I have a 2012 Cayenne and yesterday I dropped my iPhone by mistake and it hit the silver shiftgate surround and make a dent. It is driving me crazy and I am thinking about replaceing this piece of plastic. Has anyone pulled this apart? I don't want to make matters worse by breaking part of the console when I try to replace this piece. Maybe I should just live with the small dent...

 

Sorry I missed your post before now.

I have taken apart my console (see my Valentine 1 thread). The first thing you have to do is remove your shift **** (instructions for automatic **** are towards the end of the V1 thread). After that, based on what I saw, you should be able to pry the part you are talking about up and it will pop out of it's locking clips. I was, however, unable to do that. It was exceedingly easy to push it out from the back side once I have the whole center trim area out though.

Rather than pull the whole center trim out which requires removing the PCM (see my V1 thread for info on that, the vent clips are a PITA) you might be able to lift the rear (towards the rear of the car) of the center trim up enough to get your hand in and push the shift gate out from behind.

If you don't have them, you'll want a set of interior trim tools to reduce the chance of scratching something up. I also suggest putting a cloth between your interior and the trim tools to further reduce the chance of marring something up.

I think it's pretty easy today if you are at all mechanically inclined, but you have to have patience and not force things.

Edit: Sorry, I forgot to mention that if you have to resort to removing the center trim (even just lifting the rear), there are some bolts underneath the pocket at the top of the console (IIRC there are some under the rubber at the bottom of the cup holders too).