chiapet15

When I decided to get my 2016 Cayenne S eHybrid, it was my first foray into german cars and Porsche. I knew that I was making a conscious decision to lean toward more smiles per gallon while possibly giving up some level of reliability in exchange for pushing the technology and feature envelope.

But looking at some of these threads, I am appalled by the issues that are discovered, which I believe could be caught sooner if more testing were done.

Looking at the way new Porsche models roll out, it seems that there is always some regression in reliability with each refresh. Between the transfer case issues and the boost issues in the 2015+ S and GTS models, it seems that Porsche doesn't know anything about continuous improvement.

Well, who can blame them given that they have so few data points to test and iterate on? These are very low volume vehicles, and frankly as an engineer, I would also be complaining that my sample size is too small to draw meaningful conclusions from.

Then come the Cayenne Diesel and S ehybrid, which are pieced together with major components that are not exclusive to porsche, which thus far seem to have fewer problems. The engine, transmission, and transfer case have been proven in much higher volumes and iterated on at their VW and Audi counterparts prior to entering the Porsche product line.

Is the trick then for Porsche to focus exclusively on the steering and suspension design, and pick/choose/tune the other major driveline components/systems from other proven product lines?

I take some level comfort in knowing that my transmission is Japanese, and that the transfer case has undergone more testing while it was in the touraeg, and that the engine has gone through revisions in Audis.

thescratt

I had a 2004 CTT, which was 8 years old when I got it. I sold it on last year to get a 2016 S E-Hybrid.
(I've also owned a lot of performance cars other than Porsches.. Supras, RX7s, Lotus etc. etc. All of them had their issues, they were just a bit cheaper to repair in most cases).

On an emotional level I am a little disappointed that the engine is "just" from an Audi, and not a "real Porsche engine".
Performance wise the 2004 CTT and the 2016 S E-Hybrid are roughly on the same level. There is a 12 year gap there, and we all know where the current and future CTTs are at / heading.

I can't say I was disappointed with the reliability of the Turbo. It did 4 good years in the Arctic, and never let me down once. I have heard the Turbos are the most reliable of all the Cayennes. On mine I did the water pipes as they had not been done when I got it. But it made it to 8 years without them going. Not bad for a pretty bad design flaw. Other than that I just had small things to do on it from time to time, like replacing horns that got wet (another dumb design flaw).

I do not feel for a second that it was an unreliable car, especially for the performance and its age.

The jury is still out on how reliable the hybrid power train is on Cayennes, or how the ICE stands up to stop / start driving and different usage models. They could all explode in a couple of years time.. And who knows what the batteries will do. I have done one winter on mine so far.. and it seems to be holding up well. But I've read other people seeing massive drop off in capacity over quite a short period of time, and little or no support / acknowledgement from dealers (go figure).

I think anyone who is worried about reliability on high performance cars or bleeding edge cars, or combinations of both should probably not buy them. Especially as all car manufacturers are pretty dishonest when it comes to warranties. Living outside the US we don't even benefit from some of the larger recalls / class action suits here. So it's even riskier and more costly as an initial purchase. My 2 cents.

BenCD

I am coming from a 2012 Touareg TDI and I fell in love with the Gen 1 3.0L diesel motor, so much so that with buyback imminent, I bought a 2016 CD knowing that the Gen 2 motor is even better and that I trust the reliability of the VW TDI.

If the Gen2 3.0L buybacks happen, I might have to consider a 2016/2017 S but with much reluctance though I could easily get used to the 420-HP and 406-TQ pretty easily.

Lastly, I'm loving the extended warranties on the CD.

It is an interesting hypothesis that I have seen over the years since the WWW and internet forums have appeared, where so many think that the vehicle manufacturers have all cut costs and that reliability has been going downhill, all the while forgetting that vehicles of the past sucked *****, all of them. The issues that numbers-wise, are so much smaller percentage wise, are so few that the vast majority of the sheeple don't even notice or care about internet forums and don't have all that many issues nowadays. That Hyundai has a 10 year/100,000 bumper to bumper still astounds me.

Discuss.

chiapet15

I agree that to a certain extent, the forums are biased with more reports of things going wrong. When I bought my 2016 CSeH, I purchased a Fidelity warranty which extends the warranty duration by 4yrs mileage limit up to 100Kmi for $2900.

