Hello, I am new to the forum and my wife and I are shopping around for a Cayenne S to replace our 4-runner. We have had various Mercedes/BMWs, so I am familliar with they varying definiton of "reliability" and the cost of maintenance in comparison to Japanese imports. Regardless, I try to take all possible measure to avoid purchasing a lemon.

We ran across this 2004 Cayenne S that is about 200 miles away, a reasonable travel for us if it is exactly what we want. I am looking at the carfax, and it looks like the ECM has been replaced 3 times in the first couple years. I have never heard of such a thing, and wanted to get some experienced input.

http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory...AB29P14LA76100

They are asking $8k (plus stealership fees, so I am assuming more like $9k). Is this decent deal, or should I be concerned?

Thank you in advance!

 

Bump...

 

Nobody will be able to provide input as we don't know what was replaced, or why. Was it a software update? Was it the actual ECU or just a engine-related module? That was a long time ago, and if the car checks out, I wouldn't be worried about it.

No idea if it's a good deal or not. If you've read many of the posts about the costs of ownership and buying, you'll know with the prices now below 10K, you could easily spend 50% of the car's purchase price in maintenance. KBB values are really only useful if you were to trade-in the car. But, there really is no such thing as market value from the perspective of a buyer since Porsche people are willing to pay to get something that fits their value. For me, that's history and condition, for others, it might be options or mileage. It's why you tend to see a lot of variance in actual purchase prices on Porsches.

You're buying at at 120K miles, and the carfax doesn't show much work going into after 50K miles. Doesn't mean the work wasn't done, but there is no indication it was. Just oil. So, unless the dealer has receipts that come with it from the previous owners showing what work they've had done, you should budget on spending upwards of $4k in potential repairs. Cardan shaft, control arms, 120K mile service, driveline fluids, valve body, coolant pipes, various HVAC servo motors (especially since this has 4-zone), HID ballasts, engine torque arm, water pump, hatch struts, and the shocks are likely going to be showing their age since this doesn't have air-suspension.

In all - that's 8 thousand dollars in work to get the car sorted if you did all that yourself. It's $6k if the coolant pipes are already done. And, the fact that the last owner only owned the car for 2 months before trading it in tells me that he probably had a pile of issues wth the car, and had zero desire to throw down the money to fix it. As more and more Cayenne S's get below 10K, I think you'll start seeing more and more short-term owners as people buy them because they're cheap and they seem to drive OK off the lot, but discover later just how expensive they can be when you have years of deferred maintenance.

This is why history is so important with Porsches. You can spend 10K, drop 5K fairly easy in catchup maintenance, only to realize you could have just spent 13K for a Turbo that has all the work done.

If you can't afford to spend $13K on car with a solid history, then you can't afford an $8K Cayenne.

 

I feel you are wrong about "nobody will be able to provide input," I thought your input was spot on answering my question.

Thank you wrinkledpants, this was the informative voice of experience I was looking for and I will be taking a pass on this Cayenne. I will stay on the lookout and focus on searching for one with a solid background as opposed to pricepoint. I assumed the last owner probably got rid of it after the minor accident, but that certainly makes sense the probability that it has a lot of issues.

 

Wrinkled mentioned a Turbo with a solid history, thats the direction I`d be going for a multitude of reasons......

 

I seem to remember reading about the Turbos having piston scoring issues at high mileage. Is that true for any Cayenne, or would that be a potentially added expense in choosing a Turbo over a base or S?

Could you elaborate on the multitude of reasons aside from the obvious increase in power?

 

It's the Cayenne S that has a scoring issue. Mostly from cold climates.

No scoring issues with the Turbo.

 

FYI - if you read up on the cylinder scoring issue you will see that this is not isolated to just the S it has struck the Turbos also.

https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...l#post12368167

 

Yep, like Wrinked says you've got it back to front

Its the "S" that suffers from scoring due to no oil squirters below the pistons, tighter tolerances and a different lining on the cylinder walls

Having said all that there are instances of Turbos getting scored, my own Turbo being one of them, it had a new genuine Porsche engine under CPO warranty just before I bought it around 10K ago. It does seem though that Turbos are much less susceptible to scoring my own theory is if you keep the oil fresh and warm it up as per the manufacturer recommends (i.e., start it and drive off immediately but don't rev it hard until its up to temp) then it should be good.

I also know that the new engine has a different coating on the rings (DLC) which the old one didn't so I suspect the early 957 engines may be more susceptible due to this

Asides from this they both have the same known weaknesses - Cardan shaft, ignition coils, transfer case motor, coolant pipes (955 & 957 but mostly the 955), I`m sure there are others I`m forgetting but you get the idea

Fuel consumption is the same for both the S and Turbo despite the Turbo having much more power

Turbo is gonna sell much easier when its time to move it on (more desirable)

Turbo is gonna be better specced most likely too

Just my opinion, YMMV.....

 

Ever motor Porsche has ever made has had scored cylinders. Same with every other manufacturer. It happens, but the numbers are quote low.

The 955 S, on the other hand, has a known issue that stems from a design flaw, rather than a random manufacturer defect.

The Turbo doesn't have the same design flaw as the Cayenne S, but you can get scored cylinders on them, just the same as you can on any of the flat 6 motors.