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There’s no doubt that sport utilities have caused their share of controversy, mainly among those who value fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness above all else in a vehicle. The Porsche Cayenne was doubly-controversial when it was introduced in 2003: not only did the greenies dislike it simply because it was an SUV, but many Porschephiles were turned off by the fact that their favourite sports car builder had “sold out” to the masses by adding a truck to their lineup.
There’s no denying that the Cayenne wasn’t exactly thrifty in terms of fuel consumption, but here’s a vehicle that finally put some sport in the sport utility vehicle.
Developed alongside the Volkswagen Touareg, the first Cayennes were powered by V8s: a 4.5-litre motor making 340 horsepower in the Cayenne S, and a turbocharged version of the same powerplant that was good for 450 horses. The 2004 model year brought with it a V6-powered Cayenne, propelled by a 250-horsepower, 3.2-litre engine. The Cayenne haters could now whine about this base model being underpowered and that it brought down the tone of the rest of the Porsche lineup.
 2004 Porsche Cayenne S; photo by Grant Yoxon. Click image to enlarge |
There was no 2007 Cayenne, but the 2008 sported updated styling and got some new engines. A 3.6-litre V6 replaced the 3.2-litre and addressed the underpowered-ness of the old V6 model, and the older 4.5-litre V8 was replaced with a 4.8-litre. A GTS model used a higher-output version of the new V8.
In 2006 and older Cayennes, six-cylinder models came with a six-speed manual transmission that could be optioned to an automatic, while all V8 trims got the automatic standard. From 2008, V6 and GTS models came with the manual (optionable to the auto, naturally), while the other trims were, again, auto-only.
The base and GTS models got a six-speed manual as their base transmission, and a six-speed auto was the option; the auto was the only choice in S and Turbo models.
 2004 Porsche Cayenne S; photo by Grant Yoxon. Click image to enlarge |
The new engines are easier on gas. The 3.6-litre V6 is rated 13.0/10.6 L/100 km (city/highway), and the 4.8-litre V8’s ratings are 16.8/11.2 L/100 km in the Cayenne S. Ratings for the 3.2- and 4.5-litre engines were 16.1/10.8 and 17.1/11.7, respectively, for the 2006 V6 and S models. Both new and old Turbo models are rated at about 18.0/11.7 L/100 km.
According to Consumer Reports, the Cayenne’s reliability has been below average.
When test driving a used Cayenne, be on the lookout for a vibration at speed that feels like driving on flat-spotted tires. The cause could be a bad “cardan” shaft (drive shaft in normal-speak). See this thread at RennTech.org for some more information.
 2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS; photo by Chris Chase. Click image to enlarge |
According to posts in the Cayenne forum at Rennlist.com (forums.rennlist.com), ignition coils appear to be a frequent trouble spot (a potentially expensive fix, as there are as many as eight of them – one for each cylinder), as are transmission/powertrain control modules. Also, a couple of owners mention having to have the air compressor that keeps the air suspension aloft replaced, but it’s hard to say how common this issue actually is. A few minor problems include a rear hatch that won’t stay open on its own due to weak hydraulic struts, wipers that chatter and rapid tire wear.
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at 9:29 am
How can you make an suv so expensive and have worse reliability than a hyundai ? My BMW 540 isn’t far behind ….. embarrassing .!
at 10:02 am
Hey Craig,
maybe you should just stick with the hyundai and give me your bmw 540. its about the way it drives my friend, not about reliability…
Hyundais have no soul and are mass produced.
at 11:24 am
The Cayenne is still ugly. Never liked it. Drives nice but not a looker. Rover SC or X5 4.8i is a better used bet. Even a used ML55 is up to 70% off MSRP used. The only saving grace is that if you’ve ever wanted a 911 or Boxster but can’t afford 2 cars, saying you own a Porsche that’s good for Costco runs and a golf day with the lads has appeal. Porsche has more cash available than the D3 put together for a reason. They know their market and have a pulse on their owners. Now with VW’s reach and parts bin, look out. We’ll see a smaller Porsche sedan based on a VW chassis to challenge the 3-Series, C-Class, A4 & Asians etc within 6 years. Can you imagine if the Passat CC had a Porsche badge and the upcoming RS4 euro spec engine, AWD and a $60k price tag..? They’d be everywhere. Have a look for it shortly.
at 11:48 am
Thats exactly why people should buy BMWs instead…there are only 2 kinds of german cars…bmw and mercedes benz..the rest are crap.
at 12:00 pm
Ok where’s the guy from the review of the hybrid version of this that said he’d buy a used one after 5 years. There’s like what – a page of text listing all the various issues with this thing? Where’s all the “german engineering” band wagoners now?
