Help Me Talk My Friend Into (Or Out Of) Buying A First-Gen Cayenne

On a long enough timeline, many of your heroes will become villains, and vice versa. The second-gen Toyota Prius comes to mind. As does the original Porsche Cayenne, which was Porsche’s attempt to save itself by building vehicles that would appeal to a wider base of consumers than its sports cars. At the time, Porsche’s only fans were sports car people, so many of them rejected the idea of a VW-based, Porsche-badged SUV.

The existence of the Cayenne helped, more than probably anything, secure the future of Porsche as a brand, and therefore is responsible in no small part for the continued existence of all those two-door 911s and Boxsters we all love. We owe the 955/957 Cayenne respect if only for that reason.

Here’s a better reason: They rule. Aesthetically, the original Cayenne just works. The brightwork on the DLO (daylight opening) and the rockers is iconic. The massive, oxygen-sucking vents give the Cayenne an attitude missing from many of the anonymous SUVs of the present. This is also the best use case of Porsche’s weird turn towards broken-omelet headlights.

They could also handle quite well for a big, tall thing, weighing in at under 5,000 pounds dry with a not-terrible 55/45 weight distribution front/rear. Today, enthusiasts are starting to notice that these are alluringly inexpensive to buy. Is there a reason for that? I drive a BMW with almost 240,000 miles on the odometer, so my tolerance for dysfunction is a little higher than average. Plus, if something goes wrong I can just blog the misery.

What about civilians? Is it dangerous to suggest such a car to them?

I mention this because, as Thomas recently pointed out, these Cayennes are not without some quirks:

As you can probably expect, depreciated luxury SUVs in general aren’t the most reliable things on the road, so let’s address the big elephant in the room first: bore scoring, an issue known to affect 4.5-liter and 4.8-liter V8 Cayenne models. The only way to fix it is to rebuild the entire engine, but it’s easy to check for and prevent. A pre-purchase inspection with a borescope can determine whether or not a Cayenne has bore scoring. So long as you change the oil every 5,000 miles, use a good filter, don’t over-do short drives where the engine oil can’t warm up, and keep an eye on your fuel trims to ensure the engine isn’t over-fuelling due to clogged or bad injectors, an engine that hasn’t already started to suffer bore scoring will almost certainly last the life of the vehicle.

A more prevalent issue on V8 models made before January 2007 is coolant leaking from crossover pipes in the valley of the engine. See, Porsche made these pipes out of plastic, and now that early models are more than 20 years old, that plastic can sometimes crack. Replacing these pipes is labor-intensive but definitely DIY-able.

So, yeah, not perfect. Especially the V8s.

Meet My Buddy Ron, Who Has $15,000 To Buy Something

Ron isn’t his name. I’m withholding his name to protect him from whatever bad decisions I convince him to make. Ron is awesome. He’s a lawyer who likes the same kind of indie rock I do and, other than being a big Bills fan, he seems to make wise decisions. We met because we both play ultimate frisbee and, being around the same age, hit it off almost immediately. Not long ago he asked me if he should buy a Model Y at a price close to its historical bottom and listened to me when I told him he probably couldn’t find as much EV for so little dough.

He loves his Model Y but wants another car. His Honda CR-V lease is up soon and he’s got about $15,000 to spend, in total. He asked me if he should just buy a used RAV4 Hybrid or similar and I said that would be logical. Not fun. But logical. Ron wants something to work as a secondary car that can absorb a few ski trips and eventually be handed down to the kids.

After talking about older Kias and Toyotas I suggested some other things. In particular, I suggested he bid on this clean 2008 Porsche Cayenne S. I suggested no more than $7,500 for a top-end price. After some heated bidding, the Cayenne went for more than that, so he didn’t end up with this one.

The idea was still rolling around in his head and we turned to Craigslist. There are a lot of 2003-2010 Cayennes on Craigslist if you’re willing to look. I found one Cayenne S in Rye, New York for just $5,000 and only 170,000 miles on it. Because I would like Ron to remain my friend, I did suggest that he get any car we’re looking at inspected. The small amount of money is worth the peace of mind, especially with the risk of bore scoring.

Here’s the response of his mechanic at a shop I sometimes also use and generally like:

I disagree. Well, I disagree on the “no matter what you’re paying” part. The “masochists” part is likely true. Did I mention Ron is a Bills fan?

Please Give Ron Better Advice Than I Can

Here’s my theory on all of this. Ron has a completely reliable car. He has $15,000. If he spends under $7,500 on a Cayenne he has a margin of $7,500 to do all sorts of important things to make a real runner of a car that’s going to be more fun to own and more fun to drive than any $15,000 RAV4 or equivalent.

All that being said, Thomas has made some good points about these cars. He thinks a Turbo or a VR6-powered model is unlikely to be a bore score victim and, therefore, probably a better starting point than an NA V8-powered car. Thomas suggested this one in a fetching green:

It’s just $6,000, leaving a lot of room for improvements (slight lift, bigger wheels, unnecessary foglights). As Thomas put it “a coil sprung 3.6 model is Cayenne life on easy mode.”

So, what do you think? Am I correct in that, with enough due diligence, any V8 is fine? Or, do you agree with Thomas, that V6er without the complicated suspension is the way to go? Or, maybe, should Ron just go with the RAV4?

Top Photo: Cars & Bids