00Jay

Good evening everyone,
Went to the Porsche dealer earlier today looking for an 08 Cayenne S, and found an 03 TT with 40K miles on the dial. Test drove it and was surprised at how tight it felt on the road. Drove about 1 mile on the freeway and didn't experience any rattles or vibrations....did a couple of 0-50MPH WOTs and did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

Just a couple of questions for CTT owners and others experienced with Cayennes here while I'm doing a tons of research on CTTs.

#1 - Would I be better off spending a bit more money and buying a newer CTT or an 2008 Cayenne S?
#2 - I haven't begun to research the Porsche certified program yet, but the salesman told me that it covered all items for the next 24 months or 100K miles. If I were to purchase this vehicle, would it be smart to extend the warranty out?
#3 - I'm not very fond of spending a lot of time at repair shops. Is this vehicle not for me?
#4 - I'm researching the obvious things to watch out for on CTTs, but post anything you think I should know before I buy a TT.

Thanks for any help on here. I've test driven a lot of vehicles today (X5, A4 Avant, MDX, RX) but the Porsche has won me over emotionally; not financialy....and it's not the price tag of the vehicle or the maintenance that worries me....it's the downtime and repair bills that I do not want any part of.

Sam CS 05

Oh boy this will be an entertaining one...

00Jay

Very informative.

So I'm guessing your response is one vote for skipping on a 03 CTT?

Sam CS 05

I have no doubt you'll get more informative answers after other Cayenne owners are done watching the World Cup.

Considering your question #3, IMHO the answer is YES. Odds are you'll do a lot better with a later model but even a late Cayenne model you'll get to know your Porsche service Dept. very well. It's the price of driving the best sport SUV on the planet. I would strongly suggest a solid warranty.
Best of luck.
Sam

00Jay

Ah, thanks. Been catching up on the forum here on previous 03-05 CTT posts. Will probably continue my search for a low mileage 08 certified CS.

This 03 is a peach though. Couldn't find a single scratch.

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

IMHO their asking price is a bit much but it does include the certified warranty.

INURGRL951

I think it's a good deal and it has a warranty so go for it there not as bad as they make the early ones to be. To be honest I have had less problems with my 04 turbo then my 06 turbo s.

OCNYPORSCHE

I have a 08 Cayenne S and I would say it is better built than my 2005 CTT. The 03 was the first year also known as the alpha model. I would stay away from a 03 in my opinion.

Dennis C

I'd go for a newer Cayenne, no matter how much the 2003 turbo calls to you...

airdiesel

The Porsche extended warranty coverage is for 6 years or 100,000 miles. So, I am wondering how a 2003 model-year vehicle can still be covered by that warranty coverage, let alone covered for next 24 months. A salesperson at an official dealer would not deceive a customer on such an item that can be easily verified on paper. The warranty coverage starts ticking from the date the vehicle was first sold. I did simple math and found it is theoretically possible. If the 2003 was first sold as new in summer of 2006, I guess the Porsche CPO warranty coverage can still be valid until summer of 2012.

One more truth I can tell you more definitely is that the CPO warranty does not cover "all items." There are many, many, many items or repairs not covered by the CPO warranty. I am sure many posters here in this forum can share their disappointments when they found the truth at the service department.

In terms of ownership comparison between CTT and CS, individual preferences would certainly play a big factor. But, at a depressed price of Cayennes these days and even more compressed price gap between CTT and CS, CTT is so much more deal if you consider all the options that come as standard.

dhud

In response to Airdiesel, you were absolutely correct until this year. I just bought a 2005 CTT that was out of the original factory warranty and the local Porsche dealership was able to put a CPO on the vehicle. I was told that the old CPO created a lot of problems for the dealership because even things they thought would be covered would be denied by PCNA. The new CPO is the same as a new car warranty and it covers the vehicle from bumper to bumper for 2 years or 50,000 miles to a max mileage of 100,000 miles from the date of your purchase. My CTT had 18,000 original miles and to get it to comply for CPO, the dealership replaced two tires, performed a 4 year service including replacing the spark plugs and the notorious pencil coils, battery, etc, etc. I have owned a '08 CS and the build quality is better. However, for the price I could get the '05 CTT for and the depreciation I would not have to suffer, it was the right choice for me.

mudman2

The only thing certifiable about a used 03 TT is the owner

yeldogt

The Porsche CPO warranty for a car past the new car warranty is two years -- so it can easily involve a car older than six years. When the program first started (Porsche was very late to the CPO game) they had a cut off that I believe was 6 years and 80k for a car to be eligible for the program.

The early Porsche program was almost exactly like the Jaguar CPO -- The Jaguar program was one of the fist programs - is extremely good and always gets high marks. When looking for a car way back in 2001 I remember seeing an early Porsche flyer that used almost the same wording as the Jaguar CPO program -- as if someone just copied it.

Looking at the program last week -- thinking maybe a Panamera in a while -- they have changed it slightly. The CPO is for two years or 50K additional - Unfortunately, no one I talked to knew about all the changes - and they could not find a coverage list?

The information about the new program did not address what would happen if you purchased a car past the New Car Warranty with say 80K miles -- does it end at 100k like the other program did or do you get the full 50K out to 130K - unlikely. The new program does list a cut off at 100k for a car bought within the New Car Warranty.

Porsche has a strange situation going on -- Some cars can have extremely low miles on them - My CPO 996TT had 2K (two) miles on it and I was the third owner. The need to create a program to support resale prices for both the low mile sport-cars and the higher mile cars like the Cayenne and I am sure the Panamera is different than other manufacturers.

prsdoc

The '03 CTT in the garage was purchased with CPO. Since that time, on Porsche's dime the dealer has replaced the instrument cluster, coils, and cardan shaft - the latter two of which are known issues with the '03-05 models. Other than that, we've put over 40k miles on the car in about 2 years, and it's been just a solid vehicle. Certainly the alphas (and betas) are known to have issues, and i would not purchase without some form of warranty coverage. However much a roll of the dice it was to purchase it, ESPECIALLY after reading all the horror stories located within the Rennlist Cayenne forum archives, I would do so again. Over the past seven years that the car has been on the road, I think many of the kinks have been worked out. The only things left are the original plastic coolant pipes, which I'm looking at having replaced at some point in the near future.

Always buy the newest you can afford, and check the service history of the vehicle and see if it's been in the shop much, that may be a harbinger (however imprecise) of future repairs.

And Mudman, yes, my wife is certifiable.

Blade-MD

Check the service history and make sure the coils and cardan shaft are taken care of..particularly the coils as I had mine done twice. I wouldn't hesitate to get an '03 CTT if the price was right.

bigbuzuki

My '03 CTT has been inflicted with all the known issues during it's 73,000 mile, 7 year life.

Coils, cardan shaft, coolant pipes, tailgate struts, tailgate microswitch, rear tailgate washer nozzle, all air conditioning servo actuators, xenon headlight bulb and PCM unit, keyless entry control unit and antennae.

All replaced under the CPO warranty and with a .

Not one extra cent was paid by me.

I therefore am a believer in the CPO product and would not hesitate in buying any model Cayenne if indeed it was accompanied by or qualified for the warranty.