Is this a vote of confidence for overall reliability, since this means that on average, people will spend less than that amount on repairs over the life of the extended warranty?

BenCD

I also think that for the most part, the high rollers, who either lease or purchase new vehicles every so often are NOT on these internet forums, wasting their precious time, and can afford to pay to have their vehicles maintained, repaired or traded.

I have a brother in law that is very well off and I know for sure that he doesn't waste a second on any internet forum, unlike me who wants to know about everything and anything about the toys I have and play with. He is the exact opposite and he can afford to not know and he is about as far as a DIY'er as one can get. He has that luxury, the luxury of FU money.

I'd wager that the vast majority of diesel owners are by and large DIY guys like me, otherwise, most are not into their vehicles other than driving and enjoying them.

chiapet15

If the people who have FU money have to go to the dealers often to fix issues, all the while being stuck in a base cayenne or VW loaner, they won't be happy either.

I guess you'd need enough FU money to not be impacted by simply replacing the car every time it needs to spend more than a couple days in the shop. If people without FU money dislike being in a base cayenne or VW loaner, I can only imagine how much pain those with FU money feel when they have to endure the lesser cars as loaners.

BenCD

This forum, like every other on the net, is chock full of those with issues, oftentimes with the older models or generation of whatever it is the forum is about.

People with FU money don't let the trivial issue of a breakdown, or a base loaner bring them down either. If it takes weeks to get something fixed, that one vehicle is not their only source of entertainment. Their life does not revolve around a vehicle with four wheels. In the big scheme of things, road going vehicles, even a $200,000 Cayenne is small beans for the FU's. Their boats, yes, boats, have triple or quad outboards where each outboard is $30,000 and that is just the fishing boat, one of the boats they own. As it is said on the water and with boats, "You can't hide money."

They have, by and large, learned how to modulate their emotions, their reactions, the way they deal with setbacks, so that it doesn't bother them as much or, not at all. They know it is how the world works and they didn't get to where they are by crying every time the milk spills and certainly not with a vehicle that develops any sort of problem, that is why it is FU money they have. It should be F-It money as they can say F-It more than FU.

Now, this is what all those that I know that have FU money operate. They are sane, rational and fun people to be around and not at all like the stereotype of those who are very well to do but at the very same time, very angry. To me, they are the exception and when they let it be known, boy, do they let it be known, like the kid not getting their way in the toy - store=Tantrum City. You won't read from those for whom things are going well but they are the majority. They lay low and let things roll.

If anything, I have ThankYou money, that is, thankfully I have enough money to have the exact fun I want. TU money.

stronbl

As my friend and Porsche service manager once told me, as much as Porsche tries to build a highly reliable and superior vehicle, these things are mechanical and electrical and they just break from time to time (of course it's his business to fix them, so he's sort of happy, sort of).

Sometimes we get a good one and sometimes we don't. Oh and a warranty helps ease the pain from time to time. The first motor in my CD was trouble, the second (replacement) motor has been flawless.

BenCD

There is a reason why Porsche is consistently ranked #1 in both initial and ongoing reliability out of all the vehicle makers.

I had read an article written not long ago that had explained just how difficult and challenging it is, what with all the various systems that each vehicle has, to make them all work together to give the customer what they want, need and expect and it is not an easy feat.

skiahh

Frankenstein Cayennes?

visitador

I guess he was trying to be nice. I prefer my CD to be called a bastard.

chiapet15

I usually take those JD Power data points with a mine of salt because they don't normalize for number of miles driven and they treat all problems the same (infotainment crashing incessantly is nowhere near as severe as a transfer case failure, broken engine bolts, or sudden loss of boost, even though both would be counted as an issue that required a dealer visit). For mileage, even when including the workhorse/practical daily use Porsches (Cayenne, Macan, and Panamera), overall they still get fewer miles put on them than a typical Lexus, and let's not forget all the rear/mid-engine models that spend most of their lives as garage queens (stuff won't break/go wrong as often if you simply don't drive it).

Although one thing that gets my hopes up is when I responded to the JD Power quality survey I received, they said they already received too many responses like mine (ie. no issues to report) for the 2016 CSeH

Yup, I was referring to those models pieced together with off-the-shelf parts that are not designed by Porsche.