Default Noobie saying hi and need your help with a Cayenne purchase

[paachi]

Hi Everyone,

I have been lurking in the forum for a while and soaking up all I can gather about the Cayenne. Thanks for making this forum an amazing repository for all things Porsche. I have been in the market for a truck for sometime now. My truck of choice was the full sized Range Rover Supercharged..however, I took my wife for a test drive of the Cayenne and she was completely blown away. I was sold as well on the on road behavior.

Things that are important to me

1. Character and Driveability

2. Reliability

3. Gas mileage to some extent (dont want a 11mpg truck but 16 - 20 ish is great..my current car gives me 16 MPG instead of the claimed 22 mpg and I am ok with that)

I like speed but I am not a speed demon. I value nuanced driving, handling and a command seating position the most. I aim to own this car for the next 10 years if it will go that far. Also, I dont want to spend crazy money on buying a new Cayenne..cant afford it. So now, with that being said, my quest has led me to 2 Cayennes and would love to get your help deciding which would be a good choice to go for..

1. 2009 Cayenne Turbo

Key points:

- 57.7K miles, Porsche CPO, 1 Owner, feels tight as a drum, price 46K..nicely specced out but doesn't have PDCC

- When I drove it I experienced some turbo lag upto 3K then it took off. The handling was taut and I liked it a lot

- I wasnt too happy about the turbo lag..I dont know how the naturally aspirated engine behaves but the turbo lag was a bit of a let down

- Since this is my first Porsche, I havent interacted with the local dealer beyond the sales call, but he seemed okay, knew his stuff and the service manager was very knowledgeable

- Once concern I have with a turbo charged vehicle is the added complexity of the turbo and how that impacts reliability. Also, I live in a very cold climate so will the turbo under perform in colder months??

2. 2011 Cayenne S

Key Points:

- 34K miles, CARMAX car, 1 Owner, price 55.5K

- Nicely specced out, obviously better interiors but not full leather like the Turbo

- I haven't driven it so I dont know how good it is. I can get it shipped to my location by CARMAX but I want to understand if its even worth the effort

- I am not comfortable buying such an expensive car w/o any warranty so I will need to factor in $4K for a Carmax warranty. I am not sure if the Carmax warranty is good enough..I will need to research that further. But at ~$60K thats the upper reaches of my budget

Some other factors to account for:

- I dont intend to take the truck/ car for hardcore offroading but will be doing snow passes, fireroads and trails definitely..I dont know if the presence or absence of the dual range transfer box changes that (07-10 vs 11+ Gen 2 Cayennes)

- I am mechanically inclined and do wrench a bit (do oil changes and simple stuff on my motorcycle) but I honestly dont think I will have the time to do any of that for the Cayenne

- Finally, this will be my primary daily driver vehicle.

Thanks in advance for all the replies.

Thanks,

PK.

[mcbit500]

My simple advice: if both cars are in you price range and you are not a speed demon, buy the 2011 S for the simple reason that it's newer.

[clarksongli]

performance with a turbo does not decline with colder climates....and the added complexity is minimal since they are a purely mechanical device.

Also the turbo "lag" that you were likely feeling is related to the transmission, and not completely due to turbo lag......there is a fairly large delay in the transmission, which is annoying, but normal. These engines use 2 k16 turbos, which is relatively small for the displacement of the motor, so lag is minimal.

MPG might be an issue with the cayenne and your goals.....they claim 15-17mpg, but i think most of us can tell you, around town you will not see very good mileage (i get about 14mpg with normal driving in town). Because of the weight of the cayenne, whether it's the V6, V8, or V8TT, they will all get about the same mileage assuming you aren't flooring it.

No matter what you chose, these cars are relatively reliable.....a few quirks, which is typical for most of the german manufacturers, but stay up with the maintainence and you will see 10years no problem. Around me, 300k cayennes is pretty typical.

Finally....direct injection....the benefits in performance are outweighed in issues IMO....which is why i personally stuck to the older 955s.

My opinion.....go with the CTT.....go big or go home.....its cheaper, and will have more bells and whistles. CS's are a dime a dozen....CTTs are not.

[paachi]

SITREP: I went with the SWMBO on Saturday to take an extended test drive of the truck. Simply loved it. She loved it a lot as well. So we were all good and then we sat down with the dealer for negotiations.

(Now, before we went to the dealership we did some Yelp and Google reviews research on what others had to say about the dealer and the reviews werent good..there were many cases of the finance department gouging with spurious charges, service guys being rude et al)

We had some trepidation based on the Yelp reviews but were hoping that we would have a good experience. Anyhow, they came back with a crazy low quote for my Infiniti G ($5K - 6K below kbb and nada). So I was not happy and told them I cant afford to lose $5K on my car, so I need to reconsider my decision. Then a cocky finance manager comes to me and here is an excerpt of the conversation

FM: No one will give any more than $11K for your dinged up Infiniti. They arent good cars
Me: I understand but @ $11K I am losing too much money to justify the purchase of this truck..nonetheless..let me go to Carmax and see what they have to offer
FM: What price would you sell it at Carmax??
Me: I dont know but I am hoping atleast $15K
FM: Ok I will give you $13K right now..if you buy the car..if you walk away then forget about it
Me: $13K sounds good (plus I get trade in benefit)..umm..
FM: Ok..then lets shake on it
Me: Thanks its a nice offer but I still want to go and get a Carmax appriasal
FM: If you walk now then I will not go a penny over $11K (with cockiness and indignance)

Suffice to say that this left a very bad taste in my mouth about the whole deal. I was thinking, if he can plump for $2K so easily then how much am I being gouged for. So I drove to Carmax and got the appraisal done. Super professional guys!! Took 15 mins..treated me professionally and with respect and gave me $16K trade and $15K sale price!! Now I know that car salesmen have their quirks and mannerisms but this is not the kind of sleazy behavior I expected from a Porsche dealership. On top of it, the level of haughtiness and condescension was appalling. It was as if they were doing a favor to me by entertaining someone who was buying a cheap car!!

So the question I have in my mind is..the car itself was awesome, so should I simply sell my Infiniti to Carmax and go buy this car from them and try to find a good service shop?? Or should I say screw it and wait for a good deal and dealer to come through??

Thanks for your feedback..

Edited September 24, 2013 by paachi

[clarksongli]

Sounds like you will be using a dealer/indy shop to maintain the car? So then i personally would NOT buy from the porsche dealership. Out of PRINCIPLE, i do not support that type of crappy behavior, and i am willing to pay more elsewhere for professionalism.

The issue though is you need to find a good dealership or indy shop.....so find that first, then you can figure out if you buy/sell at carmax, or dealer only.

My own opinion.....i would go back to that dealership, talk with the owner/manager and explain to him/her that you will not only never do business with them, but will also recommend to anyone not too as well. His one crappy employee just lost your business + whoever else listens to you. And i don't care if it's only one employee or all the employees......each one represents the company, and it reflects on the management that this sales guy is allowed to operate in such a disgusting manner.

As a frame of reference, i bought my parents a new Honda.....same experience as you.....i went elsewhere and paid 5k more for the same car....took the car and the sticker price back to the crappy dealership and showed their manager, and called the sales guy out by name, that money wasn't the issue, it was the professionalism. Since then i have bought another honda for my parents, and each time i bring that to the crappy dealership to show them the value of having crappy employees.

I am a person of principles.....some call it holding a grudge, but at the end of the day, if you aren't willing to stick to your guns.....then you are just as bad as the crappy sales guy.