Rate your Pepper!

BoomOP944 · BoomOP944's Garage

I am looking to pick up a 06-09 Cayenne for the wife. Just want to get an overall rating from you guys to see if they are worth it.

Are there any gotchas that are par for the owning of a pepper? (mechanical problems)

I know the S, Turbo S, and GTS are insanely fast with the V8, but what is the overall thought of a V6? We do not need all the power.

I guess you can say we just want the Badge, but not a mechanical pitfall.

Thanks in advance for input.

Bob

island911 · 10-15-2010, 01:07 PM

Being a '911 guy' I didn't want to like the Cayenne.

. . .but, yeah, they are really great.

The tough part is understanding all of the settings and features --it's packed.

BoomOP944 · BoomOP944's Garage

So there is nothing mechanical that is concerning on the Cayenne? She wants an SUV for sure, so it's just a matter of which brand. I prefer to have another Porsche in the garage rather than get in a GMC Acadia or Ford Escape.

wcc · 07:57 PM

I agree with island. I didn't want to like them either but after my wife got one they really are cool. Now if I can pry it away form her it is fun to drive. We've had some issues with ours and finally I said get rid of it and get whatever you want and her response was, well I want another one. That says a lot so we decided to keep it. Brake job is next on the list.

An 06-09 should mostly be problem free. The '04 is a different game all together. A few things I can add are:

Just get the S version at least. The price difference isn't that much but the V8 power is worth it. Pulls like an ox.

They use mid grade at some places and premium at others. American SUVs run regular. So fuel will cost you more. Not sure with the V6 model.

Her cayenne s cargo area is super small compared to other SUVs. Well maybe not the Acadia or Escape. But my '98 4runner is much larger.

Plan on brakes way more than a normal car. I mean with rotors as well. Of course my wife is really rough on brakes anyways but brakes at about 30k miles is a bit excessive.

island911 · 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoomOP944

So there is nothing mechanical that is concerning on the Cayenne? She wants an SUV for sure, so it's just a matter of which brand. I prefer to have another Porsche in the garage rather than get in a GMC Acadia or Ford Escape.

The 03's & 04's had some issues with plastic coolant pipes. (now aluminum and troble free).

Otherwise the only issue that comes to mind is with the radio buttons on the steering wheel. They're painted touch-points ((bad design idea) and susceptible to lotions (women love their hand lotions) and scratching (diamond rings, and even fingernails) Anyway, because these buttons are back-lit the plastic (under the paint) is white. And,even worse that the white showing when scratched, at night, it's back-lit.

SCOTITUDE · 10-17-2010, 03:14 PM

go to rennlist and read, read , read before you buy it. just got rid of mine at 107k.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I sure like my 2004 Turbo. Drives and stops like a sports car. Accelerates like a freight train. Tows my 911 like it wasn't even back there.

island911 · 10-25-2010, 01:14 PM

fintstone! . . . welcome to Pepperdom!

When did that happen?

btw, glad to see you still find the time to chime in around here.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by island911

fintstone! . . . welcome to Pepperdom!

When did that happen?

btw, glad to see you still find the time to chime in around here.

Not had it very long...needed a tow vehicle because my F-150 died just after I bought a nice used aluminum Trailex trailer from a Colorado Pelican. We really like the Pepper! I drove one without the turbo...but the accelration and the amazig brakes sold me. The trailer is great too. Only about 850 lbs.

Been out of the country a lot lately...but check in when I can. Life is good. Hope things are good on the island as well.

ninelevenick · 07-27-2012, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Being a '911 guy' I didn't want to like the Cayenne.

. . .but, yeah, they are really great.

The tough part is understanding all of the settings and features --it's packed.

I totally get that Island. The first one I test drove was a base model. I was hooked right away! My wife and I recently purchased an '06 S. What a vehicle!

I know I kinda hijacked this thread, but I look forward to contributing to the budding Cayenne forum.

stealthn · 07-29-2012, 08:13 AM

I think part of the reason this forum is not very busy is the peppers are good, non event trucks. I love my turbo, i haul a trailer camping, 2 kids, dog in the back, kayaks on the roof and other than gas mileage it's a great vehicle.

The newer ones are even better (supposedly) and the 6 has enough power for everything you need.

It's nice to have an all year truck that's fun to drive.

Good luck

Bob

Streetcrawler · 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wcc

An 06-09 should mostly be problem free. The '04 is a different game all together. A few things I can add are:

Quote:

Originally Posted by island911

The 03's & 04's had some issues with plastic coolant pipes. (now aluminum and troble free)

There are some falsehoods and Internet lore here

First off, ALL V8 Cayennes for 2003-2010 have plastic coolant pipes. The design changed in 2008+ so the number of issues has been less. Don't think that by getting even an 06 that the coolant pipes don't need to be updated to aluminum. The ONLY way you get aluminum coolant pipes is if they have replaced the plastic ones.

Secondly, the 2004 Cayenne really was not more problematic than the 05-06 on a the whole. It's more of a skewed perception problem than reality. There were almost more 2004 Cayennes produced than 2005-2006 COMBINED!!

So for every single issue a mechanic will see an "04" in his bay twice as often as an 05 or 06 just based off the production numbers.

Compound this by the 04 coming out first and it compounds the perception on a large scale. Especially during 2005 and 2006 when these cars had not been sold yet and the 04s had been in use for a year already.

goat · goat's Garage

Good advice streetcrawler.
My car I take off road quite often to take the pups to hunting locations. So yes the all wheel off road works great!
The V8 versus the V6....
Test drove both. Seriously the gas milage was not that different. Going up steep grades the V6 you really had to put your foot into it. Had to keep the revs really high too.
So I chose the 8 and am really happy.