12 yrs from New to Beater...Porsche Cayenne S
Discussion
It was not always a beater of course, but from new it has been a working vehicle. Now it has covered 255,000Km.
The basic spec was..basic. No extended leather, sunroof, air suspension, big wheels, PCM. Just a big V8 and a towbar. It has never been garaged, parks on a dense urban street,and there is hardly a panel without a scratch. It has one great capability - a towing capacity rated at 7700 lbs.
Not luxurious but very functional and had the one essential extra: Heated seats and steering wheel.
Pressed into towing duty immediately, and it has done 50,000Km under tow, including towing up 10% gradients with a trailer loaded weight of 5500 lbs.
A secondary but constant duty has been dog transport, and the present dog can doubtless smell the ghosts of this who have gone before. An addition of a single letter to the word Cayenne resulted in the plate;
It must be admitted that they could fit in the Smart or the Jeep in an emergency…
Between the fearsome Canadian winter and the desert harshness of Arizona, the paintwork has been sandblasted and spent months under a coating of road salt.
Bodywork is definitely in need of work..dents and scratches everywhere.However, mechanically it is superb.
Servicing has always been done at the Porsche dealer, and oil changes have been much more frequent than the scheduled service given the loads it has towed. The only serious issues have been:
Camshaft lifters at about 200,000Km- this was a head-off job. The tech noted that there was zero engine sludge and asked me if I had only used premium fuel ( which I had)
Oil leak: This was a major pain and not cheap but was the only other major repair apart from consumables.
I have gone through at least a dozen sets of tires. Admittedly there has been a lot of fast driving when not towing and lots of trips on dirt roads. As a pure off-roader this is not a Jeep Wrangler. It is actually quite good, especially in low gear, but obviously would need off road tires . I did try it on some rough tracks and ended up ripping off a rocker panel.
I will continue to use the Cayenne in the same manner until there is a catastrophic failure. Right now it is very quick, ( happy at 125MPH), responsive, rattle-free,reliable and not a Concours candidate, but it does say a lot about the quality of Porsche engineering..
The basic spec was..basic. No extended leather, sunroof, air suspension, big wheels, PCM. Just a big V8 and a towbar. It has never been garaged, parks on a dense urban street,and there is hardly a panel without a scratch. It has one great capability - a towing capacity rated at 7700 lbs.
Not luxurious but very functional and had the one essential extra: Heated seats and steering wheel.
Pressed into towing duty immediately, and it has done 50,000Km under tow, including towing up 10% gradients with a trailer loaded weight of 5500 lbs.
A secondary but constant duty has been dog transport, and the present dog can doubtless smell the ghosts of this who have gone before. An addition of a single letter to the word Cayenne resulted in the plate;
It must be admitted that they could fit in the Smart or the Jeep in an emergency…
Between the fearsome Canadian winter and the desert harshness of Arizona, the paintwork has been sandblasted and spent months under a coating of road salt.
Bodywork is definitely in need of work..dents and scratches everywhere.However, mechanically it is superb.
Servicing has always been done at the Porsche dealer, and oil changes have been much more frequent than the scheduled service given the loads it has towed. The only serious issues have been:
Camshaft lifters at about 200,000Km- this was a head-off job. The tech noted that there was zero engine sludge and asked me if I had only used premium fuel ( which I had)
Oil leak: This was a major pain and not cheap but was the only other major repair apart from consumables.
I have gone through at least a dozen sets of tires. Admittedly there has been a lot of fast driving when not towing and lots of trips on dirt roads. As a pure off-roader this is not a Jeep Wrangler. It is actually quite good, especially in low gear, but obviously would need off road tires . I did try it on some rough tracks and ended up ripping off a rocker panel.
I will continue to use the Cayenne in the same manner until there is a catastrophic failure. Right now it is very quick, ( happy at 125MPH), responsive, rattle-free,reliable and not a Concours candidate, but it does say a lot about the quality of Porsche engineering..
Edited by RDMcG on Tuesday 23 July 22:58
RDMcG said:
bolidemichael said:
Out of interest, what's the significance of the premium fuel in relation to the lack of sludge?
