ltc

Thank you.
Why else do you think I stick around? SOEMBODY has got to make people laugh.

Steve 96C4S

Thx for posting this info. I find this fairly depressing, as would anyone searching for a Cayenne. I take Consumer Reports with a grain of salt, but these #'s speak volumes to me.

The tone of this forum seems the opposite of the 993 forum. Potential new owners post on that forum asking questions about a car and other owners chime in about how much they love their vehicle and how it's an engineering and design marvel. On this board, a guy like me posts about an interest in the Cayenne and 8 out of 10 surveyed pretty much laughs them off the board, letting them believe that they'd be kind of fool to part with their hard earned money to buy one (except for ChipAZ).

This is hard to decipher. It's not exactly the resounding approval I was hoping to hear about regarding the Cayenne product. It's more like a bunch of owners publicly lambasting the Porsche product, with more unhappy than happy owners. I guess you guys are just keeping it real and telling it like you see it. I appreciate that.

Steve R

MadFox

Steve... Steve ... Steve.. couple of things.. first remember what a forum is.. i.e. a place to get info and usually about problems.. thus tends to be a "downer".. second, you sort of asked for it with the huge posts, speaking for your wife and overall comparing the Cayenne to SUV's that are "unworthy". Read some of the threads with the same questions by Will Franklin.. after it was negative I posted the following (and I quote! ha):

"I'm not a blind follower or as some would say "defender of the faith" with the Cayenne. My beta experience was a love/hate relationship. However, my new '06 Tit.S is flawless to date (4+ months and approaching 7K miles) and I apparently have one of the best dealers in the USA where I serviced my Tit.S and my beta.

YOU REALLY SHOULD BE FINE WITH A CTTS (Steve or wife insert your model here). Remember, forums exist primarily to compare notes on problems and to help forum members confront their dealer with problems.. thus, they tend to be negative... well, they ARE negative is more accurate.. we've had a few "feel good" posts but not many.. thus, remember, you're seeing a very small sampling of the overall population of Cayenne owners on this board. Bottomline, just like any car/truck, your experience will be determined by:

1. Personal driving experience
2. Good/Bad Service Dept. at Dealer
3. Overall quality of the vehicle (over time this gets better)

With my Beta, #1 was huge factor.. #2 was what kept me in a Cayenne
With my Tit.S. #3 is light years from the alphas and betas. I have a spare tire, the cowboy belt buckles were changed, ign. coil redesigned, electrical gremlins cured, no flying rear hatch, blah blah blah..

Test drive, talk with service dept. manager, get a great deal.. with '06 CTTS, I would doubt you could be happier in any other vehicle. Good Luck and go ahead.. you know you want to ... sip the Purplesaurus Rex!

MadFox

You're a masochist. PERIOD.

sigs

I think Steve was referring specifically to the published satisfaction surveys, but those, also, should be taken with a grain of salt, for a number of reasons. ltc's comments about overproduction and overmarketing are certainly to be taken seriously, and have (partially) led to many folks buying Cayennes who may have been better served by other vehicles. First, many Cayenne owners are first-time Porsche owners, often coming from a very different, often upscale, SUVor sedan, like a Lexus. This, IMHO, would greatly amplify dissatisfaction with any problems encountered, especially if handled with "less than Lexus-like" service response. Many others are first-time SUV owners who took the plunge on a Porsche, expecting it to be a sports car, which it is not. Even more informed customers like myself (much previous SUV and P-car experience, and I still pondered my decision for 8 months; so Steve's isn't the longest Cayenne foreplay yet, - just the most disorganized) still were often disappointed in one way or another. As has been pointed out, that disappointment is amplified by the price paid, even for those of us who knew we were overpaying in the first place. Add to that the number of alpha-beta owners who had genuine, major issues and I'm frankly surprised to find that this many owners would buy another. Then again, Steve's wife has driven an XK8 for many years. Wonder what the numbers were for that particular vehicle?

davidc1

Very insightful post sigs. I am looking to trade my wife's Lexus GX470 for '08 CS. The Lexus was flawless and never went in for anything other than scheduled maintenance. But in the end, both my wife and I desired something that drives better. Drove a friend's '05 CS and really liked the handling and braking. I did notice the hesitation during the stop light grand prix sessions. I feel more comfortable knowing that '08 is not really a "new" model. I drive an early model '04 Audi A8 and have been to the dealer far too many times. But I enjoy the ride enough to put up with almost constant minor problems. It just so happens that my Audi dealer is also a Porsche shop sharing the service area. I guess I'll feel somewhat comfortable taking the CS in for repairs. And this will be the first Porsche for us, thought about the 997 before getting my Audi but ended up getting the Audi instead. It was just more comfortable daily driver for NYC area. But I do intend to go for a 99x in a couple of years when my daughter is old enough to ride without a car seat.

