Hello from a long-time lurker – started reading this forum about a year ago and ultimately bought a 2006 Cayenne Turbo this past May having educated myself on this board. My Cayenne has low miles, only 31,000, so I’ve not had all the usual issues yet, but feel prepared for what to expect. With 6 months experience, I thought I’d post my thoughts for others:

Overall:
- It’s what I expected from spending time on the board. Great car with high build quality. Has its issues, but probably worth it for a car enthusiast, especially if you’re willing to do your own research and potentially your own repairs on the known issues.

Pros:
- Drives like a German sports sedan -- A bit too heavy to toss around like a real sports car on the tight stuff, but very impressive handling for its size.
- Best role is grand-touring/highway cruising –Very fast and controlled
- Silly acceleration when you put your foot in it. Love the effortless power!
- Grip – always there; wet or dry. Haven’t seen snow, but you’d have to do something super aggressive/crazy to lose adhesion on the street.
- Quiet, comfortable driving experience
- All-round athlete: I like that I can pull a trailer or drive off-road if needed.

Cons:
- Transmission map (stock) is too lazy – it likes to keep the revs below 2000rpm, which means no/low boost and lag. It does better in cold weather when it’s trying to warm up the transmission by holding the gears a bit longer. I’m hoping an ECU flash may remedy this (TBD). It’s too bad Porsche didn’t include a sport button on the 955. PSM-off button works for that, I suppose. Manual shifting (especially with the stick) fixes the issue for best sporty driving experience.
- Steering wheel buttons don’t advance through programmed stations, but rather all radio stations. That’s stupid (or should be a changeable setting).
- Gas mileage was a surprise. I get only~10-11 city; ~12 mixed; ~15 highway. Hard to cheat physics, I suppose. That said, the driving experience is worth it to me.

Issues:
- Transmission clunk on 5-4 downshift. Clunks more when hot outside and when downshifting under load. I get around it by downshifting to 4th first and then getting on the gas. Clunk was made somewhat better by draining/refilling the box with fresh Mobil 3309. I may bite the bullet and get the new valvebody to make it disappear.
- Smoke odor! Not a Porsche model issue, but the car I bought turned out to be a smokers car (shame on the dealer for not disclosing and for me to have not noticed at first). The odor has actually gotten stronger since I’ve owned it. I’m investigating ways to treat the smell – am considering an ozone generator treatment. Suggestions welcome.
- Seatbacks came loose. Re-glued the top connectors the first time with epoxy, but that failed in month. Re-glued a second time with a really strong rubber cement – like ShoeGoo. Seemslike that will hold. Broke the 2 clips on the bottom of one of the seatbacks – used epoxy clay to repair – seems like it will hold fine.
- Occasional rough idle/engine. Probably is coils based on feedback of others, but it’s not regular/bad enough for me tocare right now.
- Burns oil somewhere. As expected. Seems to be related to how much time you spend on boost. Like the poor gas mileage, I view it as part of the cost of admission.
- Instrument cluster speaker – I think it’s dead/weak. Can’t hear the turn signal indicator. May buy a replacement speaker to fix.
- Coolant tubes / driveshaft – knock on wood, but my car is too low mile to have these yet. Will consider preventative maintenance at 55,000 miles.

Other:
- Car came with 18” factory Cayenne Turbo wheels with Pirelli Scorpion Ice Snow tires. I was actually really impressedwith this tire. Seemed very grippy/stable for ice/snow rated tire. I’m in Houston and wanted 20” Sport Technos, mostly for looks. Found a used rim set and mounted with Yokohama Parada Spec-X tires. I was goingto buy Conti Extreme Contact DWS based on others’ reviews, but the Yokohamas were dirt-cheap from Discount Tire and similarly highly rated. So far, so good. Has increased steering and handling response a bit, but the low profile tires don’t seem nearly as bullet proof as the 18s. Not a huge issue as I’m in Houston, but I’d have kept the 18s if I lived anywhere with snow or dirt roads. BTW, the 18” wheels are now for sale (low miles ontires) – PM me if interested.
- Need to buy/install a Dension to play digital music
- Need to get a ECU flash. Always want more power and hope it would address the lazy transmission.
- Will consider getting secondary cat-bypass for the sound/performance. Not high on the list.

Thanks to great posters on this board for their collective wisdom. Hope this post helps others that may have interest.

 

Nice post, and nice looking CTT.

Two minor suggestions: 1) Do the clear front sidemarkets, they'll improve the appearance dramatically; and 2) do the secondary cat bypass pipes before you do an ECU flash - you may decide the latter isn't necessary. They really do make that much difference. Improvement was very noticeable on mine.

 

Thanks Spooltime. Appreciate the feedback. Just might have to get the cat bypass pipes. Haven't read of anyone not liking them.

 

Enjoyed reading your comments and that mileage is nice and low! Enjoy your CTT!

Mark/Pelican Parts

 

welcome, you will like.

 

Great review and CTT!

Yours looks almost exactly like mine.

Forgive the picture quality. I took this through a window.

 

To make radio sw controls scroll through presets hit the MAN button. This button changes between presets, seek, and individual increments

 

Nice looking CTT!

 

Looks wonderful, keep us in the loop of your progress Thinking about those cat bypass pipes as we'll.