2003 Cayenne S - £4k bargain or Bork bus of pain?
Discussion
Saw this for sale, as as I need a Dog Wagon quite urgently and it looked in decent order I went for it...
109,000 miles, some service history up to about 30k miles ago (Porsche Main dealer) but everything works so far and apart from the wheels, doesn't look tattty at all.
I know the two main issues with this model are the Plastic coolant pipes in the V and potential Bore-scoring.
Sadly, it looks like the pipes have not been done, so I'll get that done in a month or so (if there's any recommendations as to who to use in SE London/Kent, please let me know)
Bore-scoring, well I'll just have to live with that one....
It's going in to my local for a check over on the ramps tomorrow, but in the meantime I've ordered rear discs and pads as those look corroded on the outer edge and some HT paint to touch up the front caliper bells in Silver as they look rusty.
|https://thumbsnap.com/K53cmxGD[/url]
The wheels need a refurb, but the tyres are "Landsails" which, I'm not going to keep for long! I'll get a second hand set of 18" alloys and some winters so the 20" ones can go off for a tidy up in late September.
Cd changer isn't recognised, but has power, so a few things to check there, but may just replace it with a Bluetooth Module.
Will do a small headlight polish and protect.
I think I'm going to remove the PORSCHE script down the side as I think it looks a bit naff....everyone agree?
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So far very happy, it's on the steel springs which don't really like the motorway ridges much, but aren't terrible, one less thing to go wrong in my mind. Overall a lovely place to sit, can go a bit and is really pretty quiet at 90mph.
Will keep updating as I know this might be some people's idea of madness....I hated these when they came out, but compared to what came after to my mind it's almost svelte from some angles....
109,000 miles, some service history up to about 30k miles ago (Porsche Main dealer) but everything works so far and apart from the wheels, doesn't look tattty at all.
I know the two main issues with this model are the Plastic coolant pipes in the V and potential Bore-scoring.
Sadly, it looks like the pipes have not been done, so I'll get that done in a month or so (if there's any recommendations as to who to use in SE London/Kent, please let me know)
Bore-scoring, well I'll just have to live with that one....
It's going in to my local for a check over on the ramps tomorrow, but in the meantime I've ordered rear discs and pads as those look corroded on the outer edge and some HT paint to touch up the front caliper bells in Silver as they look rusty.
|https://thumbsnap.com/K53cmxGD[/url]The wheels need a refurb, but the tyres are "Landsails" which, I'm not going to keep for long! I'll get a second hand set of 18" alloys and some winters so the 20" ones can go off for a tidy up in late September.
Cd changer isn't recognised, but has power, so a few things to check there, but may just replace it with a Bluetooth Module.
Will do a small headlight polish and protect.
I think I'm going to remove the PORSCHE script down the side as I think it looks a bit naff....everyone agree?
[url]So far very happy, it's on the steel springs which don't really like the motorway ridges much, but aren't terrible, one less thing to go wrong in my mind. Overall a lovely place to sit, can go a bit and is really pretty quiet at 90mph.
Will keep updating as I know this might be some people's idea of madness....I hated these when they came out, but compared to what came after to my mind it's almost svelte from some angles....
Impressive dog wagon BenjiA
If it helps encourage you that it might not consume garage bills quicker than unleaded, my best mate, a naturally thrifty farmer, bought a similar 2003 Cayenne for £4,400. He ran it for a year and 5,000 miles before selling it for £4,300 to get back into a hot hatch. In the year he had it, he changed the oil, refurbished the wheels and polished the headlamp covers.........and that was it. Which he was very pleased about. Meanwhile, my similar age 4.4 litre V8 Range Rover cost me a fair few thousand in repairs and maintenance over the same year. Which made my mate even happier!
But if his experience was anything to go by, there is good reason for optimism with the original petrol Cayennes. Very best of luck with it.
Finally, what does the dog think of it?
If it helps encourage you that it might not consume garage bills quicker than unleaded, my best mate, a naturally thrifty farmer, bought a similar 2003 Cayenne for £4,400. He ran it for a year and 5,000 miles before selling it for £4,300 to get back into a hot hatch. In the year he had it, he changed the oil, refurbished the wheels and polished the headlamp covers.........and that was it. Which he was very pleased about. Meanwhile, my similar age 4.4 litre V8 Range Rover cost me a fair few thousand in repairs and maintenance over the same year. Which made my mate even happier!
But if his experience was anything to go by, there is good reason for optimism with the original petrol Cayennes. Very best of luck with it.
Finally, what does the dog think of it?
BenjiA said:
So far very happy, it's on the steel springs which don't really like the motorway ridges much, but aren't terrible, one less thing to go wrong in my mind.
I'd suspect the cheap tyres have more to do with the ride than the steel springs. My mate had one of these and swapped out the 20 inch wheels when his wife obliterated one. Drove so much better on 18. Interesting fact my mate told me the genuine 20 inch wheels have different offsets front and rear so you can't swap them around.ATM said:
I'd suspect the cheap tyres have more to do with the ride than the steel springs. My mate had one of these and swapped out the 20 inch wheels when his wife obliterated one. Drove so much better on 18. Interesting fact my mate told me the genuine 20 inch wheels have different offsets front and rear so you can't swap them around.
Interestingly the 20" wheels seem to be quite rare, I found one set for £850 on ebay whereas I can get the 18's for £150. Might be a good way to cover my costs if the 18"s do indeed ride significantly better once I have changed the tyres.BenjiA said:
ATM said:
I'd suspect the cheap tyres have more to do with the ride than the steel springs. My mate had one of these and swapped out the 20 inch wheels when his wife obliterated one. Drove so much better on 18. Interesting fact my mate told me the genuine 20 inch wheels have different offsets front and rear so you can't swap them around.
Interestingly the 20" wheels seem to be quite rare, I found one set for £850 on ebay whereas I can get the 18's for £150. Might be a good way to cover my costs if the 18"s do indeed ride significantly better once I have changed the tyres.Looks nice.
I've been running a Turbo of a similar vintage, but on 164k miles, for almost a year now.
If you have time on your hands, the coolant pipes are not a difficult DIY.
One thing that you 100% must do immediately though is lift your driver's & passenger side front carpets and make sure they are not wet ( a lot of wiring lives there). Even if all is dry, please make sure all your drains are unclogged (have a Google of "cayenne blocked drains").
I've had to do some DIY maintenance on mine and was surprised that some cayenne specific parts (such as plastic breather hoses) were cheaper to buy from the dealer than aftermarket suppliers.
Nice cars, but eye watering fuel consumption.
I've been running a Turbo of a similar vintage, but on 164k miles, for almost a year now.
If you have time on your hands, the coolant pipes are not a difficult DIY.
One thing that you 100% must do immediately though is lift your driver's & passenger side front carpets and make sure they are not wet ( a lot of wiring lives there). Even if all is dry, please make sure all your drains are unclogged (have a Google of "cayenne blocked drains").
I've had to do some DIY maintenance on mine and was surprised that some cayenne specific parts (such as plastic breather hoses) were cheaper to buy from the dealer than aftermarket suppliers.
Nice cars, but eye watering fuel consumption.
Loving the thread. Great choice. :-) I looked at these before I went down the Ml55 AMG route.
Lots of scare stories on all these types of cars but lots of information / advice / guides to fit these issues. coolant pipe isnt that difficult, just take your time, take pics and you will be okay.
My Ml55 always needs something to be broken. When I fix everything then something will stop working. If I leave this issue then nothing else seems to break. So, fix everything but one issue and you will be okay :-)
Lots of scare stories on all these types of cars but lots of information / advice / guides to fit these issues. coolant pipe isnt that difficult, just take your time, take pics and you will be okay.
My Ml55 always needs something to be broken. When I fix everything then something will stop working. If I leave this issue then nothing else seems to break. So, fix everything but one issue and you will be okay :-)
Have owned a 957 now for going on 3 years. I’ve maintained it myself and it’s largely been trouble free, unlike friends with X5’s and RangeRovers. Perhaps £800 in repairs and maintenance over 3 years and about 15k miles. Friend of mine has had similar positive experience with his 955 turbo albeit over 7 or 8 years now.
Yours must be one of the only ones around with plastic coolant pipes still fitted. They rarely last this long so be 100% sure they’re plastic before pulling the inlet off.
Drain plug clearing as above is good advice.
Yours must be one of the only ones around with plastic coolant pipes still fitted. They rarely last this long so be 100% sure they’re plastic before pulling the inlet off.
Drain plug clearing as above is good advice.
Coog said:
Have owned a 957 now for going on 3 years. I’ve maintained it myself and it’s largely been trouble free, unlike friends with X5’s and RangeRovers. Perhaps £800 in repairs and maintenance over 3 years and about 15k miles. Friend of mine has had similar positive experience with his 955 turbo albeit over 7 or 8 years now.
Yours must be one of the only ones around with plastic coolant pipes still fitted. They rarely last this long so be 100% sure they’re plastic before pulling the inlet off.
Drain plug clearing as above is good advice.
I waved my mobile down the back of the engine - there's a thread on renntech that shows what it should look like if it's done, and it just looks like a load of plastic.Yours must be one of the only ones around with plastic coolant pipes still fitted. They rarely last this long so be 100% sure they’re plastic before pulling the inlet off.
Drain plug clearing as above is good advice.
Given the week's biblical rains, the carpets are mercifully quite dry, perhaps a bit damp on the passenger side, I'll record the process of clearing the drains on here during the week for anyone following in my footsteps.
Dropping off to go on the ramp first thing tomorrow, so whilst the big worry of these things is the big Jobs, the small ones can add up....
BTW, Insurance was remarkably cheap, for SE7 London anyway, £320 a year with 10 years NC at 46 years old, £300 less than a 2007 ML63 FWIW.....
(expensive postcode even for London)
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