WTB cayenne s or turbo Buying tips ??
 

WTB ..also what tips do you suggest in looking .. ..looks like 2004S turbo are in my budget
What do I look for if lower milage like 50k I dought the tubes have been done any tips ..also tips for high 130k..
Thanks

Don't buy an 04 to many chances of issues, at least 05 preferable 06

I'm bias on the turbo, either with air ride suspension is awesome

Thanks ,ok i looked at 2004 s today with 40k miles looked nice almost made a deal but walked away ..does the 2006 have the coolent pipe issues or should i go to 2008 s .how are those ? I am in no hurry so i just want to go with the right less mechanically prone ..What would be a fair price for a good 2008 S or Turbo ..Thanks for the advice ..

Total Internet BS. They are the same cars!


FWIW, I think the 04 thing has become internet lore.

The simple fact is that they produced almost twice as many 04 units than 05 and 06 COMBINED! So the perception of issues is skewed greatly. For example if the same percentage of Cayennes have an issue, twice as many 04 will be in the shop for it simply because there are twice as many of them.SmileWavy


Now add in that an 04 on average will have more miles on it than anything newer simply because of its age and it compounds the perspective issue. Especially in the early years of the model. When the 04 was 2-3 years old and the 05-06 barely had any miles on them.

Many of the early issues were corrected with warranty and normal maint. Many of the issues like coils, control arm bushings, coolant pipes, driveshafts, etc effected ALL years of the early Cayennes. The odds of an 04 having the latest part numbers at this point are pretty good. Even newer than part numbers that came on 06s. (for example, I just put on new control arms and they are the 8th revision of the control arm, so were the coils.

The DVD nav is really the only big reason to look for an 05.5+ Otherwise it really is all the same.

06 has the exact same potential issues as an 04.

Honestly, if you can do some basic work yourself you can by ALL of the known issue parts and install them yourself for about $2000 and then never really worry about them again.

Some of the things people complain about are just normal maintenance items the every car on earth needs at some point.

Although I will agree on the age and mileage point, every mechanic I know that has worked on them makes the same recommendations...

How many mechanics do you know? Hundreds? Thousands?;)

Seriously. Lets look at it for a moment front the mechanics stand point. I put a ton of research into this before buying my 04.

First you need to understand a few facts.

First, I read through the owners manual of each year to see if there were different options available. Other than the CD navigation in 04 and the DVD navigation for 05/06 there were no basic option differences available. (How many mechanics have read an owners manual at all;))

Then I discovered the PET, Porsche parts catalog. I read through it a bunch and found that there are zero 2004 specific part numbers other than the CD based nav. ALL the part numbers are the same for 2004/2005/2006.:D

That got me even more curios about the sales figures since I kept seeing more 2004 models for sale than 05 or 06. I posted these many years ago on rennlist. I'll have to ballpark them here. :D. Porsche sold roughly 22,000 2004 Cayennes but only about 6,000 2005 and 5,000 2006.

So, lets get back to the mechanics point of view.

In 2004, the only Cayennes they saw come in for service were 2004s. Some of those may have had early teething issues but everyone that had them got a warranty repair with a revise part number.

In 2005 all the 2004 models now had 20-40k on them and the 05s very few miles. But 2004s out numbered 2005s 4:1.
So, even if EVERY Cayenne had the exact same issue the mechanic that had to work on them saw 3 2004s for every 1 2005:eek:.

Move on to 2006. Now, every 2004 has been around for 2 years. It still out numbers 2006 modlels 4:1 So the same issue is compounded again:eek:


The 2004 out numbers 2005 & 2006 2:1 So, even today, if EVERY Cayenne has the exact same faults, a mechanic will see 2x more 2004 models then 05 & 06 COMBINED!! All based on the amount of them on the road.:rolleyes:

How many mechanics do you think understand these statistics? How many of them have looked at the sales numbers or compared the overall parts numbers? The ONLY thing the mechanic knows is that more 2004s roll through their shop then 2005 or 2006SmileWavy

Thanks for the tips ..so for a 2004 s lower milage waht is a good price ?

I honestly don't know these days. I bought mine many years ago.

One word of caution on any low mileage Cayenne. They may not of had many of the common service items replaced yet. Simple enough to update them all. Just be aware of it, build it into the price.

Things to check on all V8 modles, all years.
-coolant pipes. Hopefully they have a receipt for the work. They are vary difficult to verify that they have the aluminum ones visually. (Takes a dentist mirror and you need to know what you are looking for) Parts are about $500 and its an easy 6 hour DIY;)

-Like every German car on earth the ignition coils wear out. Think the latest revision is a -09 part number. Parts are $300ish. (Easy to do while doing the coolant pipes)

-Lower control arm bushings wear out about 60k miles. They clunk going over bumps. Just something to check in a pre purchase inspection. I put "Turbo S" arms on mine for about $500 total for both sides. The Turbo S arms are a bit stiffer rubber than the Turbo & S arms. They are all the same price. Easy swap. Also easy to read the part number off the bottom of them. If you are looking at an 04 and the last two digits of the part number end in 01 then they have never been changed. My Turbo S arms were an 08 revision. So these were updated several times by Porsche.