Not sure myself- it was an odd question. I have probably done three times as many oil changes as required, which I would think would be more relevant.bolidemichael said:
The oil change, I can see that. I perform an interim on my M113 V8 as Merc advise doubling the frequency, if around half the mileage on each journey is around five miles, which is the case with my school run/commute. It's just that I fill up with super unleaded to be kind to my one true love, but cannot be convinced that it's anything other than a placebo! My Merc-specialist mate doesn't bother... "they're designed to run on 95, so why put anything different?", he says, knowingly.
The Cayenne is deigned for premium so I just got with the recommendation. One of the odd things this side of the pond is the prevalence of ethanol in fuel. Where possible I use ethanol-free, but not possible when in the US. It is no big deal on the Cayenne, but with some of the other cars it causes havoc.RDMcG said:
bolidemichael said:
The oil change, I can see that. I perform an interim on my M113 V8 as Merc advise doubling the frequency, if around half the mileage on each journey is around five miles, which is the case with my school run/commute. It's just that I fill up with super unleaded to be kind to my one true love, but cannot be convinced that it's anything other than a placebo! My Merc-specialist mate doesn't bother... "they're designed to run on 95, so why put anything different?", he says, knowingly.
The Cayenne is deigned for premium so I just got with the recommendation. One of the odd things this side of the pond is the prevalence of ethanol in fuel. Where possible I use ethanol-free, but not possible when in the US. It is no big deal on the Cayenne, but with some of the other cars it causes havoc.Paracetamol said:
I recall there being a stupid plastic coolant pipe on the rear of the engine block that breaks. Did you check or change it?
This was a famous failure point but as I recall it was only on the first generation cars. The second gen did not commonly have the problem. One strange and preventable problem with age is that the doorhandles can get slightly stiff. The tech noticed and suggested a preventive lubrication. They can seize and if this happens,to get to the front door locks requires that the rear doors are removed.
RDMcG said:
The Cayenne is deigned for premium so I just got with the recommendation. One of the odd things this side of the pond is the prevalence of ethanol in fuel. Where possible I use ethanol-free, but not possible when in the US. It is no big deal on the Cayenne, but with some of the other cars it causes havoc.
Ethanol is in just about every petrol pump in the EU, but they don't advertise it very well - currently around 5%, with E10 coming... Most modern engines have been designed with it in mind, and your Porsche collection will certainly run well with it. Anything older than 2000 might struggle though.
Mr Tidy said:
Brilliant thread. 
I love how car owners outside of the UK aren't at all bothered about high mileages - over here everyone seems to think cars disintegrate at 100,000 miles.
Huge country with huge distances to travel, a history of making very low tuned lazy V8s that go on for ever and large parts with great weather and no road salt so rot happens less and much higher residuals so old beaters still sell for good moneyI love how car owners outside of the UK aren't at all bothered about high mileages - over here everyone seems to think cars disintegrate at 100,000 miles.
I grew up in Ireland and as a youngster was always fascinated by what I saw in films where the roads in North America seemed endless and empty. Apart from urban environments it is still true. Even now, after decades, I love the feeling of setting out on a road trip knowing that I will be in a different climate by night - leaving before dawn with 1500km to cover - the old Cayenne is very good for this.
RDMcG said:
Living so close to the US border with Canada in Metric and the US in imperial can get confusing
Porsche does not make the mistake but I do!
Lovely write up - those Arizona pictures make me want to do a road trip (I’m currently in Austin). Porsche does not make the mistake but I do! Slightly off topic but I was reading this recently and your comment reminded me of it -
Great miscalculations: The French railway error and 10 others
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27509559
Petrus1983 said:
Lovely write up - those Arizona pictures make me want to do a road trip (I’m currently in Austin).
Slightly off topic but I was reading this recently and your comment reminded me of it -
Great miscalculations: The French railway error and 10 others
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27509559
I had four staff on the 767 in the article. It’s was a great job by the crew to land it. Slightly off topic but I was reading this recently and your comment reminded me of it -
Great miscalculations: The French railway error and 10 others
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27509559
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