge blingin' blindin' wheels." This is said not to offend anyone out there with chrome DUBs, it is all a matter of preference, but they (the bling rims) are better suited for an Escalade or Denali IMHO.

As an aside - I would like to see a V series Escalade come out next year.

The grilles that are painted the exterior of the car also can look sweet, depending on the color of the truck.

 

Raptor, who did you have the lower paint work on your CS? Can you comment on their quality and price?

Thanks,

 

OK, problems or not, I really love this truck and would have no other!

 

OK Tom, step away from the Purplesaurus Rex punch bowl...I think you've had enough.

 

Agree...nice to see another positive experience. Does this make us defenders of the Cayenne faithful?

 

Guys: Sorry I haven't responded before now. Have been spending time on the 993/997 forums. Anyway, here are some older pix (quality not great):





Curveraider: I bought the Cay in Fresno (over the phone) and the dealer allowed a local (selected by me) body shop to paint it and a tint shop to do the windows and have clear markers installed before I ever got to the store. The shop was in Fresno. Locally, I have used Bodystyle numerous times and they do great work. http://bodystylebycecil.com/.

The lowers were sanded and painted (installed the silver hood crest at that time) and painted the the grill louvers. $900 in Fresno . The headlight trims (TechArt) were done later by a different shop (not Bodystyle and not Fresno) - I had a brain fart and used the Stevens Creek Porsche recommended bodyshop. Crappy color-match, but it's a bitch taking them off once they are on. After awhile I learned to sort of ignore the issue of mismatch. Pedal set came with rivets, but I used ShoeGoo (which can be easily removed if need arises). Figured that ShoeGoo has worked for so many other apps that it wiould work here. It has!

Only real problem (aside from headlight trim color) was my scuffing the SW when I (anally) changed to a silver crest on SW.
I really like the look of Tequipment exhaust tips (but they are pricey and require a rear valence replacement).