2008 Turbo w/ 60,000 miles and warranty expiring

[acat2002]

I'm at a tipping point here.

While I still love my 2008 CTT and have owned it since 2010 w/ 20,000 miles and have had every recommended service performed, skimping on nothing with regard to maintenance, the warranty expires at the end of March 2014 and I have to make a decision whether or not I want to commit to own this out of warranty.

I think the original MSRP with all the options was $127,***, I mean that is approaching Turbo S pricing! I'm not sold on the merits of upgrading to a new Cayenne given the price of even the "S". This Cayenne does everything I need it to do and I know it's been cared for excessively.

I'm leaning towards keeping it.

What I'm looking for here is any input on what I should try to have addressed while still under factory CPO warranty.

For example, what is the typical lifespan of the air struts/compressors?

If I go into my dealer and ask if there are any TSBs, I get the usual company answer. I trust them, but I suppose its not within their expected scope of work to research my model and come up with possible failure points. Time = $$$ I get that and that's why I'm doing some research on my own.

Car has been pretty solid except for a few things like a mysterious vapor vacuum recovery leak that took the dealer considerable time to chase down a year ago, and even though this model does have the aluminum crossover coolant pipes a leak still developed in the valley pan area about two years ago w/40,000 miles. It was a faint leak and we only knew because we smelled a little coolant in the engine bay (not like the massive blowups in the earlier models because of the plastic pipes). I had the rear seat entertainment system replaced under the original warranty (before the CPO kicked in) and there has really been nothing else notable going through my service records.

What's been failing in the 60,000-100,000 mile range or what fails with 8-10 years of use?

I realize that my question is sort of open-ended and could be debated to eternity.

[scubatahiti]

Upper and Lower Control Arms would need replacing around 100K from what i remember that is about $2,500. Honestly having a older one with all the issues documented and costs there is no way you could ever ever spend as much as you would trading it in on a new one. I have a 2K4 and it has 37K miles. My plan is to drive it into the ground for the next 10 years. It is such a blast to drive. Yours looks very nice by the way.

[mikeymikey]

Only 37K miles - not driving much?

[acat2002]

Upper and Lower Control Arms would need replacing around 100K from what i remember that is about $2,500. Honestly having a older one with all the issues documented and costs there is no way you could ever ever spend as much as you would trading it in on a new one. I have a 2K4 and it has 37K miles. My plan is to drive it into the ground for the next 10 years. It is such a blast to drive. Yours looks very nice by the way.

Thanks.

I should be driving it more (and hard) to shake out any failure points before warranty expiry.

Just dropped many thousands on new brakes, brake flush, new Michelins and I've been keeping a documented oil and fuel consumtion log book since I've owned it, so I'm one of those owners who actually cares for their high-end cars!

If I were to trade it say on a 2012 I'd have a car payment again :(

At the rate I drive these days, I could get another 4 years before it turns 100,000, so I gues that's the answer to that part of the question (Keep it).

I just want to make sure I take full advantage of the Porsche CPO warranty before it expires in March. Those air struts make me nervous even though I never hear anyone gripe about them on this forum. Wife has a Range Rover and the air struts will absolutely fail after 80,000 miles and that's if you haven't burned out a few compressors in the meanwhile because of air leaks. I guess that's a testimony to Porsche build quality (solid).

I'm going to invest in a Durametric module/software so I can stay out of the dealership as much as possible going forward.

Edited January 31, 2014 by acat2002

[mikeymikey]

Which Michelin's did you get?

[acat2002]

Lattitude Sport 295/35/21

Had P-Zeros before and generally liked them. Just wanted to try Michelins. They're a bit better when really warm, but not worth the premium over Pirellis so far (unless the wear is different)

I have a winter set on now 20" Pirelli Scorpion ice & snow which are awesome in the winter! Highly recommend,but then again you'll never need them in AZ:)

[deilenberger]

I faced the same decision when my CPO ran out over a year ago.. and thought about what I could buy that would make me forget the Cayenne. About all I could come up with is a new Cayenne. Figure even leasing one is about $10,000/year - it makes a lot more sense to just keep what I have as long as the expenses come in under a payment/month. So far - it's worked out fine. I had lots of stuff addressed under CPO (good dealer experience) - and since then, I've replaced one brake caliper (found a brand new one on Ebay for $200), and just had normal maintenance. I had done the cooling pipes back when I bought the beast (at my expense since we were leaving on a coast-to-coast-to-coast trip) so about all I'm expecting now is the center-bearing problem on the driveshaft. The rest of the driveline isn't known to be troublesome, and I suspect on the later years, if you keep the interior of the vehicle dry (keep those sunroof drains clear folks!) the electronics aren't a big issue.

From what I've seen watching three different Cayenne forums - they are much less troublesome > 100k miles than the BMW 5-Touring that got replaced by a Lexus for SWMBO not too long ago. The BMW was becoming a monthly repair payment that was higher than the cost of a payment on an RX350, so it was a no-brainer (and the RX350 is reported to be the most reliable vehicle being made, so lots less complaints from SWMBO.)

[acat2002]

I faced the same decision when my CPO ran out over a year ago.. and thought about what I could buy that would make me forget the Cayenne. About all I could come up with is a new Cayenne. Figure even leasing one is about $10,000/year - it makes a lot more sense to just keep what I have as long as the expenses come in under a payment/month. So far - it's worked out fine. I had lots of stuff addressed under CPO (good dealer experience) - and since then, I've replaced one brake caliper (found a brand new one on Ebay for $200), and just had normal maintenance. I had done the cooling pipes back when I bought the beast (at my expense since we were leaving on a coast-to-coast-to-coast trip) so about all I'm expecting now is the center-bearing problem on the driveshaft. The rest of the driveline isn't known to be troublesome, and I suspect on the later years, if you keep the interior of the vehicle dry (keep those sunroof drains clear folks!) the electronics aren't a big issue.

From what I've seen watching three different Cayenne forums - they are much less troublesome > 100k miles than the BMW 5-Touring that got replaced by a Lexus for SWMBO not too long ago. The BMW was becoming a monthly repair payment that was higher than the cost of a payment on an RX350, so it was a no-brainer (and the RX350 is reported to be the most reliable vehicle being made, so lots less complaints from SWMBO.)

Funny you mentioned BMW. I feel like BMW build quality fell of a cliff after 2000-2001 or thereabouts. Wife's X3 has gone through more "non-consumable" parts than any other car......aside from her 2004 Range Rover, which guess what folks.......is also a BMW!

Maybe I'll take a close look at the center drive shaft bearing and maybe it somehow, ahem.....develops a wobble or a noise within the next month. Thanks for the heads up on that.

My cayenne stays inside a garage and I'm always making sure those little scuppers or drain holes are cleared out, I've even used compressed air.