@Craig & Don – Get out of the 90s – Hyundai has been building more reliable vehicles for years – in fact their 8th Germans are 19-21st (Porsche, BMW, Suzuki, Audi) – Mercedes is even further back in 27th. You’re actually better off buying a Buick than any of the german stuff. I won’t argue that BMW builds a better handling/driving excitement type of vehicle but you pay twice – higher $$$ (for the supposedly superior engineering) and again for all the extra maintenance you’re going to have to do. At least Hyundai stands behind their product – BMW, Merc and Audi will impress me when they offer 5 year 100,000km warranties – now THAT’S offering a premium product.
at 12:19 pm
Spec5…why don’t you stick with your hyundai pony and the leave the german cars to the people who really appreciate the engineering…hyundai sucks..face it…kia owns them.
the reason of the 5 year warranty is because thats the only way people will buy their cars…
at 1:34 pm
They’re in the bottom 1/3 in terms of reliability. Hyundai is in the top 10. You tell me which is better engineered.
at 1:46 pm
Spec5 please don’t read the next section you are right Hyhundai’s are great…OK.
SPEC5 is poor and can’t afford this car…he is the type of person that actually thinks that people who buy a Porche would actually keep it beyond the warranty period. He is one of those guy’s who think Lambo’s are unreliable and can’t understand why Tom Cruise isn’t driving a KIA…”KIA it’s at the top of the reliability list”…lol.
at 3:33 pm
Someone in the other Cayenne review wrote that they would pick one up after 5 years. Thats why I made that comment.
I don’t think I’d go so far to say as people who cannot afford this SUV are “poor”. But I’d be willing to bet even those that can would expect that a vehicle costing as much as this thing would be more reliable than it is. I could be wrong though – maybe rich people don’t mind paying $100k for something that breaks all the time.(comparatively speaking)
at 4:12 pm
Spec – rich people only care about what the other rich people will think of them…
Still, if 100K is same as 10K for the rest of us, why would they give a crap about reliability? I don’t blame anyone for wanting what they want and getting what they can pay for. I don’t think it’s stupid if they are rich, they have other cars in their “stable” or better still use the excuse of the Porche being in the shop to rent a Lambo for the week. Sure for someone that needs to count their pennies Porches don’t make sense, but then again they were never intended for someone that needs to count their pennies.
at 4:15 pm
BTW – Yes. I am aware I misspelled Porsche in the previous post ever chance I had. I was sitting on my porch, admiring my neighbours Porsche, while talking on the phone to my friend Portia… Sigh.
at 6:29 pm
Hey is it just me or is Porsche ripping off the VW tourage design with this Cayenne….
I don’t understand how much they can get away with such plagarism..when poor Geely Motors in China gets sued like crazy because they copied a couple of curves from some european cars…
But no….no one ever dares mentions that accuses porsche of plagarism though
at 12:52 am
I find it halrious to see people defend the reliability issues plaguing most German cars. Are you guys on BMW/Merc/Porsche’s payroll or something? As a mechanical engineer I find it ridiculous to believe that a $100,000 machine (with a soul LOL) can’t be as reliable as a $20,000 machine. Anyway, regardless of your mindless squabble, the true cars guys and intellects know there are no excuses for poor reliability especially from a company like Porsche. Yes, I am a car guy and love Porsches, but I also think poor reliability is an issue. For those of you morons who think otherwise please study some REAL motorsports and you’ll quickly realize reliability equals success.
at 11:08 am
Spec5 I asked you not to read that section, but you did anyway. I knew you wouldn’t understand!
You read car reviews and assume that the relaibility is so bad that these vehicles are undrivable. That is not the case, you would know that if you could afford to buy one. The person driving a truck like this is really looking for performance (not the “experience” associated with driving a Hyhundai). The Dealers that sell these cars service both the vehilcles and the buyers in a way that makes the reliability isses insignificant. Again something you would not get from your local KIA dealer (since most of them have set up shop in old Coffee Time shops…lol).
Jaguar’s and Lambo’s have bad reliability records, but you don’t see those buyers going to buy a RIO….lol. WAKE UP!
at 3:00 pm
Jimmied – tell that to the lady in my office that has had her X5 trailered to Toronto 3 times and the engine rebuilt once. People who buy them believe it or not still care. I have more personal examples but I would say its safe at this point to agree to disagree on this issue.
at 8:15 am
Spec5, that was me in the other thread.
“The reliability problems with older Cayennes fall in 3 main categories:
-faulty ignition coils (this affected a lot of VW/Audi engines around the same years as well… Supplier related?)
-bad window regulators (a supplier issue that affected a lot of German brands around the time)
&
-air suspensions… That problem is just self explanatory
The reliability of more recent Cayennes seems to be a lot better… Well…. We’ll give the air suspensions a few more years… Either way I wouldn’t worry about the Cayenne Hybrid’s hybrid components failing.
Would love this car used in 5 years. Great job, Porsche!”
Notice how the same problem areas I noted in the other thread were noted in this article =P
Every car sold today is going to have some form of problem area. The only thing we can differentiate brands on is ~severity~, ~frequency~, and ~perception~ of issues.
For Porsche, they do great in some reliability studies, see their initial quality in J.D. Power, most reliable plant awards, etc. Even Consumer Reports recognizes the Boxster/911 as reliable, from what data they have. The Cayenne admittedly dragged that down a lot in CR. But what problems do Cayennes have that the boxer cars don’t?
~Severity~
The more I read on the Cayenne, it’s the little things that go wrong. Sure, the bill can add up, but it’s the “little things” in the grand scheme of things.
~Frequency~
The Boxster and 911? Up until MY’09, there was a risk of failure of the intermediate shaft bearing, requiring complete engine replacement (very pricey on these cars). But the failure rate is low enough that it doesn’t show up in most reliability studies.
~Perception~
Basically, what I’m getting at is that no reliability story can ever tell the full picture, so everything has to be taken with a grain of salt, rather than “German cars suck” or “Wow, Hyundai is the best car ever!” Different strokes for different folks, right?
I am the proud owner of an “unreliable, German” 1977 Porsche that has never given me major issues outside of the scheduled maintenance items. My “reliable” 1997 Subaru experienced head gasket failure requiring a week in the shop and a pretty hefty bill. My “reliable” 2005 Subaru experienced connecting rod pin failure, requiring complete long block replacement, though at least that was under warranty. You can’t base what an ownership experience will be like solely off of reliability studies.
at 5:28 pm
What a laugh – people defend Porsche, BMW and Mercedes for lagging in quality and reliability because somehow good handling and performance makes up for shoddy production engineering and quality control.
At least get the facts right, Hyundai owns Kia, not the other way ’round.
at 12:21 pm
@Spec5 and others:
It’s fact that the Porsche Cayenne is less reliable than, say, a Hyundai Santa Fe. But if people keep buying Cayennes, there must be a reason–those reasons are driving dynamics, character, luxury, and image. Depending on an individuals’ values (which vary a lot–that’s why we don’t have everyone driving Corollas), they might be willing to sacrifice a bit of reliability and a large chunk of money for the added cachet of the Porsche name. Or to get the rush of going 0-100 km/h in 6.4 s in a large SUV. Or because the Cayenne’s interior is a far more elegant place to be than the Santa Fe’s. Or because they want to stand out. Ditto for the X5, ML, or any other premium vehicle.
Different markets. You can’t really compare the two cars–buyers are unlikely to cross-shop the two. Sure, for regular guys, expensive repair and maintenance costs are harder to swallow so we value reliability and value for the dollar more, which makes the Santa Fe a more attractive proposition. But clearly, there are a significant number of people who value the things given by these premium vehicles highly enough that they’re willing to give up some reliability and money.
at 4:02 pm
Sorry Robsaw Hyundai owns Kia…lol…like anyone gives a $#@%. Wait I’m thinking of getting trading in my Jag for a RIO5 #$%@en KIA’s are more reliable. I love to speak to the poor, unkept masses…lol
at 9:46 pm
If you buy a used 2002 Porsche Cayenne at about $35,000 + GST/PST @ 8% APR for a typical bank rate used auto loan + $2500 a year for maintenance etc… this car will cost more per month over 4 years than a NEW RAV-4 V6 (Ltd or Sport), Nissan Rogue SL, VW Tiguan 4MO, Ford Escape Ltd, Chev Equinox, Honda CR-V or a Jeep Liberty CRD at 0% APR and full warranty for 4 – 5 years. A new car at a good price point is a better bet than a used prestige car. That’s why pimp brands drop in value so quickly. You may be able to buy one, but not drive and maintain one. $1.50 – $2.00 p/litre by next spring.