emcs

Hi all,

Im looking to buy a Cayenne Diesel as a car to have around the house for random errands and to lend to people when they come visit from out of town. I had a few questions and was wondering if anyone who has experience with them can help me out.

Most importantly, are they reliable? (most cars I'm looking at have 50k-70k miles)

Hows the comfort? Is the engine loud?

Is it the same exact unit used in other VW/Audi models or is it a stand alone Porsche engine?

Maintenance costs? I don't want to be spending 5k a service on a car that costs 30k lol.

Did you enjoy yours? Hows the MPG? Does it feel like a Porsche at all?

Thanks in advance!

jhott66

I have a 2015 diesel. We bough it january 2018 just after the "stop sale" was lifted. Our Cayenne had 12,000 miles when bought it. It now has about 52,000. It is a good vehicle. Just good. If it didn't get 32 mpg on the interstate I would have sold it long ago. But I keep it because of the great extended powertrain warranty and the fuel economy. Overall, it has been reliable with one major hiccup.
Great vehicle on the highway at 80 mph. We get 32 mpg on the interstate. 18ish around town.
We use it around town and for interstate commuting to a mountain house. In that use it is great.
All diesels have the extended 10 year or 100,000 unlimited powertrain warranty. We have used that a couple of times. The big issue we had was in the winter of 2019 we were driving out of town and the fill def-blu warning popped up. It was strange because I knew the tank was not empty. FYI, the car has a urea injection which reduces NOx emissions. When the tank runs empty you get a count-down warning at "1,000 miles to empty", or something like that. If you ignore the warning, at 0 miles to empty the car will not start. Anyway, the warning we received was not good since we were out of town. I filled the tank, it was nowhere near empty, but the warning stayed on. I was thinking the car would just not start before we got home. I Immediately contacted the dealer service tech. We made it home (I did not turn off the engine at our rest stops, etc). Monday morning the dealer service had the car and they "reset the computer". Well, 4 days later same message. They kept the car for three weeks (got to drive a Macan for three weeks and appreciated how good a Cayenne is in comparison. Macan, IMO, is an immensely over-hyped vehicle) and replaced the entire exhaust system and urea injection system, urea infection pump, injectors, recoded DME several times, probably more. The error code would not go away. Finally, they replaced the DME and it has been fine since. All under warranty. $23,000 in parts plus labor. When the warranty is up on this thing I will get rid of it faster than I swat a fly on my watermelon!
Service/maintenance is typical for the brand. I do all of my own maintenance but it has been nothing out of the ordinary. There is a diesel fuel filter in the engine bay that I change every other oil change. I change the oil every 3,000-4,000 miles. I have to do a brake job this summer and rotors and pads will cost about $1,000ish. Dealer quoted me $2800. I do it myself.
The engine the exact same engine in every other VW/Audi product: 3.0l turbo diesel. It is a diesel, it has a the rattly idle. It does not "sound" good.
Aisin 8speed transmission. The low speed "tip in throttle" response is horrendous. I drive the thing in "sport" mode all the time. That at least kick-downs to a lower gear sooner and the throttle mapping is a little more aggressive. Not great but OK. The whole "throttle tip in" delay, for me, is almost a deal breaker.
You have to add Ad Blu diesel urea fluid to a tank in the rear about every 3,000ish miles, depending on how you drive. It's not the end of the world to do but just an extra step in maintenance.
It's big and heavy and it handles nicely for a big, heavy SUV. As a result, you'll eat up front tires a little faster than expected for a "run about" vehicle.
These cars have an issue with the transfer case where the clutch slips and it slowly gets worse. I can feel the slip now and again. I'm fully expecting a warranty repair before I get to 10 years or 100,000 miles.
Would I recommend it? I guess if it still has the warranty (less than 100,000 miles) and it has had oil changes. It is certainly not a performance vehicle. The engine has the distinct diesel rattle on idle and that is certainly not "performance minded".