SOT: Talking about Cayennes..., Who's got one? Options

[McMark]

I was looking at the early generation Cayennes and thinking about trading the Rabbit in. I haven't really heard of any problems with these 'trucks' but maybe I'm missing something...

Anyone own one of these guys? What do you think? How long have you had it?
Anyone heard of common problems with the drivetrain?

Looking into it for a tow vehicle.

[grouperalley]

no direct Porsche Cayane experience, but My ex has an 04 Toureg, we looked at the cayane and bmw x5 and chose the vw for the following reasons, which were in part subjective:

service costs, even for identical services are more expensive for a p or bmw

i liked the vw interior more than the porsche. and neither exterior overwelmed me

vw offered a six which was adequate for her uses, and unless you intend to tow often and heavy i think is adequate. , The porsche didn't offer a 6.in o4. i believe the coolant pipe issue is a v8 issue only. i don't believe the 6 gets much better gas mileage about 14mpg, so on a used car the price difference between a 6 and 8 may not be much, it was $over $10000 new.

Price much cheaper, we paid $35,000, for vw with leather, and xeon lights, more than 20,000 cheaper than p or bmw, last i looked a used a nice 04 probably isn't more than a $10,000 car, but an eddie bauer expedition probably is only worth $5000.

its a very nice truck, nice interior, heavy secure feel, nice in rain, we don't have snow but i'm sure its nice in snow

problems:
transmission gone at 51000 miles i bought extended warranty for $5000, the transmission alone was more than that

the high tech info panel includes a low tire pressure sensor. one wheel sensor went bad. that then in effect overode all other panel info until repaired, she refused to pay $2900 to have her tire pressure monitored. obviously for legal reasons no one will override the system.

as someone else commented on the p truck, even the base vw has a lot of high tech sensors, transmission adjustments etc, which we never used but add expenses when they break.

ditto the previous radio comments, eventually after 2 or 3 replacements we just bought an aftermarket stereo, thereby loosing all the steering wheel controls, but getting a radio that did not need to be replaced every year.

tires never get more than 20000 miles on a set on michilins, less on whatever else we tried

we bought the truck because there was a tax credit for trucks with over a 6000 gvw, i say that because we traded a lexus rx 300, which imho if you don't need much towing capacity (3500 Lb if i remember correct) is cheaper too maintain, better ride and far better build quality.

i have come to hate vw and their dealers, because of many nagging issues and their either lack of response or cost, but if you can do the work yourself or have a very good independent mechanic they are very nice trucks