My family own a Cayenne S and Turbo S and I currently own an X5 4.4. They all have their issues, but the build quality goes to the Cayenne hands down.

 

Subscribed. Any other opinions out there. Sounds like a CPO or extended warranty is a must on a CTT.

 

The warranties seem to be as much of a gamble as a repair need. Will they actually cover what breaks? Will they still be in business when it breaks?

 

I was going to buy the extended warranty offered by my local prosche dealership (Both the warranty and dealership is Penske). It covers most everything but wear and tear and the navigation for 4k.

But I would probably try to negotiate the price.

 

I have reservations about warranties and buying them. For one, even Porsche is not doing well in honoring it's own CPO warranty. For another, even Porsche takes the "short route" when it comes to repairs & maintenance.

For example, when one coil went back rather than replace them all, even though the one that broke was in a particularly difficult place (in the back), Porsche CPO decided to replace only ONE of the eight coils while I would have done all eight myself due to the labor cost being the same for one or for all eight.

For another, even though Porsche knows the original plastic hoses break and can cause many thousands of dollars more damage to the transmission and other parts below it, they refuse to replace those plastic hoses with the aluminum ones they came up with to address this problem. The $2,000 in prevention could prevent what others have reported: A $9,000 repair!

Then there are the little breakages which are supposed to be covered under Porsche's own CPO warranty that they refused to repair. Those chinsey back seat clips (for folding the back seats down), the flimsy cover to the rear passenger area power access. And those cheap (VW borrowed?) cargo system retainer covers.

Recently, I broke one of the rear air vent control fins myself. I'm not claiming that although the part was flimsly made.

I looked into buying more warranty after the CPO expires next summer, but the warranties offerred don't cover the options and many of the electronics and even some of the suspension and running gear of the car.

I think I am going to go broke trying to keep her running in tip top shape. While the SUV saved my life twice in one week last month, it is a difficult choice. Seeing all the repairs, I understand why the resale value is so low.

Mine has averaged approximately $1,000 per month in warranty repairs during the past year. I wrote Porsche's VP of marketing over a month ago and he has yet to respond to my letter.

The most irritating thing was when Porsche CPO warranty authorization accused me of putting too much weight on the seat backs and causing the clips to break! When in fact, the clips broke under the weight of ONLY the seat backs themselves. BTW, the replacement clips were much beefier--indicating Porsche knew of this problem.

Yes, they brake (stop) better. Yes, they leap (out of the way of other cars). It's hard to put a value on all of that, but there are limits.

Rather than a warranty or insurance, I'd prefer to have the cash to cover everything--then I can have it repaired & maintained the way I want as compared to being forced to accept the dictates of some warranty policy.

 

^Sounds like you wouldnt buy one again .........Not all are created equal I guess.

I would still bet that a Cayenne Turbo has a average lower running cost than a M5 with SMG........(maybe not by much based on your experience though)

 

Heck, if I had the money I'd buy a brand new one. But this one has the advanced off road package and a transfer case. It may be better in the snow and on some of the roads I drive than the new one. So, I'd keep this at the same time. It's my duck hunting rig.

 

My Audi S4 (2000) beat me into the ground for awhile with over $1,000 average running cost for a year. (then it only beat me into the ground with a $1,000 per random event every couple of months) So far the CTT is twice the car and has been a MUCH better experience.

 

I purchased a CPO 2006 CS tit about 2 years ago. Still have 2+ years on warranty. I put on 22k miles, so far aside from maintenance, the only worry I've had is that the engine temperature creeps up while sitting in traffic. I had it in to be checked by Porsche last week, but naturally, they couldn't "replicate the problem"...hmmm. I'll bring it back to them when the weather is warmer and make sure they see it. I'm concerned about the plastic coolant pipes...let them fix it under warranty. The only other part I had fixed under warranty was a replacement passenger side mirror glass, the old one was overheating and turning brown from the mirror heater. That's it.

 

^Solid. I feel for the most part these trucks are pretty reliable especially compared to its direct competitors ML63, X5, Range Rover as well as other performance vehicles such as M5 etc.

The biggest complaints I have seen so far are the Coolant pipes and the driveshafts. Aside from that it sounds pretty darn reliable.

 

Have a 2006 S with 75000 miles and have had no problems warranty or otherwise. Normal maintenance, tires, etc.

 

So you estimate a total of $12,000 in repairs (regardless of your pocket or warranty) in the past year? What else is there to replace on this beast. At some point its gotta be reliable if you replace every item on the vehicle

Heck whats a lightly used tranny and engine cost maybe $15-20k depending on miles?

 

I think *most* people maybe have $2-5K in repairs/maint. (driveshaft, coolant pipes, maybe a trans seal if you let the coolant pipes break, lower control arms, coils).

Some of this stuff I would consider normal wear and tear. The coolant pipes should have been aluminum in the first place. Suspension parts and driveshafts wear, coils, etc)

 

^that sounds more reasonable and what I would expect. Would you say 5k a year or is that multiple years hehe.

I feel like once you replace the coolant pipes, driveshatft, lower control arms, coils you should have a pretty rock solid ride and then you would just have to worry about basic wear items and maint.

 

I was talking total numbers, not annually.

There is always going to be the exception to the norm with any car....at both ends of the spectrum. There will be the guy that has never spent a dime on repairs and the guy that spends a million bucks.


I did a ton of research on this topic before buying mine. I did not want another B5 Audi S4 experience. EVERY car on earth will have issues, period! Some will reward you more between issues than others.

Keep in mind that the reason most Cayenne owners come to the forum at this point is to find answers to issues. So the forum in geeral is always skewed. As ot shifts more to enthusiasts the participants will be more about mods than issues.

Also keep in mind that many original owners paid a lot of money and have very high expectations for the car. Original owners also tend to experience all the issues until solutions are found. (like the drive shaft issue, which now has much updated solutions.).

On a whole I think these are pretty reliable.