Dan87951

I can't believe anyone would put them in a position to own a SUV like this. I had a buddy that had one of these and I was completely shocked at the amount of problems he had with it. Call me crazy, but Porsche making vehicles as reliable as this should be ashamed. What happened to build quality and pride? My buddy sold his PIG and ended up going the Infiniti route which drives just as good, but from a reliability standpoint he can sleep at night again, and to be honest I like the interior of the FX more. My dad also bought a FX brand-new on 03 and its been the most reliable car I have ever seen. He currently has 120k on his car and the original AC still blows cold and all power options still work. The only part that failed was a wheel bearing at 88k miles.

If you are on a budget I would not recommend one of these. Good Luck!

Shawn Stanford

It sounds like you were perfectly within my model until that lifter went.

Looking at Porsche's Canada site, it looks like the absolute longest warranty would be 6 years or 160,000km; whichever comes first. If the lifter went after you passed the end of the warranty period then you'd be on your own anyway.

tonga3

On my own to the tune on $15000. Bottom line is these vehicles should be more reliable. I bought this after I sold a '99 Explorer V8, I put 300000km's on it with basically no issues, I sold it to a neighbour who now has 350000km's on it and has not put a dime into it. I have loved Porsche my entire life and still do....I guess my expectations of the quality were just a too high.

Cole

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index..._1#entry180693


I just saw T2 post the other day that he now has about 207,000 on his 04 CTT.

Cole

I honestly think this is part of the issue. Poeple will run an american car to the ground and not thinkn anything of it. It can rattle, clank, pull to the left, stop like an oil tanker, turn like barge and they just don't care becaue that is what they "expect" from it.

All of the sudden when they buy a Porsche they expect a magical experience, especially if they bought one at new or near new prices. Every little problem now seems ten times bigger.

Repairs they would have DIY on another car they don't even attemp on the Porsche out of some mysterious fear.

Sure, some parts cost more, a lot more. But honestly some are actually cheaper than other brands.

EVERY car is going to have owners with random failures like a lifter. (i've lost a lifter on my 951, my Nissan truck, 67 Camaro, Chevy truck,) not like this is a Porsche only thing.

I see the list of issues on these things as pretty limited compared to many cars and worth dealing with for the bargain prices you can buy them for, for such a great suv.

Who made the worse financial decision? The guy that buys a $25,000 Cayenne and drives it for 100k having to put $5-8k into it in repairs?

Or the guy that paid $100k for it new and sold it with 50k on it for $25k(or less for the trade in).....but thinks he made the bet deal because he had a warranty

Dan87951

That's the reason these cars are so cheap no one wants to deal with the headaches, missing work to bring it in, and being stranded. When my buddy had his I felt like we were in high school always picking him up for work and than dropping him off at the shop to get his car.. again! If it's worth it to you by all means get one but I would definitely get a cheap daily beater on the side.

tonga3

That's another great point. Besides the lifter going (which by the way I know can happen on any car but the fact that the heads are not rebuildable makes it a massive cost) the biggest inconvenience was the distance to travel to find a reputable mechanic. I understand that these vehicles cost more to maintain and I fully expected that. What I did not expect is a motor replacement.

Dan87951

The heads are not rebuildable... wow, talk about throw away!

tonga3

Hardened lifter in an aluminum bore. If the lifter scored the bore at all then it's done. Or so I was told by an independent and a head Porsche mechanic.

Cole

No offense. But you are just here spreading second hand accounts of your "buddies" car. Any first hand experience of owing one yourself?

I have a had all sorts of friends with all sorts of problems with all sorts of cars. Often times blown out of proportion. A friend of mine sold her Audi because it was the "worst pos unreliable car she had ever owned" come to find out a few years later when pushed in a conversation she never actually had to repair a single thing on the car in the time she owned it.

I would have go see documentation on this to believe it. I have heard about all sorts of "non rebuildable" parts that are actually rebuildable. Just because the dealer would rather put on a complete new head does not mean the head is not rebuildable.

Shawn Stanford

Happily, I have a reliable mechanic (who maintains my 944), a Porsche dealer in town, and a brother who's a wizard with a wrench.

tonga3

They really are not to bad to work on as far as general maintenance goes, I bought myself the Durametric software and a set of E-torx bits and a complete manual and did most things myself. Can be a great experience, I'm just sharing mine. Somebody said it best earlier, when I picked up the FX I felt like I could sleep at night.

ltc

The Cayenne was/is always a Volkswagen more than a Porsche (both by labor and parts content).

That might help explain a few things...along with Engineering taking a back seat to Marketing and Finance under the evil Dr. W (profits profits profits ... plastic coolant tubes are cheaper than cast coolant tubes).

wirunner

Then what are you waiting for?! Get one already! Just please don't bore us by saying you're going to buy a V6. If you are going to buy a P!g, get a V8. Otherwise, there are a ton of great minivans out there that will please you.

I also would imagine now is the time to buy with prices and interest rates where they are.

Shawn Stanford

I'm quite happily working on it!

I haven't driven one yet, so they're not out of the running. However, I'm definitely leaning toward a CS.

That seems to be the case. There are dozens of Cayennes within 150 miles of me in the sub-$30k range.