Don't know what to do about my Porsche Cayenne decision.

Im not sure what the price difference is between the two, but get what you want. If your shopping for a porsche try looking for a preowned certified model. I personally would do the GTS or Mercedes G63 AMG.

If you can find a GTS in budget, they are nicer to drive than the S. Turbos are less rare though, so may be more affordable than a GTS

Unless it it has 3 pedals, get a Carrera.

Hi, Hallo! We have the V8 Cayenne S from 2012, about 40K miles, and it drives with ultra-exuberance. These vehicles are great to own/lease/drive if they are under factory warranty, especially if there is a dealer near you. If you want to buy new or CPO from Porsche, make sure you buy the PREPAID MAINTENANCE, that will save you thousands. If you want to own past the warranty period, buy the extended warranty when you buy the car, because later it will be killer cost (for us to add 3yrs + 30K miles is $10,900 extended warranty from Porsche, no joke, I had to ask Finance for a quote). Another great choice is to buy Porsche CPO with the added 7yr+100K mile warranty attached being FREE. CPO with Porsche is great b/c it includes the warranty for trivial cost. And when something breaks, it is NOT TRIVIAL. Recently our 2012 Cayenne experienced a COOLANT LEAK due to the ENDEMIC PORSCHE COOLANT PIPE ATTACHMENT DESIGN found on all models, including high end 911's and Panamera's from the 2010-2014 time period. Porsche decided to use LOCTITE adhesive to attach critical cooling tubes within the engine instead of a simple screwed-clamp (No Joke, across all 3 models!). Porsche filed a 25-pg NHTSA response from the factory that shows their weak coolant "water neck" adhesive design. Our Cayenne cooling tube connecting the 2 halves of the engine came loose, and all the coolant escaped the car in less than 30 seconds. Luckily we were on surface streets, and after flat-bedding the SUV 30 miles to the nearest dealer, the cost to repair was $5,500. We are real fortunate that our SoCal Porsche Advisor went to bat for us with PCNA, and that thankfully PCNA covered $4,800 of the cost, out of warranty. The repair requires that the ENGINE BE REMOVED from the car! (like a Ferrari 30K mile service!) Our overall impressions on owning this vehicle: (1) Driveability for S, GTS and up models are super impressive (2) Dealer service and loan car program are awesome (3) Buy CPO with 7yr+100K warranty (4) Buy New with Prepaid Maintenance & Extended Warranty (5) Just Lease or Lease CPO (6) Buy from CarMax with Premium Extended Warranty from CarMax (7) Least costly is Lease New or Lease CPO or CarMax... Best wishes for all you old and new Porschephiles!!

Crossover tube requires pulling the engine?? Who sold you on that??

For the 2012 Cayenne S with the 4.8 DFI engine, the cooling system problem is with the Water Distributor, located at the back of the engine. 6speedonline describes it here: http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/cayenne-955-957/345323- cayenne-957-coolant-pipe-issue-water-distributor.html “Unfortunately, the official Porsche repair calls for dropping the engine! This is mainly due to the placement of where this part is - squeezed behind the back of the engine and the firewall. If we take a look at how the 911 guys are resolving this, many of them are drilling a small hole in the barb and main casting, tapping it, and inserting a set screw to mechanically bond both pieces; thus stopping the barb from backing out and avoiding a catastrophic coolant failure.” YouTube has a 52 second video that shows what’s failing on the 2011-2014 Cayenne S models: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEZ8-C-ZsSA -Cheers

The response from Porsche to NHTSA regarding Adhesive (Loctite) with Water Neck coolant connections is here: https://www- odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM445645/INRL- PE13009-57948P.pdf

Porsche’s response to question 13b & 13c on page 11 of 21 page document, has NHTSA requesting Porsche to provide: 13b. Identify and describe each bonding agent used in the assembly or repair of the subject components by supplier, product name and serial number. Porsche’s Answer: 13b. Henkel Loctite Europe, Dusseldorf Germany; Loctite 638/648

13c. Also identify by make, model, and model year, any other vehicles of which Porsche is aware that contain the identical coolant pipe connection method (adhesive), whether installed in production or in service, and state the applicable dates of production or service usage. Porsche’s Answer: 13c-1__Model year 2011-2014 Cayenne (all models) 13c-2__Model year 2010-2014 Panamera (all models)

Please note that the NHTSA INRL-PE13009-57948P document is specifically addressing coolant pipe connection methods (Loctite adhesive) for the following 911 models & years: 996 Turbo, Model year 2001-2005 911 Turbo _____ 996 GT2, Model year 2002-2005 911 GT2 _______ 996 GT3, Model year 2003-2005 911 GT3 _______ 997 Turbo, See table in Question 12c. _________ 997 GT2, Model year 2008-2011 911 GT2 _______ 997 GT3, Model year 2007-2011 911 GT3 _______

I would avoid the 2011 Cayenne S (or turbo) models because of the problem of shearing Camshaft Adjuster Bolts, as illustrated in the Porsche Workshop Campaign (WC-22) released in March 2013, see photo. Essentially shearing camshaft bolts can cause damage up to total engine replacement. You may or may not be covered. I talk about how to get coverage using the Emissions Warranty in another thread. This is happening on V8 2010-2012 Panamera's and Cayenne's. See this link: http://midwestperformancecars.com/porsche-panamera-engine-self-destruction/

There is a good overall review of the Camshaft Adjuster Bolt Sheering problem by a set of attorneys in California. They describe: "The problem lies in the aluminum camshaft adjuster bolts which have a tendency to sheer off, which prevent the camshafts from running. If this occurs in the camshaft that operates the vacuum pump, the power braking will also fail, which will result in an extremely dangerous situation especially if the driver does not have the strength to brake the car without the vacuum powdered brakes. The bolts themselves may also drop into the engine and cause the engine to fail." The link to this article published Aug-2016 is here: http://www.bestattorney.com/blog/porsche-camshaft-defect- comes-to-light

Porsche Cayenne 2018, cracked head, 50k miles. 30 days to get part from Germany and 30 moreto get it fixed, 2 months. For a loaded 100K vehicle. Don't recommend.

Hello, well back in May I sold my 2004 Boxster and had an "empty" spot I was carrying around in me. I replaced the original 2.7 with the newer version that was not IMS failure prone in 2017 and when I sold it had put 35K on it myself. Car body was at 153K at sale this was a daily driver. I just purchased a 2006 Cayenne S Titanium for $6,000 with 140K on it and the test drive alone filled my empty spot immediately. Reading all the posts here was educational and if I had read them prior to buying, I still would have bought. Yes maintenance is high at german car shops and dealerships but regular reputable shops that willingly work on Porsche are not scalpers so I'm not too worried about that part. I am glad there was a wide spectrum of views here for it but it still has me convinced I made a good choice. For roughly $375 and a full day I can upgrade the driveshaft and cooling pipes myself and the "extreme" maintenance can be avoided as well with quality parts. My main concern is, once again driving a Porsche and a RED one at that the cops here will love me again! (Central FL area) Long term I believe will be good, only sold the Boxster because needed bigger and ability to pull a boat. See you all on the road!