Buying advice on the Porsche Cayenne (9PA) 2002-2010 Common Issues Engines Inspection

Hi everyone, we are back with another car review.

Today we talk about the Porsche Cayenne S, this video will mostly be a buyer’s review.

So if you consider to buy such a car, this video will give you more insight on reliability and certain points you should check before buying the car.

First off we start to talk about the car in general.

The Porsche Cayenne first came to the market in 2003, this SUV from Porsche is mainly sold in the United States and China. This was the first SUV model from Porsche. Porsche was until that point traditionally a sports car manufacturer.

The base of this car was in fact a Volkswagen Touareg but Porsche manufactured and engineered the car all by itself. So it is still very sportive and durable, you can tell it is not, with all due respect, a VW product. Only certain engines parts come from VW, but we will talk more about that later.

This particular car is the 2010 Cayenne S model, with a 4,8 v8 producing 385 HP. This is the facelift from the first generation, this car was produced between 2007 – 2010.

In mid 2010 the second generation of the cayenne came to the market.

So when you buy such a car what should you look out for ?

Finances

Well first off this is a Porsche, it is a big and heavy SUV, so take notice that replacing tires, brakes and servicing the car will be more expensive than an average car. Next to that this is a premium car so to speak, so it will cost premium money to keep it running in a good state.

Problems

There are certain parts that can cause problems on these types of cars, let’s start with the antenna.

Antenna

The antenna is build in the rear window of the car. Sometimes when you use the window heater, this might cause reception problems for the car radio, so turn on the rear window heater and turn on the radio to see if you car faces these problems.

ECU problems caused by wiper fluid

Now that we are talking about the rear of the car, there is also a problem with the tube in which wiper fluid is transported, especially during cold weather these tubes can break. The result of this is that wiper fluid will drip onto the ECU of the car. The ECU is basically the computer of the car, and we all know that fluid and computers don’t go well together. The ECU is located at the back of the car.

And indicator would be that if you start the car, the car goes to the high beam settings of the headlights immediately, this problem is most likely caused by the damaged ECU. This is a pricy part for a car to have replaced.

Test drive the car before buying

When considering buying these types of cars, make sure that you test drive the car first, and try different cars of the same type.

Check out cars that are fitted with the standard spring setup and check cars with air suspension. There is a difference in comfort between the two, just see what works best for your situation. Some people seem to complain that the normal springs are too harsh, just test drive your Cayenne and see if you could live with the firmness on a day to day level. Air suspension is more comfortable and lets you switch between comfort and sport mode.

Engines

Now we look at the engines that were available.

Most the engines are quite reliable actually, some engines uses VW technology like the V6 that has the DNA of the VW VR6 engines.

There is however the Cayenne S , the first generation before the facelift from 2007 that has trouble with the nicosine coating of the cylinders.

When the troubles start you will hear a ticking sound coming from the engine, this should be an indicator to stop the car or drive it to the nearest garage immediately.

If the coating dissolves it can result in a destroyed engine, which is very costly to repair, often this will result in totally write off of the car since replacing the engine is very expensive, outweighing the cost of the car as is.

Drive trains and gearboxes.

Drive trains are robust, also automatic gearboxes are well made for handling the power output of the car, no big issues there.

Thanks for watching this video, hopefully it was useful, you are free to comment, like and subscribe and we hope to see you next time.

Drive safe!