Black Sea RD

Good day fellow Rennlisters,

Just a few questions:

Any tips on buying a Cayenne S, like which year is the best, any problems to look out for, etc.?

How are they to live with as a daily driver?

What can one look forward to as far as engine, suspension, exhaust and body mods?

Thank you,
Constantine

droptop

ok, best is not a word used with cayennes. least worse, would be better....

it is pretty well agreed to that the 03-04 MY are ones to stay away from at all costs. in other words, unless you are a porsche mechanic, being given one of these is alot like having your kid given a drum set. do a search on "alpha" and "beta" on this forum to see what i mean

for MY 05 the discussion gets a little more spirited (mine was an 05 CS). there is a legendary break about mid model year where things supposedly got better, mine was from before the break, but i haven't seen much to show that the 5.5 break exists.

the 06 is the cream of the crop (or at least something that floats to the top). the 08 is too soon to know (it does have different fuel system, engine management, etc).

CR says 05 to 06 went from "much worse than average" reliability to just "worse than average".

bottom line is, how much money do you have to spend (not on the purchase, but on the repairs), and what are you looking for? if i were to jump back into cayenne ownership (or off the empire state building), i would be looking for an 06 setting "used" with under a k of miles on it at a dealership that i could get with a CPO warranty in addition to the normal one. this would get you 100k of non-naked use. note that i said non-naked, not trouble-free.

as a daily driver it isn't bad. you had better have a BLOODY GOOD dealership nearby though, cause you will be spending some time there. the pig eats tires 3 times a day, expect about 15k miles per set. it is an expensive drive, both in capital outlay, and in incremental costs per mile, but they are reasonably fun to drive and you do get alot of gawking. be sure you dump it before the warranty is up, and don't bother to try to get a independent mechanic to maintain it. there is too much that requires special stuff in the electronics for an indy to get there.

the above is an opinion, based on 65k miles of ownership, and almost a year of fighting with porsche on my lemon flavored pig. i did win the lemon law case, and after intervention by the arkansas AG, porsche did take the pig back (to go straight to auction, according to the sticker). THEY STILL OWE ME MONEY. other opinions may vary, and all are exactly worth what you paid for them.

Black Sea RD

Dear Droptop,

First off you had me laughing out loud with your write up! Seems as if you write professionally somewhere, if not you would make an excellent reveiwer of automobiles.

However, the news given does not seem to bode well for our decision to get into a Cayenne S. Seems like a better decision might be needed on the SUV pick.

Funny thing is this almost verbatim what I was told about the VW Toureg. Hmmm...

Thank you for the insights,
Constantine

MadFox

JDPower ratings just came out.. Porsche is #1 as a nameplate. The Cayenne alpha/betas were a sportscar manufacturer stubbing its toe, foot... well whole dang leg on a new type of vehicle and significantly increasing production and thus having quality control issues. '06 or '08 Cayenne will be a superior product... some of our cell-mates are a 'tad' stung by their experience... understandable but not necessarily relevant for you as a new owner of a great vehicle that does eat tires if you drive hard and as a sportscar with a SUV outer shell, it will get you about 15mpg around town and 18-20 on the highway. Come on in... the water is purple and the conversation is jaded!

p.s. ahhhhhhhhhh --- Porsche - VW... it's starting to blend.

ltc

Buy a Touareg, save your money.

ltc

Saw it coming a few years back.....it's been slowly driving me insane ever since (yes, I know, it's a very short drive)

Larry had the right idea "checking out"

MadFox

Didn't you mean to say buy a PORSCHE if you want one ---- i.e. a 996TT? or 993 or earlier?

Black Sea RD

Madfox and ITC,

Thank you both, understood about eating tires and not so hot gas mileage, two things I would accept as normal. But computer glitches and such, well that's not comforting.

Anyone here who works on their own Cayenne who has figured out fixes for most glitches? Has Porsche come out with such fixes or are they just letting the alpha-beta models continue to garner more gisgruntled owners for them?

Thanks very much,
Constantine

andrew911

I have heard from consumer reports and other reports that the touareg is considerably worse in reliability. Whereas porsche has somewhat of a reputation to maintain and is in the high end market for the long haul, it seems they fixed the early issues by 06 (notwithstanding the aforementioned complaints on the 2003-4 models and the apparent lack of support to permanently fix the problems in those cars...) If you know the history of the 911, I'd compare it to the 2.7 911 engine of the mid 70's- the motor had lots of problems, and the company corrected all and then some with the 3.0 911 engine that came out in '78 (I'm talking base 911s here, not the carreras).