-I forgot in my post above that a bunch of the 04 Cayenne and Touaregs had a air suspension compressor issue. There is an update kit for about $170. Super easy 20 min job to put the new composite compressor ring on. Totally fixes the issue. Most of them were fixed already.

-Drive shaft bushing that isolates the bearing seems to go between 60-120k. New driveshaft is $375.

That's really about it.

Many of the 04s came with a dual battery option. Super cool feature but is the culprit of a lot of misunderstanding. One battery is dedicated to starting the car while the other is dedicated to all the electronic functions. These cars are old enough that they should have had their batteries updated by now. Usually when the "house" battery fails you get all sorts of funky warning, remote key memory stops working, etc. People think the car has unexplained electrical issues and that its not the battery because the car still starts fine. What they don't realize is that the start and house functions are being run off different batteries.

All Cayennes come "Al la carte" as far as options. There are no "packages" other than being an S, Turbo, etc. So some basic things like a leather dash will be on all Turbos and not all S models. Be carefull. I've seem some seriously decked out Turbos missing some silly basic stuff like Homelink. (Garage door opener) because they didn't originally select that option when bought new.

Go to Renntech.org and you can A) download an owners manual. It helps to read through it and understand all the options that were available. That way when you are at a dealership being told by the salesman that "it's loaded" you will know what it really has. B) they have an "options decoder" where you can enter the 3 digit option code to see what they are. Every Porsche has a little 3"x4" options sticker in the trunk with 3 digit option codes. These codes tell you what options that car came with. On the Cayenne it's under the rear floor by the spare tire. In the upper left hand corner as you face it. Many time I got salesmen to take a cell phone picture and email it to me.

The secret code you are looking for is E81;)

Good luck!

Thanks for all the tips.., the one iI was looking at was around 20k but i dought the coolant tubes were done at such low milage ..
I have also started looking at the 2008's so we will see ..
Thank you again for all the advise .

So we"ll just disagree then and leave it there....

Right, guess all the evidence and facts are problematic. :p

;)

Somehow I knew you wouldn't just respect my opinion....

See, now I'll have to disagree with you :D Its not that I don't value your opinion, I do. I also respect it. SmileWavy

What I don't respect is information based on bad or misleading facts that get spread around the Internet like its the ultimate truth. I prefer to base my decisions upon facts whenever possible over opinions alone.

For example. Your mechanics opinion is the one you are basing your information on. So you are basing an opinion on another opinion. One very most likely based on a perception that is not based actual facts. So your opinion on the reliability of the 04 simply isn't based on any facts. Which I really wasn't trying to debate your opinion, just the facts.

I've been wrenching on cars for about 30 years. I'm a complete research-aholic and I've found that more often than not most mechanics don't know jack!! They know how to unbolt an item and bolt in a new one, period. Most of the seemed to "fall into" the career because they had no motivation or skill to do anything else.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are the true genius mechanics out there that are truly masters of their trade. Unfortunately they are the exception than the rule.

My 04 is a V6 but it has had all of the normal issues as stated. One issue I did not see mentioned is the fuel pumps. The main pump went out at about 90k miles so I jst replaced both with a new filter while it was apart. But even with all of the issues mentioned I really do love the car it has 120K miles on it today and I use it for everything. I tow my atv's with it back and forth about an hour each way. I towed a U Haul trailer that was full to West Virgina and it always runs like a champ. I said to my wife the other day that I am going to drive this car until it can go no more and then I will definatley buy another Cayenne. Every car has issues some more than others if you like the Cayenne go for it.

Good call on the fuel pumps. I knew I forgot something.

Thanks for the tips i have seen one it looks good,I will have to do the tubes but one concern i had i pulled the oil cap and it had little white/milky on the underside of the cap its very low milage and the owner does not drive it at all lately ,sits in garage 3rd car ..oil looks good .it is a very clean 04 s ..what do you think ?

what is a fair price??..seems like prices are all over what would be a good price on clean 04S with low milage ..Thanks

Soooooo hard to tell on a used car that came with so many various options. :D


Post pictures and the options and maybe we an give more feedback. ;)

ok he is looking for around 22500 for2004 S has 45000 miles looks fully loaded no air suspention but everything else ..keyless entry (as long as you have key fobe )extra wheels body looks great no accidents from what i can see everything works,heated seats ets ..