Willing Masochist (Learn me Cayenne Turbo)

Hey Guys,

I know some of you have experience in this realm so I wanted to run things by you.

04 Cayenne Turbo 100k-ish miles with plastic coolant pipes replaced, cardan shaft replaced, owner says its not burning any oil (cylinder wall scoring was an issue on these right?)

Having owned multiple VW products  (mostly diesels; ALH TDI's, Touaregs, passats, etc) I am used to a lot of the VW groups more annoying little issues and that doesn't really scare me. Is there anything else I need to be super aware of? I'm assuming normal wear and tear on the air suspension is going to slowly become an issue considering the miles, but otherwise it seems like the drivetrain is pretty stout and I havent seen any other glaring issues.

So educate me good people of GRM, or point me towards my other contenders (X5 diesel, Touareg diesel, Merc Diesel)

To note, I drive around 30k miles a year around the midwest and have a two large dogs. I want something that will effortlessly cruise at 85 with the minimum nvh and plenty of oopmh.

Thanks

If you're meaning the gl320/350 Mercedes diesel, get the cayenne turbo lmao

the plastic pipes and cardan shaft are two of the three big issues. Last is the crossover pipe on the back of the motor. There is a pressed in tube that likes to come out and requires replacing the the pipe. Not huge money in parts, but basically requires dropping the motor to access it. There is a small hose on the pipe, replace it while you are in there.

Remember, this is a 15 year old exotic with twin turbos....

There are several other coolant T pipes that are plastic that break.  Figure $1500 each time one goes.  The transmission torque convertor seal goes when any of those coolant fittings breaks, as does the starter.  Seal is $45 but you need to pull the trans to replace it.

I'm extremely skeptical that its not burning oil because they ALL do.  Mine was going through 1 quart every 1000-1200 miles until it suddenly doubled to 1 quart every 500-600 miles.  That's when I traded it in.

These cars can bury you fast, I wouldn't own one out of warranty.  I rolled the dice and thought I bought a good one and 2 years later had to dump it.

30,000 miles a year at 10 mpg is an expensive gas bill, but probably insignificant compared to maintenance costs if you have it serviced at a Porsche specialist.

If you have a Grosh, a lift, and a backup daily driver I bet it could be mostly DIY-able 

I've driven a Cayenne Turbo but own a Cayenne S. I put myself in a weird situation where I bought a Cayenne S primarily for my SO before driving a Turbo because i assumed i wouldn't like the Cayenne enough to miss the power and she wouldn't care about the difference between 340hp and 450hp anyway. Well, turns out i LOVE the Cayenne and thought about upgrading to a Turbo model, so i went and drove one. I ended up more or less deciding against it for a variety of reasons that are really specific to me being weird and picky. 

One thing i would say is that if you're cross-shopping diesels, i have to assume there comes a point where having a ton of power offsets terrible fuel economy, right? I'm not going to push the Cayenne S but it is definitely faster than all the diesels and more reliable than the Turbo (mine uses almost zero oil, verified by 10k OCI..), but maybe it isn't fast enough to justify 15mpg for you (i would consider that a totally legitimate ding against it, btw)? Is it Turbo or nothing?

In reply to Vigo :

I expense my gas so fuel economy isnt my main focus, I am just a big diesel fan.

And i have somewhat been looking at the cayenne s but its kind of a "well if I'm already making a bad decision might as well jump in the deep end"

Really I want a highway cruise missile with a great interior and great seats, I would love a wagon but with two 150lb malamutes they just dont fit.

And they fit in the Cayenne?  The rear hatch area is quite small.  With the seats folded down its bigger but still not as large as a wagon with its seats folded down.

I'm happy with my Cayenne Diesel, not issues with it yet and its under warranty.  Its definitely faster than a previous gen cayenne s, plus gets over 30mpg on the freeway

Some of the stuff on the Cayenne turbo is DIY but a lot of it isn't, needing special tools and a ton of time to do.

happy with my Cayenne Diesel, not issues with it yet and its under warranty.  Its definitely faster than a previous gen cayenne s,

It's... about 6mph slower in a 1/4 mile. It probably seems about the same if you're usually letting off at road-legal speeds.  Only a few tenths behind to 60mph.  I would probably trade a few tenths 0-60 to  almost double my mpg! Isn't yours tuned, too? That probably would make it faster 0-60 than a 1st gen S. But, I'm not sure how much highway pull I'd be willing to give up. Mine's about even with a new Hemi Ram pickup, i.e. a completely normal everyday car that's not even trying to be fast. For me I eventually decided that I would rather make the S slightly faster (common mods =30whp) than take on the troubles of a Turbo, but if my S was slower than it already is... I think I'd really want the Turbo! 

I expense my gas so fuel economy isnt my main focus, I am just a big diesel fan...Really I want a highway cruise missile with a great interior and great seats

Oh, ok. Well, a cayenne diesel is pretty damn neat  but as far as a missile it's a 240hp car that weighs 5400 lbs with one person and some gas in it. You can tune them and that might be good enough but if you actually want to be able to outrun, like, modern pickups let alone anything that's fast by 2019 standards, i dont think any of the diesel models you listed could do that without huge investment. A Turbo certainly could, as could a 1g GTS or a 2nd gen S.

I can not imagine needing to drive 30k miles a year and picking a 16 year old high end German turbo SUV.   Talk about constantly having a list of things to fix.........

In reply to Vigo :

Up here at altitude its faster than the S.  YMMV of course depending on where you live.  Mine is bone stock, may tune it once its out of warranty. 

After my experience with the Turbo, there's simply no way I'd own one outside of warranty.  My Yogi Berra-ism is "They're fine till they're not.  Then they're really NOT fine!"