vandal968

My 04 turbo has heated front and rear. They are FAST and get pretty warm pretty quickly even on low settings like 2 or 3. Never had them on for more than a few minutes, much different than wife's slow Infiniti seats (peltier). The control wheels for the seat heat are too small imho, a little difficult to manipulate.

cheers,
c

hinchcliffe

The sticky only gives so much info, I'd like to know break down by years and engines/turbos, but I know that's asking for a lot

I'd like to stay away from the air suspension also.

vandal968

I originally wanted a car without the air suspension since I've heard expensive maintenance stories. After having it for a few months, I would not buy a Cayenne without it. It's awesome, I use it almost every day.

cheers,
c

Kirill

I heard that Cannes air suspension is derivative of VAG and these been very reliable. Steel suspension is not a cheap replacement either - i think it's $2000+ for parts for 955. So in my second Caynee - i went for the air ride and it is awesome.

Wisconsin Joe

Well, the 955 4.5 non-turbo seems to be most susceptible to scoring. The turbos seem to see it a lot less, and the 4.8 in the 957 is also not seeing it a lot.
There are a few folks who are predicting "gloom and doom" for any V-8, but the reality is that it seems to be an uncommon problem. There are a lot of cars that go over 100k without it happening.

There's no real consensus on cause. One theory is that there was a tolerance issue. That the block is at one end and the pistons at the other. The extra large block and extra small pistons create enough room for piston slap and scoring to occur.
It seems like it happens more to cars in the cold. The guess is that the colder components expand at different rates and allow it to happen in a short period of time. However, if a cold climate car has not had it happen, it doesn't seem more likely to occur once the car moves to somewhere warm. And there's a lot of cars that live their lives in colder climates with no issues. Mine is one. Just turned 116k this week. When I was looking to buy about 3 years ago, there were a fair amount of 955s in the upper Midwest for sale with miles well over 100k.
Another theory gaining some traction is the "bad coil packs causing the cylinders to wash clean" idea. Basically, the idea is that the bad coil packs generate little or no spark. This lets the raw fuel wash the cylinder walls clean and allows the rings to score them Not sure how accurate it is.

The air suspension is pretty robust. The air springs themselves don't fail very often.There are valves on the springs that can fail, but those can be replaced as individual components. The compressor will fail, and the dealer will suggest a complete replacement. However, there's a rebuild kit available, and a good DIY'er or an Indy tech willing to think 'outside the box" can fix the compressor for a small fraction of the cost of replacement.
The height adjustability, the self leveling (especially if hauling heavy stuff in back or pulling a trailer), and the overall ride, no matter what the load, are all very nice.

hinchcliffe

Ok, guess I'm Leary of the air since we had years of issues with the Arnott brand of the BMW and Rover. But air suspension has been around forever and on way bigger stuff without issues. So that helps.

Thanks for all the info guys. I find out the value of my X5 salvage tomorrow and that will help push to answer my initial buy in cost options.

981S2013

Don’t be leery. I bought a 2008 Cayenne GTS with a 6-speed manual, one of 152 made. Best car purchase I’ve made. Mind-boggling handling, really comfortable, excellent car. If you can’t get one with a 6-speed, do make sure you look for one that has PDCC. With PDCC the P!G is FLAT in the corners. Amazing.

Petza914

I love manual transmissions and started my search for that same car - a MT 957 GTS with PDCC - tough combo to find with the other options I wanted like no alcantara seat centers, rear seat heating or 4-zone climate control for the kids, pano roof, warm climate car, etc .....

Then I drove a turbo S and the MT went out the window as the additional 150 HP came in. If you aren't considering the purchase of a turbo, then don't drive one, and if you took Physics growing up, don't drive one with PDCC as it will negate everything you think you know about scientific laws of acceleration, velocity, friction, angular momentum, etc - seriously, PDCC is that much of a game changer in the 6,000 lb vehicles and if you plan to tow with yours, the air suspension is also a must have.

hinchcliffe

PDCC and what other options are a must?

