cordsig79

Shawn, 9k mile pig in San Antonio Texas 29k........2003 CS. The true beta model............

http://austin.craigslist.org/ctd/2114105692.html

2003 Porsche Cayenne S

Price: 29980
Mileage: 8500
Stock No: A60638BH
Vin: WP1AB29P13LA60638
Engine: 4#5L #275# DOHC aluminum water-cooled 32-valve 8-cyl engine
Transmission: Automatic
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty

you can ping a porsche dealer to see the TSBs or work thats been done it.

seankrider

9,000 miles...?!? Might make sense, if it's been in the shop for 7 straight years.

Slow Guy

Personally I'd stay away from that one. Not enough miles on it to have fixed all the potential issues and no warranty left to cover them when they do pop up.

Shawn Stanford

Appreciated. I've already driven an S, need to try a V6. I know the V6 is the less troublesome engine, but the power in the CS I drove was nice. At this point, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a CS without driving the V6 if the right deal came along; I probably wouldn't feel the same if the reverse was true.

I noticed that there are Turbos at the top of my price range. Other than speed and looks, what are the plusses? What are the minusses? Can they tow?

I've decided to widen my net at the bottom. My thinking is that if I'm likely to be putting chunks of change into the car, I might as well spend as little up front as possible. I found an '04 CS with 80k for $17. Even if I end up putting $5k into it, I'm still ahead of buying one for $30k and putting nothing into it.

Cole

The Turbos came with a whole host of things standard that were options on the Cayenne and CS. Like full leather interior (dash, heated leather steering wheel, 4 heated seats) HID lights, color center display, NAV, etc. (Forget what everything is).

Of course there is also the 450HP twin turbo motor that tows GREAT!! No more unreliable than the CS and in some cases will actually get better mileage. (and in some cases worse)

GR997S

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the high mileage on these cars scare me. I have owned a Chevy Tahoe which is a great tow machine; cheaper upfront; and cheaper to maintain for over ten years. I am not down on the Cayenne, in fact I just bought an 09 GTS last week, but the repairs etc will kill you...Just my thoughts...GR

yeldogt

Shawn -- I can't say I agree with you logic. The idea that you are going to put 5k into the car so you will start out with a cheaper one ???

If you can get a CS for 30k with 31k on it -- you are dealing with a totally different animal than one with 80k on it for 17k.

Personally I would look for one with 50 - 60k on it. You can find these with most of the problems addressed -- The cars are in good shape and with this milage you can get lucky with all the maintenance items.

I would also go on the higher side on milage if price is a problem to get a CPO car from a dealer. You will own a car that you can drive out to 100k ......and have a pleasant ownership experience.

Shawn Stanford

That's pretty much where I'm at: I'm thinking in that range the worst of the non mileage-related problems will have already cropped up. I'm keeping a careful eye on the CARFAX maintenance reports to see if they've been maintained by a dealer. I'm finding a lot of Cayennes from the '04 to '06 model years that are one or two owner cars and have been regularly serviced at Porsche dealerships.

I think it makes sense... Let's model this and see if I'm smoking crack:
So, it seems to me that if I get a higher mileage car and pay repair costs out of pocket, I'll save money up front and over the life of the loan.

Of course, there will be stuff wearing out as time goes by, but if I put 70k miles on the car in five years, then I'm going to be at 140k and 115k, respectively. I'm going to hit 100k miles with either one, and that's when warranties expire and stuff starts wearing out. So no savings there.

Cole

I have run several cars to 200k and upwards close to 300k. Honestly I see the "100K mile mark" as an old wives tale and an excuse by most to get a new car. Which is fine with me, I keeps the cost of these cars down.

My experience has been that most of my cars have been cheaper to maintain over 100k than they were below 100k. Most of the things that were going to wear out or break tend to happen earlier rather than later. Then they get replaced with updated parts and tend to have a longer service life. (not always, but most of the time.)

Shawn Stanford

That's been my experience as well: I drove an '89 Taurus SHO out to 170k, and after about 110K - where I replaced pretty much everything in the suspension - it was trouble free (if increasingly tired) until the day I sold it.

yeldogt

Well -- I have owned a lot of cars an none of them drove as nice at 80K + as they did at 40K.


You left out resale and the CPO is no deductible -- if you want to get technical.


So your really at 4k on your model (at least) -- and thats with no additional warranty work in two years - thats not going to happen.

I'm not trying to argue with you -- but its not worth the 4k to take a two year older car with almost twice the milage and no coverage

Cole

You must not be caring for them very well.

My Audi S4 drove better at 165k than it did at 40k. It's all in how you take care of it.

Passengers commented all the time that they could not believe the car had that many miles and looked and drove like a new car.

I think people start getting antsy when the miles go up. Then they start to neglect the car and start preparing their excuses to get a new one. Modern cars are very well built and should last a long time if maintained properly.

Shawn Stanford

Resale is not a consideration. I drive cars until they're ready for the crusher or I give them away. I've given away five cars and dropped off another four at the junkyard.

A CPO is going to cost a hell of a lot more than $3k; I lowballed the hell out of that. Bumper-to-bumper is going to cost a thousands; either in the price of the car, or in the cost of an extended warranty. In my experience, most of the little niggling things that make a car annoying, but don't affect drivability, start to happen after the 100k miles mark, after which the CPO won't exist anyway.

tonga3

Well I was in your shoes a few years back. I bought a '05 CS with 90000km's on it. I spent a lot of time on this website before hand researching and asking some questions, I received a mixed bag of answers but decided to buy one anyways. So in early 2009 I picked one up that I could afford despite the warnings of expensive repairs. Within the first 2 months I did the coils myself, no big deal I was expecting that issue. About a year later I replaced the wiper assembly after they seized up solid and did a lock mechanism on the driver door. Just shortly after that on a Saturday morning while backing out of my garage, a lovely red fluid appeared from under the vehicle. I knew what it was right away but, again, I was expecting the dreaded coolant pipes to go. I had the CS towed in and the coolant pipes replaced. O.K that should be the end of my big issues, I change the oil every 10000km's and take fantastic care of this vehicle. Low and behold in August 2010 i start the vehicle up to a massive banging, I quickly shut it down and again have it towed in. To my surprise I was told I had a bad lifter and that the motor should be replaced, I ended up selling the vehicle with full disclosure to someone for a massive loss. Now don't get me wrong, it was the best SUV I had ever driven and I absolutely loved it, but, unless you have a good buffer of cash for repairs I would stay away. Later on in life I will buy another one but only with warranty. I know have an FX45 and it serves its purpose but is not on the same level as a Cayenne. I ended up With the FX after talking to my mechanic, I was going to buy an X5 4.8 and was talking to him about what to get next. I asked him his thoughts on the X5 and then asked him whether I should get Japanese or German, his comment was "I have made my living for 15 years working on Germans and exotics and every vehicle in my driveway is Japanese". Needless to say that was enough for me. In closing, to me the CS was a great vehicle and I would buy one again, just make sure you're in the right demographic to afford it.

tonga3

Quick edit, I forgot to mention the intermitent clunking diff as well.