5 hard years and 100,000Km with a Cayenne S
Discussion
"Its not a real Porsche. Its a soft roader. Its ugly". I have heard many comments about the best-selling vehicle in the range. Here is the story of mine.
This is a poverty spec Cayenne. No nav system,sunroof,extra leather,premium sound system,large wheels ,or air suspension. It had the V8, heated seats, and Xenon headlights, all necessary for its role,From the beginning it was intended to work hard and it has. Having reached 100,000km, it has had a very varied life.
It has never been garaged, and has been across very challenging abandoned mining trails in Arizona, deep Canadian snows, and numerous long distance towing assignments with 5000 lbs behind it.
Reliability has been outstanding. There was a single major recall for a fuel pump, which was done as part of a routine service. Apart from that the only failures in five years have been a rear number plate light and a leaky windshield washer bottle. Thats it. After countless miles on the highways of the US, I recently replaced the windshield which finally had one stone too many after several patches. It has never failed to start even after sitting outside for weeks in the winter without being used. Up to about 20,000Km it burned oil at the rate of around a litre every 1000km,but that stopped completely, and it has burned zero oil between services ever since.
It is certainly showing some signs of wear. With a lot of miles on busy highways, and some offroading through sharp cactus, there are numerous paint chips and scuffs. The right had side of the driver's seat has developed a few mysterious pinholes , the cause of which I can't explain. It drives as if new, with no rattles or vibrations despite its hard life. There is no rust anywhere.
A few of its tasks:
Tow truck. In this role it is simply outstanding and can cruise are highway speeds with a loaded trailer, taking even long hills easily, though occasionally dropping to 5th gear. It is essential to fit a good trailer brake controller for this purpose, and Cayennes are quite difficult to get right in this regard. However, we have one and its fine now.
Offroader
I was very impressed by how versatile it is on very tough roads. I have gone up 45 degree hills in low range, scrabbling slowly up rock-strewn trails and down the other side where there is no sky visible in the windshield. Although not quite a able as my Jeep, it as good or better off road than any other SUV in its class.
Dog transporter. The back seat folds down easily , end, even with the seat up is perfectly comfortable for even the largest dogs.
WInter beater:
Even the deepest snows have been no trouble t it. I do use a seconds set of rims with winter tires
Long distance transport
It has the handling of a good fast sedan, with very low interior noise and extremely comfortable seats for journeys that stretch to 4000km at a time. Steering is crisp and responsive and braking is excellent. Fuel economy is not great, about 19 MPG unloaded, and 11.5 MPG with a loaded trailer.
CONCLUSION
The Cayenne S is a tough, comfortable, versatile and utterly reliable SUV, with both S and U actually being a very appropriate description for it.I intend to keep it until it is finally worn out, and I suspect that will not be in the near future.
This is a poverty spec Cayenne. No nav system,sunroof,extra leather,premium sound system,large wheels ,or air suspension. It had the V8, heated seats, and Xenon headlights, all necessary for its role,From the beginning it was intended to work hard and it has. Having reached 100,000km, it has had a very varied life.
It has never been garaged, and has been across very challenging abandoned mining trails in Arizona, deep Canadian snows, and numerous long distance towing assignments with 5000 lbs behind it.
Reliability has been outstanding. There was a single major recall for a fuel pump, which was done as part of a routine service. Apart from that the only failures in five years have been a rear number plate light and a leaky windshield washer bottle. Thats it. After countless miles on the highways of the US, I recently replaced the windshield which finally had one stone too many after several patches. It has never failed to start even after sitting outside for weeks in the winter without being used. Up to about 20,000Km it burned oil at the rate of around a litre every 1000km,but that stopped completely, and it has burned zero oil between services ever since.
It is certainly showing some signs of wear. With a lot of miles on busy highways, and some offroading through sharp cactus, there are numerous paint chips and scuffs. The right had side of the driver's seat has developed a few mysterious pinholes , the cause of which I can't explain. It drives as if new, with no rattles or vibrations despite its hard life. There is no rust anywhere.
A few of its tasks:
Tow truck. In this role it is simply outstanding and can cruise are highway speeds with a loaded trailer, taking even long hills easily, though occasionally dropping to 5th gear. It is essential to fit a good trailer brake controller for this purpose, and Cayennes are quite difficult to get right in this regard. However, we have one and its fine now.
Offroader
I was very impressed by how versatile it is on very tough roads. I have gone up 45 degree hills in low range, scrabbling slowly up rock-strewn trails and down the other side where there is no sky visible in the windshield. Although not quite a able as my Jeep, it as good or better off road than any other SUV in its class.
Dog transporter. The back seat folds down easily , end, even with the seat up is perfectly comfortable for even the largest dogs.
WInter beater:
Even the deepest snows have been no trouble t it. I do use a seconds set of rims with winter tires
Long distance transport
It has the handling of a good fast sedan, with very low interior noise and extremely comfortable seats for journeys that stretch to 4000km at a time. Steering is crisp and responsive and braking is excellent. Fuel economy is not great, about 19 MPG unloaded, and 11.5 MPG with a loaded trailer.
CONCLUSION
The Cayenne S is a tough, comfortable, versatile and utterly reliable SUV, with both S and U actually being a very appropriate description for it.I intend to keep it until it is finally worn out, and I suspect that will not be in the near future.
Edited by RDMcG on Tuesday 20th November 16:42
sportsandclassic said:
Has no one showed you how to load a rear engined car onto a trailer before..?
Mike
Brought the whole rig to a commercial weigh scale and positioned it for optimum rear axle weight on the Cayenne. We have markers on the trailer for the different cars on the trailer as we also use it for a track-only 944 and my wife's SL. They all load differently.Mike
Stu R said:
Always nice to see your road trip threads with the Cayenne getting used properly.
Was planning on using the Raptor for a snow-seeking road trip up to MI and Toronto in March, now I'm hoping we'll have the ML replaced with a Cayenne by then
I wanted a Raptor myself,,,great vehicle, but OH also uses the vehicles at the winter house, so ended up with this:Was planning on using the Raptor for a snow-seeking road trip up to MI and Toronto in March, now I'm hoping we'll have the ML replaced with a Cayenne by then
RDMcG said:
Stu R said:
Always nice to see your road trip threads with the Cayenne getting used properly.
Was planning on using the Raptor for a snow-seeking road trip up to MI and Toronto in March, now I'm hoping we'll have the ML replaced with a Cayenne by then
I wanted a Raptor myself,,,great vehicle, but OH also uses the vehicles at the winter house, so ended up with this:Was planning on using the Raptor for a snow-seeking road trip up to MI and Toronto in March, now I'm hoping we'll have the ML replaced with a Cayenne by then
Stu R said:
My OH loves the jeep, really wanted an orange MOAB but couldn't get comfortable driving it so the Raptor was a bit of a compromise. By which I mean I ordered one without telling her and had to sell it to her on the grounds that it was super comfortable and was needed as a work truck. Thankfully she's very easy going, but I still reckon come this time next year the Cayenne will have become hers
Ain't imagination a great thing
?
majordad said:
What is the Euro MPG then, for comparrison my Cayenne 16.7 MPG towing the Brian James Rase Shuttle and 18 MPG otherwise.
Not sure, but my mileage was measured at the highest tow weight...trailer unloaded is about 1000 lbs plus 4100 lbs for the SL, plus two large dogs and two adult males, and luggage.Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff