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What to look for when buying 2nd Hand


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I am looking at buying a 2009 (or 2008 perhaps) Cayenne S/GTS or possibly a Turbo: I am wondering if forum members can advise what to look out for? I am told the drive shaft can get noisy and local agents will only replace the complete part rather than just the bushings, for example? Problems with Air suspension? Gearbox? What to look for/inspect when checking a prospective car? Are the Turbo's troublesome and to be avoided?  I am not that interested in 'huge' performance, so Turbo is not important to me, unless its the car of choice. Any advise from the collective forum knowledge greatly appreciated.

 

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You picked a good model, as only bad I heard about Cayenne was 04-06 and anything after that is reasonably clean and without too much issue. I was about to buy a cayenne in past and change to X5 due to wifey pref, and I remember 09 is very good option considering just before 10 when facelift happen and they become more expensive. For beautification wise 10 upwards is damn pretty from inside not much looks changed from exterior though.

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From my experience of past ownership of Cayenne Turbo for two years, please look into below items:

  1. Turbo is too fun to drive than V8 or GTS. Turbo shouldn't have too long lag before hitting hard the throttle, anything more than 1 sec lag is bad.
  2. For air suspension: Start the car with windows down and AC off, you should be hearing an air compressor prime from front passenger side (outside) that should stop within 10-20 secs max. If that lasts longer over 30 secs means weak compressor.
  3. Wait in parking with car started and if air compressor kicks in again then suspension is loosing air and need some air bag replacement shortly.
  4. Lift the car with air suspension setting up and down and then see how fast compressors work and stop. Under 1-2 minutes is good.
  5. Once you buy Cayenne, don't play with height control too often and just set at low setting perfect for highways and cargo usage. Playing with height too much cause additional wear on whole suspension system and you will require some parts change more often.
  6. Never drive any Porsche less than quarter tank, as they have super sensitive fuel system that get check engine light with slightest of sedimentation.
  7. All Cayenne models prior to 2012 had a weird coolant tubes made out of plastic that runs near the engine and breaks due to heat. It's a GCC car recall that has been fixed by dealer at no cost. Porsche designed these plastic tubes to run close to engine to retain engine heat for long in colder countries. Check if that has been done with dealer in past or not. If not then you might be paying for that big job that require half engine compartment opening (due to weird design) and replacing those plastic to metal tubes (cost 4500 AED for parts only).
  8. Open the boot and see if lift gate opens nicely or gets sluggish and open half way and require push to move up. This will need 4 shocks replacement (2 x glass shock + 2 x lift gate shocks) cost around 2000 AED.
  9. Cayenne is notoriously smooth in acceleration so set in dash alarm at 118 km/h to ping and alert you. Trust me you will save on HUGE speed fines this way.
  10. Cayenne turbo fuel mileage: Gradma driving 14 L/100, Normal drive 16 L/100, kicking turbo occasionally full gas 19-20 L/100, Hitting hard on every start 22-25 L/100. I have tried all styles and have records in fuelly app.

Good luck with any Cayenne you pick, it will bring big smile on your face every morning you drive. I moved from Range to Porsche so didn't like Porsche in comfort as much as Range, but apart from that it's highly reliable, dependable and great performing SUV with not to mention with expensive service at Al nabooda for minor 2500 AED and Major close to 8-10k AED.

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Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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I had a V6 Cayenne, not to mention poor roof upholstery that start sagging from back and slowly sags too much like a parachute inside the cabin that you can't see the rear view. Nabooda fix only less than 3 years old car within warranty. German glue gives up in Dubai heat after few years and foam dies inside the alcantra fabric and starting falling apart, that's the explanation I got from guy who fixed mine for 2500 AED in al quoz area. Replacement cost is 11k.

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10k for major service, you can get another car for that price. Damn Porsche's are made of gold....?

Cars My passion :mrgreen:  :ugeek:

If you like my above post, please press Like / Thanks on right side to help me increase my rating

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for all the comments - To give you an update I bought a 2009/2010 model GTS with lowish mileage for a reasonable price with an Al Naboodah FSH. I had a full check on it with the only thing discovered being a small crack in one of the belts. Since I bought it, the back of the driver seat fell off - I took it to Harry at Car Seat in Al Quoz and he knew what the problem was even before I told him - apparently very common. Otherwise all good apart from a little bit of hesitation at low to mid revs - however, if you are heavy on you right foot then this seems to go....

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  • 4 months later...

Just a quick update: I have discovered oil in the cooling system so took it to the garage. They cant determine the problem other than an oil cooler fault, or Head Gasket/engine block problem which requires a process of elimination to be able to determine the problem.  Consequently I had the cooler changed as the less expensive 'problem', but it has returned after a few days/500Kms or so - suggesting problem might be with head gasket (although no overheating). Hopefully not as it costs about AED 20K to fix. Its currently at the Garage who think the oil is old  - That's a good sign as it might just mean that it wasn't properly flushed through after the oil cooler was installed. Whilst discussing this with various Porsche specialists is seems that this is a regular problem, and something to look out for when buying a 2nd hand Cayenne; I am told it has been known for a seller to replace the Oil Cooler and then sell the car just afterward as usually the problem does not make itself known for a few days/weeks. If there is oil in the cooling system, after a while you can observe the coolant looking like a 'chocolate milkshake'. I would suggest when buying if this problem has occurred and asking the seller directly if the Oil Cooler has been changed - and if you are having the vehicle inspected to ask them to check if there is evidence of a replaced Oil Cooler. 

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eew mate, Oil in cooling system is never good, get it sorted at the earliest or else whole engine might go for a toss. Cayenne service and parts are so expensive that I don't even want to think of used engine cost, It'll be horrendous as Range Rover and X6 engine horror stories.

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