I'm looking at warm climate cars, but want the cold weather packages

Kirill

I say these are
Roof Rails if you need them - almost impossible to add, but sounds like you looking for 955\957 - i think these are always had a connecting system for rails from the factory.
Trailer Hitch - can be added later
KeyLess go is nice, but rare on 955/957
Bose or Burmester - Bose is almost always installed, but there is a chance for non-Bose audio and I think those are bad.
Panoramic Roof - on 955/957 i think it can be problematic

Exterior\Interior color to taste.

BlackTurboS

Landys haven't changed over the years. Neighbor bought a brand new 2017 RR sport with less than 10 miles on it. On his 80 mile drive home from the dealership it shut off and let him sit along the highway (route 322 in PA). Called the dealer and told him he wanted a refund and to come get the car along the road. Left it there for the dealer to pickup and he went and got a Lexus G470 or whatever they are called. The big box looking thing. Anyways, in addition to this instance my other friend who buys/leases a brand new car every 6 months refuses to lease RR anymore after having a customer $120k RR sport build - it sucked and he will never go back. I drive a Porsche Cayenne so I can't speak to RR personally just my friend's experiences. I can however say that I bought my 09 Turbo S with 68k miles and 30k miles later I haven't had a single issue that wasn't considered standard maintenance. To me that speaks for itself. I've had many high mileage used luxuries (Mercedes, Lexus, etc.) and so far the Porsche wins in the dependability area; among others Like... power, handling, versatility. I think versatility is the one adjective that can be often overlooked when talking about the Cayenne. I can scream down to the beach driving it like a sports car; then in the winter I can raise the air suspension and take it back to camp during hunting season. Does a car get any better than this?!?!?

BlackTurboS

Oh and one last thing. I hear you on a warm weather card with cold weather options. I had mine shipped into PA from Beverly Hills becuase I wanted a car that hadn't seen Northeast winters (and salt). It was worth it. Not a spot of rust on it and the underside is clean as well. I love Cali cars if its the right one. The only thing I look out for are those that live in Cali and have much more $$$ than I and tend to not change their oil because they'll buy a new one soon LOL.

As far as options that are a must. In my opinion... air suspension, PDCC, Black/body paint package (gets ride of the silver A pillars and painted body color); those are my key options. Best of luck.

981S2013

PDCC
Cold Climate
Blackout on black exterior
good aftermarket head unit conversion with factory Bose
factory tow package
air suspension
large aero spoiler (ok, not needed, but looks damn good)

These are what I’d look for. The head unit conversion is a good idea because PCM in ‘08 wasn’t very good and having the work already done so that you have BT and other necessities would be a bonus. The trailer hitch could be done later, but the factory kit is much easier and less costly than paying a dealer to do all that wiring and connecting later.

it looks like the question on VIN decoder got deleted. If you need help, in one of the forums there’s a thread on that.

Shawn Stanford

This is also true of my 150k '05, which has lived all its life in the NJ/NEPA area.

If you're a Shark guy, you'll find the maintenance on the Cayenne to be simple. The engineering is modern, the equipment is new, and they hook up to modern diagnostics.

You clearly want the Cayenne, or you wouldn't have asked "Cayenne or RR" on a Cayenne forum. Go with your gut: Get the P!g.

D3RP

Rover forum I frequented when I had a 2012 Sport Lux NA motor.
http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/

Good group there. Same stuff seen on this site ranging from gurus providing video DIY to heckling NOOBs asking about stuffing 24” wheels. I had a good experience with the Rover, only a water pump replacement which is very very common on the 5.0. This vehicle replaced a E70 BMW X5 4.8i. BMW handled nearly as well as our recent 06 CTTS but only had half the motor as either the P-car or even the Rover. The Rover 5.0 is a fine motor. Very willing to rev. Feels great and no issues other than water pump. CTTS is light speed in total power compared to either however. And the Rover handling and road holding is much much below either rig. The E70 X5 did have active roll stabilization which I recon made a difference on the handling feel.