2003 Cayenne S - £4k bargain or Bork bus of pain?

[Kinky]

BigBen said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'll be following this with interest

ditto

+2

[B'stard Child]

Kinky said:

BigBen said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'll be following this with interest

ditto

+2

Another following from the barge thread

Brave - very very brave

[neutral 3]

I am running a set of 18in Cooper Discoverer tyres on my
XC-90.
Very pleased with them wet or dry.

[sbk1972]

BenjiA said:

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.

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)

2007 ML63 ?? Was that your last car ? I keep looking at Ml63s but cant seem to let go of my ML55. I do like the 63' but I would need one from 2011 onwards / facelift.

[carinaman]

Interesting thread. Looking forward to is it, or isn't update on plastic coolant pipe.

[BenjiA]

sbk1972 said:

2007 ML63 ?? Was that your last car ? I keep looking at Ml63s but cant seem to let go of my ML55. I do like the 63' but I would need one from 2011 onwards / facelift.

I was trying to buy one for months, but the seller was shielding and then disappeared, I do hope he's ok...

Well good news from the local spanner twirlers, only needs discs and pads allround, which is a bit of a result...obviously I could leave them for a bit, but a visit to the autobahn beckons end of next week, so I'll cough up.

In other news, after the downpour this morning, the passenger side carpet is really pretty damp, so I'll do the drain there this evening. Thanks for the head's up on that one!



I got a quote for the parts needed for the plastic pipe replacement, and the starter motor and water pump, as they are under there too....£635 seems ok, plus labour obviously. Whilst I'm tempted to try the DIY route, I haven't got a drive, & the posibility of it being marooned on the neighbour's for a week after I bodge it is too great a risk.

Although why this says "starter motor (8 per car)" I have no idea. Seems over engineered if you ask me...

[Cambs_Stuart]

I thought these looked like a really good prospect. Even if the engine completely died then I think you'd get most of the money back as a non-runner.
I'm assuming there is a decent aftermarket supply of parts to help cut down the pork tax?

[andburg]

I might be crazy here but i reckon that total and the itemised list doesnt add up!

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

andburg said:

I might be crazy here but i reckon that total and the itemised list doesnt add up!

I haven't checked properly, but looks about 20% out.....

[C70R]

Cambs_Stuart said:

I thought these looked like a really good prospect. Even if the engine completely died then I think you'd get most of the money back as a non-runner.

I'm not sure that's true. Looking through Ebay suggests that non-runners can be had for as little as £1.5-2k.

[andburg]

maybe...also worth noting that the common larger items like starter motor and water pump should be available substantially cheaper with ECP / GSF car parts. Might not last another 18 years like the OEM parts but neither will the rest of the car.

[Volvolover]

Following with interest, one of these would look good next to my XC-90

[BigBen]

C70R said:

Cambs_Stuart said:

I thought these looked like a really good prospect. Even if the engine completely died then I think you'd get most of the money back as a non-runner.

I'm not sure that's true. Looking through Ebay suggests that non-runners can be had for as little as £1.5-2k.

A mate sold a running but with the coolant leak turbo for £2000ish. It had been sitting for over a year so should really only have been considered as a spares or repairs job. Oh and the gearbox kickedown in a way that suggested it would grenade itself very soon.

[Cloudy147]

Great car choice! I ran my Cayenne for five and a half years. Bought at £7k, sold for about £3.5k. Absolutely loved it and had the best seats and driving position I've ever experienced.

Ran from 100k to 150k.

Here's my running report if anyone interested (site is closing next month), but here's the link... http://motorcloud.net/category/cayenne-running-rep...

Mine was a 3.2, so chosen to avoid the bore score gamble. but hope you have as many trouble free miles as I did.

[C70R]

Cloudy147 said:

Great car choice! I ran my Cayenne for five and a half years. Bought at £7k, sold for about £3.5k. Absolutely loved it and had the best seats and driving position I've ever experienced.

Ran from 100k to 150k.

Here's my running report if anyone interested (site is closing next month), but here's the link... http://motorcloud.net/category/cayenne-running-rep...

Mine was a 3.2, so chosen to avoid the bore score gamble. but hope you have as many trouble free miles as I did.

I'm going to read this with interest, as I'm in the market for a 3.2 to tow my track car at the moment. Thank you.

[BenjiA]

Thanks Cloudy, good blog, re-assuring.

I cleaned the front drains yesterday just in case they were blocked, both of the black rubber drain bits were missing and it seemed pretty clean, so I'm happy leaving them off for the moment.

However, there is an open portion of the front sill in front of the door, behing the back part of the wing, which was absolutely stuffed full of mud and sand...



That's after I had got most of it out...on a less well built car I'd have thought this would be a recipe for terminal rust, but looks ok.
After dragging most of it out with my fingers, I washed the rest of it out with a watering can.



Here's the amount of crud I got out......

[DanG355]

Is this starting to get expensive? If there is £400 in labour that’s over £1k for the parts and fitting on that list. Then it needs disks and pads all round - if you can fit yourself probably about £300? At a garage probably £500 total.
If it stays reliable then the overall cost isn’t too bad, it one large-ish bill and I’m not so sure! At least it’s on coils and not air suspension.
Still admire your bravery as it’s a big lump with a V8 in it and I’m sure plenty of us have looked at these but not been brave enough to take the gamble. Good luck and I will be following with interest.

[Grantstown]

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread so far. Thanks!

I’m a Porsche guy with a 911 and Taycan, but I also run a 10 year old X1. I’ve used this one to start learning how to swirl the spanners. So far I’ve done all the service items, brake fluid change, belt change, new battery and new discs/pads all round. It’s been fun, but I’d love a V8 and the budget Cayenne option is tempting me!

[TheJimi]

There's not a bargepole long enough for me, but fair play, OP - it does seem like a lot of car for the money.

[Exboxster1]

Thanks for reminding me to check the drains!

Passenger floor damp after recent constant deluge. All full cleared front and back by Charles I've for (what I thought was) a very reasonable £110 all in.

Great cars. Had my 2006 for over 18 months now and no issues