This is my hope anyway, as I have an '06

If they didn't fix the early 03-04 issues going forward, people will not want their product and residual values will be affected. In fact, I woudn't have purchased the '06 if that were the case. While its way too early to tell how our '06 will fare, I saved so much on the price I figured in a worse case I could keep it until it's out of warranty and dump it and still be OK.

By the way, we were also looking at the x5- the 4.4i sport (a low mileage model from before they redesigned the truck with that f-ing i-drive) The deal on the new cayenneS titanium wasn't much more than they wanted for a low mileage 4.4 considering it was a new car and a cayenne!

Black Sea RD

Hi Andrew,

Understood about the 2.7s. I guess I'll check around for a 06 Cayenne and see what they go for. Was looking for a used model to save on the depreciation hit but maybe I need to look into this a bit further.

Thanks,
Constantine

MadFox

That is why I bought a "new" 06 the discounts were so significant that most of the early depreciation hit was taken care of. I also bought an ext. warranty to take the car to 100K miles. Obviously when you keep a car that long the depreciation "sort of" becomes moot. Lastly, the nameplate is Porsche and while right now there is some residual "bad gas" from alpha/beta owners and with over-production due to declining demand for SUV's in general with all the BS about lack of oil, green whack-ism about global warming, and some drivers unable to swallow a $75 and up fill-up (we do have opinions in this forum!).. it is my belief that the depreciation issues will get "righted" in a few more years as PORSCHE is still a a nameplate that many folks want to have via used less expensive vehicles.. remember forums tend to be negative.. go drive one and decide independent of the "negativity" ... my 06 Tit.S has been flawless to date (13K, 9 months) and at this point I'd been to the dealer at least 9 times with all of the alpha/beta issues... so I'm a happy camper and recommend it to anyone not in my driving area... I still like being less "common" on the road!

ltc

Never going to happen, especially with the Cayenne.
Look at 996/986 prices now...and they are more "Porsche" than a Cayenne is or will ever be.
Such is the nature of the 10yr plan.

Not being negative, just practical.....and recalling some of the conversations when "Larry" was in the room.

MadFox

Not viewed as negative... so, with that said.. not too be argumentative.... but let me explain:

I am not implying that a Cayenne or any newer Porsche will be like the days of old where some of them APPRECIATED in value.. nor am I implying that the depreciation will be significantly less than "normal".... but I AM SAYING that Porsche is going to now have depreciation on the better "side" of "normal"... I say this with confidence because:
1. Porsche nameplate still will have some "prestige" (even with high production)
2. Porsche mgt. for all its faults wants Porsche to be "the" luxury brand when it comes to quality (and it appears that they are on the right track post alpha/beta mess and past two years JDPower)
3. Porsche "wanna-bees" still number in the MANY.. thus, a used depreciated 996, 997 (non-TT, GT3 etc. still for the "purists") or Cayenne/Boxster will be a choice for many folks who could never afford a new one.
4. PAG execs are deviously smart... they couldn't survive LONG TERM it in today's car marketplace as just a sportscar manufacturer.. they realized that developing a SUV (the hottest segment at the time) and knowing that the development would allow for a 4 door vehicle to round out the line-up with 2 seater, 2+2 seaters, SUV, and now luxury sedan and owning a mass market "brand" that they could not only survive but prosper..
5. PAG also realized, but decided it was a risk that they would have to take, that many "PURISTS" of the motherland nameplate would HATE the necessary changes... and thus Peter the Great was born!

hk_usp9f

'05 and '06 have the best reputations as far as being problem-free.
'06 Titanium edition is a bargain for the options you get.
Get a CPO Cayenne so that you get an extended warranty.
The air suspension is a good option to have.
Getting one with a nav system is a personal choice.

It is fun to drive and has enough room to bring the wife and kids around.
Cost of ownership is high. Here in No. California a full tank of gas is $90+ and with my city mileage of about 12mpg it gets very expensive to keep it running.
Yes it eats tires but that is normal for a Porsche.
You can cruise 100+mph for long stretches in full confidence as it is very stable at high speed (assuming the highway patrol isn't around).

Not much to look forward to, in my opinion. You are better off spec'ing the car with the options you want than adding on later.
There are mixed reviews on the gains from the cat bypass.
There are body kits available out there but expensive and not to my taste.
There are lowering kits but it seems silly to me to lower an SUV.
Aftermarket audio/video/nav? Very limited and expensive options becasue of the MOST system.

ltc

What's MOST?