ChipAZ

I will say that the dealership experience needs improvement. Although Larry doesn't own a Porsche and I can't for the life of me understand his whole gig, he isn't far off base in his comments. Porsche seems to think that you have to be able to spend tons of money to we worthy of their Teutonic product. My latest experience has been with Tucson Porsche and they can be pretty arrogant. So maybe all dealerships are not like that.

I do miss the the days of the Service Manager with the heavy German Accent. It just doesn't seem the same when you still have to fork over all that money to a Americono thats missing a few teeth.

ltc

Thank you.

droptop

well, as i have said before, these mythical "good" dealers never showed up in my travels and travails. it drives like a high end SUV, you can get similar performance in a FX45, MDX etc. perhaps there is nothing that drives EXACTLY like it, but the question you have to ask yourself is "is it worth it?" for me, it isn't.... multiple trips to the dealer to be treated like an idiot (i thought wealthy people got treated better). multiple resets of the computer substituting for actual troubleshooting (go to the hackers dictionary, it said in 1980 that "multiple power cycles, without knowing what you are trying to accomplish, is no substitute for knowledge".

and finally, no chance for longevity in it.

bring on the toyotas, the porsche waiting rooms need free wifi (and softer couches, and beds).

Steve 96C4S

Well, it looks like my business with you fine gents is over with now. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your help. My wife has finally picked out a vehicle she loves. The interesting thing is ... it's a vehicle I've always wanted but didn't think I'd ever have.

We decided to look at the MB 2006 ML 350 today and drove it. She really liked it and I hated it. I didn't like being up that high, it seemed alot higher than the Cayenne. I didn't really like it's looks though the interior back seat room was great. We both had to like the vehicle in order to get it. We then looked at a MB E350 4matic which she thought was just ok, and the S430 4matic which she thought was too big.

As we were leaving, we were passing a used, black on black 2005 E55 on the showroom floor with 8800 mi and I asked her if she liked it. I think she thought it was another 4matic so she got into it, eyed the black birdseye maple, eyed the AMG everything, and exclaimed "this is IT". I then told her it's not a all wheel drive, and obviously not an SUV. She said she still loved it. The sales guy showed her where the ski rack goes right on top with the little clip pieces and she smiled again. He said the car won't go so great in the snow, but she still smiled.

The car was priced right for what it was, and about $1k more than the 06 Cayenne we saw yesterday. I started thinking that $59k was too much money too spend on a used car so we searched the web and found 04's closer to around $48-51k with more miles though.

Sorry guys... I really wanted to fall for another Porsche (the CS) and get it, but after reading some of the comments you guys made, she was kind of scared off. No worries really. I'm not really an SUV guy and the MB looks killer. I never expected this outcome, truly. I think we're going to take our time and search for a nice one at the right price, and try to sell her car in the next month or 2 on cars.com. Or, we may just wake up Monday morning and drive over there and get it




Cheers ya all... ya all come back now, ya hear?

Steve R

QKENUFF

Looks great, and the AMG is a spectacular drivetrain, and balck is the only way to go with the AMG's. Nothing wrong with getting the Head of the Family used to REAL power. It will become a life long obsession. Excellent choice, and a second set of Blizzaks should cure many of the snow isues, except when its real deep.

On to another thread, & Congrats.

ltc

What, you didn't want to wait for the Panamera?

I told you, dogs can only chase their tail for so long.....then it's nap time.

Best of luck with the new vehicle.

MadFox

Personally, I'm glad this thread is "done". Did anyone else feel like this was the Forrest Gump of Cayenne threads?

STATMAN

Life is like a box of chocolates...

ChipAZ

And then he gets an E-55. Steve maybe able to out run me on paper but not in the mountains.