6 months with my cheap Porsche Cayenne, the true cost of ownership...

I've had my 2005 Porsche Cayenne for almost 6 months now and have covered some 6,500 miles in it! But what has been the true cost of ownership? More, or less than I was expecting? #itsjoel #porsche #cayenne

[itsjoel]

I really was quite surprised at the results here! How much does it cost you to run your daily driver?

[rupertmiller]

Actually you are being hard on the car, its an 18 year old car, the £800 on wheels is not a running cost, you probably would need to replace the tyres after a couple of years so a more reasonable number might be £150 for tyre wear in 6 months. Similarly the gearbox service a good idea but not that much spread over 5 years. Annual service £500 ish.The jobs you had done were age and condition related. Perhaps the full inspection should have been done pre purchase and a keener price negotiated because of some of the issues. In reality the £5000 figure is probably nearer to £1500. The car is probably fuel aside a lot cheaper to run than you think. One thing they don't teach at school is basic finance and most people are completely at sea. They get their mortgages wrong, they finance cars they really can't afford all because they make the wrong assumptions. You can't do anything about the fuel, except stop the premium petrol which is almost certainly an unneccessary gimmick for this engine. The car itself is a reliable daily driver and with the maintenance you have already done is probably costing less than £2000 to run annually. Things will go wrong so a bit extra. With the finance option you talk about you will probably pay about £10000 in interest over the 4 yuears and suffer the depreciation unless you simply hand the car back.

[banjocapital]

I drive a cayenne 955 Turbo. Love this video, I had to get a calculator out to calculate my costs. I bought mine for 3k and contrary to what people said it has served me and my family well. I don't daily drive mine, I cycle mostly, it's a weekend / family/ Porsche event car. For that reason I only fill up£50 weekly. This car makes me a happy man, just looking at it on my drive gives me pleasure. Life's short, anything that gives me pleasure is worth keeping. I think you should keep yours, maybe turn it LPG if you really want to save on filling up costs.

[chrissutton]

The car is yours. Why take on the pressure of mega finance payments! As someone who is reaching more advanced years. I have come to realise finance always favours the finance company no matter how much we kid ourselves. It’s a beautiful Car, enjoy your Porsche!

[RobIpswichUK]

Used to run high mileage 540i V8's for 25k miles a year, £600 a month on fuel alone! When you thing about finance costs, always remember that they are effectively the same as your depreciation. Your £850 per month is £400 per month running costs, depreciation £very little, fuel £400 per month. Changing to a financed car at £800+ per month = depreciation, maybe half the fuel cost £200, and then the running costs £300 per month so in total, much much more!!

[SzymonDe]

As an owner of a Volvo XC90 V8, after almost a year I doubled the money I spent on buying it. Do I regret? No way, it's almost perfect with 280.000km, after rebuilding and modifying the engine now it's quicker, sounds better, suspension parts are in the boot and some gear/haldex/diff oils to be changed next week. I was about to sell it and buy ML63 AMG, but the Merc was in very poor condition, so I'm keepin' the Fast Swede 😁

[Jdsofar]

Ive averaged about 1, 600$ Canadian per year in my 09 Cayenne V6 3.6L. Bought it 2.5 years ago at 146k kms now at 188, 888 as of today. Only things I had to replace where the front wheel bearings, a/c Blower Motor, Windshield Wiper Motor, I did the driveshaft proactively but that wasn't a necessity nothing was wrong with the original one I just planned on keeping the car for years to come so didn't want it to fail randomly, asides from that I did the transmission fluid and differential fluid when I bought the car, and also just front pads and rotors plus tires but thats just regular stuff every car needs. I also bought 21' OEM GTS rims plus the 21' tires for them which makes the car look amazing. I do need to fix the front left turn signal it does not work atm but ive put it off as its not necessary to drive properly and its the wire harness not the bulb that needs replacing so the entire front bumper needs to be taken off. Thats why I haven't done it. Also I had to buy a new battery for it and the Kenwood headunit I bought the car that was installed died on me so I bought the exact same one off eBay so it would just be simple plug and play remove the old plug in the same replacement new unit. Its never once left me Ive ran over some nails two different times and the TPS sensor warned me I was losing air rapidly so I pulled over and the spare tire came in clutch along with CAA, put on the spare and was good to drive home then to fix the tire with the nail. She's been reliable and looks amazing with the black paint, tinted windows, 21' GTS rims and silver trim accents. I also upgraded the headlight halogens to white LEDs. Looks way better with that. Also bought a new Porsche Crest for the front bumper got a perfect used OEM one off eBay for 20$ and also spent 100$ on some Refurbished OEM Porsche wheel caps from eBay.

[jameswhymark]

Great video! I currently have a 07 XC90. I desperately want a cayenne! My Mrs says no… I’m thinking yes! Such a great looking car 👌

[TheRaven.]

I use my 4.5 V8 955 as a daily driver. I’m older and my insurance is around £350. My mileage per annum is also lower than yours so I don’t feel the crazy MPG that much, although it can be painful! You’ll have fuel and service costs with a car on HP so I don’t think you would see huge savings. I like the fact my old 2003 Cayenne is mine and not on HP, it’s nice being able to swap and exchange when you like but also knowing you’re not tied down to large monthly payments if circumstances change. No plans to sell mine any time soon. Although I have got my MOT coming up and I know we have a few items to sort out before then, wish me luck!

[stevenjohnson]

Joel, don’t be so sure that the figures would be lower on a newer car. I bought a 2015 Macan after my Cayenne was written off (by someone else I might add!), and so far the repair costs have been higher on my Macan than my Cayenne. I am up to £3k in the first year, and still have things to fix.

