HD2pct

Do your research and then use your judgement. "$10k a year" is ridiculous. It is a great vehicle.

So the early models have a dozen things that went wrong. Find out what has gone wrong and then been repaired on "yours". The stuff that goes wrong, like coils, cardan shafts, etc, WILL go wrong - it isn't a matter of crossing your fingers. But just fix the damn thing and enjoy it. You have to figure that most 04s that have been driven by someone with a brain have had these issues fixed already.

As for ongoing maintenance, you're buying a brand that costs a lot of money to fix, generally and Porsche isnt the only one. Finding a good dealer or indy is HUGE. I have seen some people get quoted prices that make me salivate, thinking that they must have some compromising photos of the dealer's GM. My dealer rams it home on me like I am the last customer he will ever have. So I try to go to an indy wrench and get treated right. This alone can mean thousands in savings over just a few years.

jumper5836

4.5k at max, probably a 1 time thing. Newer models still are coming out with plastic coolant pipes, only the replacement pipes are aluminum so count on having to do it eventually anyways with a newer model.

InHocSigno

I agree with your service rep.

My 04 CTT is in the shop at least once a month. I have kept it this long because it is an amazing vehicle to drive and It’s not a daily driver.
I ordered a 11 CTT which will be delivered next month.

v10rick

Manny that is a interesting comment from someone who makes a living charging mega bucks to fix these things.

Does he split commision with the sales dept. ?

Can he pull the rap sheet so that you can see what TBs have been done? If there is little service activity in the past few years I would not worry.

Sure stuff will break but that CS is about the price of a new RAV4. Where is the fun in driving that.

Manny735

Well shes in my garage,dealer let me take it home...have a inspection tomorrow at a Porsche Indy shop..if all goes well..I will be a owner

600RR

Can't speak for any '04 but mine. 75,000 miles, service at 18k, 36k, 54k, 72k. Put on dustless pads at 32k (although pads were not needed). Various recall campaigns at no cost (including coils). Had the coolant pipes replaced with aluminum before any problems arose. Got 40k+ miles on first set of 22" Michelins. That's it except that I am going to replace one of the front flasher housings ($10), and I shut off the damn seat belt ding ($5). Nothing else in 7 years, except mods.

Knock on wood - but so far so good.

grayhound04

I bought an '04 CTT a year ago with 100K and spent a couple of thousand and every issue seems resolved. Just bought to see if I would like...before buying a new one. Decided I like the styling better than a new one so I'm going to keep driving it. Paid $112,000.00 less than the new one I was looking at to buy...so what if I spent even $10K on repairs? Drive it every day rain or shine.

If you check Carfax and can get all the service from the delivering dealer from day 1 and any other service records there isn't much chance of an unexpected expensive repair will show up.

Shawn Stanford

^ +1

seankrider

Well said...

CarreraCup03

I really like my 2005 as well. I have had most of the known problems fixed under CPO. the only thing left is the coolant tubes .. I have 10 more months of CPO .. so we will see.
I really like the styling as well, compaired to the newer ones .. but that is just my preference. I have about 37k miles ..bought with 8k, and I would like to keep it for a while.
I gues the point is ... a 2004 is basically 7 years old .. so you will have some problems. You have a roadmap for what most of the problems will be, or have been. So drive the car and enjoy it!

libtech75

Interesting you bring that up. I went looking for an 04 Touareg cause at the time it was in my price range the only SUV I could see myself driving and liking. I had this massive odyssey trying to find one. The first one after exhaustive search on issues and what could go wrong, I found a nice clean one from a reputable shop in PA. Car looked great and drove great. Finished the paperwork gave the money and went on my way back home. Not even a mile down the road the car started lurching something awful. I took it back to the dealer and lo and behold we replicated it immediately.

They took back the car, gave me back the money and I walked away. How lucky was I?

Then I went and found a local car to me. This time a V8 with air suspension and the car looked fantastic. Put down a deposit and made an appointment to pick up the car a few days later. On the day I was supposed to pick it up, I got a phone calling telling me I couldn't pick up the car because there was a major problem with the driveaxel and the dealer was sending it back to the auction they bought it from!

I was at my wit's end. I just kind of combed through classified for the next few days and saw something. An 04 fully loaded with every available option, right near me about 20 minutes away and with very low mileage (40K where other ones I saw were all over 60K). It was a little over my price range but I reached out to the guy and gave him quite a lowball offer. He accepted in principle! I went to see the car and it was beautiful. His wife basically just drove the car from their house to daycare and parked the car to take mass transit into the city. There were a bunch of little scratches and marks on the car though. I asked him to take off some more money as a result. Turns out he was moving to Virgin Islands in two weeks and was desparate so he agreed.

Bottom line is I got an 04 with 40K miles, fully loaded with V8, Nav and Air Suspension for LESS than that first V6 model that broke down as I was driving home from PA.

I owned that car for 2 1/2 years and never had one problem. Only routine maintenance, replaced brakes all around and changed coils under recall.

Moral of the story is, even the most problematic cars - there are good ones and bad ones and sometimes it boils down to pure luck. No matter how diligent you think you are.

john weires

I bought a used 2008 Cayenne S with 35k miles with service records showing good maintenance. With 60k miles on it now, I've had at least seven different issues with it that were all potentially stranding. One failure actually did strand me. Mostly repeat coolant pipe and constant check engine light failure notices. Fortunately I bought one that was CPO'd so the warranty coverage bailed me out on the cost, but not on the inconvenience.
I've talked to enough different people and read the forums long enough to believe that the problems are mostly inherent in the design. Although I would buy a new redesigned Cayenne, I would not buy a first generation Cayenne of any age. I might also stress that the resale value on first generation Cayenne's has PLUMMETED since the new version came out.

cab&coupe

So, what was the out come?

quattrotman

Sorry to hear that you've had do many problems. What specifically were they and were they related?
I bought my 05 CS a year and a half ago and haven't had s single problem (knock on wood) but my friend's 04 is ridiculous.
What you say about resale value, however, is simply not true. I was just looking yesterday at what my car was going for and it is still almost the same as when I bought. There might be some poor examples out there that are going for cheap but most of the good ones go for relatively decent prices and are on par or even a bit higher compared to similar vehicles. In my opinion they are a great buy. It's a hell of a lot of car for the money and since they've levelled out on depreciation, they will retain a good portion of the purchase price. The new model is irrelevant as they are all priced way, way higher and in most cases will cost double or more what a first gen cayenne will cost. Not really the same buyer. Myself, I couldn't afford a new CS but I can buy one that is a few years old and that is what decides the market.

AdrianL

I've owned my 04 Cayenne S for 6 years or something close to. I've put about 10K into repairs in the lifetime of the truck. $2500 of that was because some people tried to break in by prying the door back, which in turn allowed water to get onto the carpets and corrode some ground connections. It's a great truck, and I'm over 130,000KM. People have problems with cars that are poorly maintained. And guess what, things like suspension components and belts will degrade on any car over 100,000KM of hard driving.

To add to, I use my cayenne to tow track cars and a boat in the summer. Snowmobiles in the winter and i've had it off-road before too. Maintenance is king!