[dalerowley]

Hi Joel. Those costs are about what I would expect. You bought the car at a low price then paid to bring it up to your standard. You’re doing this right. Keep it for as long as you can suffer the fuel costs. Shame you didn’t spend a bit more and buy a slightly later diesel.

I have a 15 year old Audi A4 Avant that I’ve owned from new. It’s well looked after and dependable as a result. Long term ownership is helping me to save for something special to use at the weekend.

Was that the Shell garage near Longwick? My wife’s mum lives in the Chilterns so often use that garage on the way back north.

Keep up with the great content.

[autobahnproven]

Love your man-math Joel! I currently have one of the later V70Rs. It's cost a LOT more than your Cayenne but mostly in discretionary spending. Best ever on a long run was 30mpg, normally get around 20-22, so don't feel so bad.

[eddherring]

I drive a 957 turbo S which I spend around £300 per month on fuel. Tax is about £45 and insurance is around £35. No further costs but I have recently changed headlights and ballasts £3200, discs and brakes plus a new front calliper £900 for d&p £1600 for the calliper. It’s had a transmission fluid and oil change for which I provided the consumables and the labour was around £200. Aside from the oil change these were one off payments. I had already done plugs and coil packs myself. I would have done all the work myself but due to major surgeries I wasn’t able.
You should expect to become a regular customer of Design 911. You will need to clean your roof drains which you can do from the bottom with a £6 trombone cleaner otherwise you will get a puddle in your spare wheel well. I had to buy a replacement Bose sub enclosure and amp as mine was completely rusted (the amp and speaker) that was about £250. Other than that no issues but those faults are quite common, leaky headlights blocked drains and obviously d&p are a consumable item. I always use Brembo for d&p.

[franco]

Good video Joel. Made me think about my daily which is a 15 year old BMW. Of course you have to consider that it’s an interesting car and you are keeping it alive. I would notice it if I saw it out and about, but I wouldn’t notice one of the more modern cars you mentioned.

[CraigK]

Get a personal loan instead of a PCP, pump the money from the cayenne into your next motor, topped up with a personal loan. That way you should always be the right side of your finances. L405 2017 should be achievable for half the outlay, £190 pa road tax and you’d own the car as well. 😉

[andypicken]

Thats for posting Joel. Your considerations about a newer car was interesting.
I have to agree £350 on fuel is just a bit to much, essentially its poor value for money considering you are only doing a moderate amount of milage but I can also see the advantage of keeping it now its sorted.
On the issue of borrowing, I can understand the need to lend money to buy a house but car are very different. You have proved that its possible to own a decent prestige car outright. If you need any more convincing work out how the difference between a car payment of say £600 and the equivalent over payment on your mortgage. It will shock you (not least because when making an overpayment you will be clearing debt for the life of the mortgage which is usually for 300 monthly payments)
Dont be a lemming and finance a car unless you are absolutely desperate for transport and even then consider getting a bicycle.
Take care Andy

[davebromwich]

Really interesting episode Joel. I wrestled with the same decision whether to keep my trusty XC70 AWD D5 or trade up to something new. Like you, I decided to keep it as it’s been reliable and I own it out right so it just made sense to keep it after doing the ownership maths. Hopefully this video will help a few of your subscribers weigh up similar decisions 👍🏻

[kriskringle]

I've owned my 04 Cayenne for 10 years and put 120, 000 miles on it, I'm up to 200, 000 miles now. In the last 10 years I put three sets of tires on it. Multiply your tires by three and divide by 10 for the annual cost. I did the serpentine belt twice. I never did a transmission oil change, my mechanic says its designed to last the life of the transmission and talked me out of it. You only have to do an oil change every 10, 000 miles, some say 20, 000 miles because it holds 2 gallons of synthetic. You can't do a lifetime of maintenance in six months and take an average LOL. Do you have the 6 cylinder? I have the 8 cylinder, it has 340 hp and is really fast. However, if you do have the 8 cylinder you are sitting on a 'coolant pipe time bomb'. It has plastic coolant pipes that run through the middle of the engine that are a factory defect, there was a lawsuit about it. And the starter is under those.pipes in the middle of the engine. If those pipes go out you have to change out the starter too and its 10 hours of labor, close to $5, 000 USD to fix. My pipes went out after 6 months of ownership and after sitting dead in my garage for about a year I decided to do the work myself. Boy what a pain, you have to cut out the old pipes with a hacksaw and grinder. The driveshaft can fail too, thats a big repair. But again, those are once in 20 year repairs (once in the lifetime of the car). Gas mileage is bad because its a 5, 000 ppund car, great for digging in to and gripping snow. My biggest fear now is the engine failing and needing a rebuild, most cars only last 250, 000 miles. Just a used engine is about $10, 000 shipped to my mechanic, then the price of an install.... better to learn how to rebuild an engine myself LOL. Don't forget to change out your differential fluid. Oh yeah, my transmission cooling radiator went out once too, but divide that cost by 20 for the annual cost LOL.

[jjb]

Enjoyable film as ever Joel. My real World analysis on aging Porsche SUV running costs:

1) It ultimately depends whether the experience is worth the cost to you- there's no 'cheapskate' or functional necessity argument to buy and run this sort of vehicle -otherwise get a ten year old Toyota hatchback!
2) With second-hand vehicles not owned on contract, the overall ownership cost may be lower -but only subject to more varied maintenance costs and what oncoming big maintenance bill you avoid, given lucky timing on selling!
3) It depends whether you have a Youtube channel about it and how well that can offset the costs!

[chrismate]

It’s easy. Look at how happy you was in the L322….pure joy.