What's Wrong with the 1st Generation (2003–2010) Cayenne?

Cayenne owners have made 28 complaints about the 2003–2010 model years. Using our PainRank™ system we've ranked it 11th out of 13 Porsche generations in overall reliability, with real cooling system and electrical concerns.

Compare With Other Cayenne Generations

What Owners Complain About

Sometimes it helps just to tally up the complaints and see where the biggest stacks are. Use this information to learn about troublespots or to run for the hills.

Worst Issues

What Breaks the Most

Years to Avoid

1st Generation (2003–2010) Cayenne Key Numbers

  1. 6 model years

    Grouping all models by their year can reveal some baddies.

  2. 28 complaints

    Running tally of owner grievances filed to CarComplaints.com.

  3. 11th in reliability

    Overall reliability rank out of 13 eligible generations.

Recent 1st Generation (2003–2010) Cayenne News

There's a lot of news out there, but not all of it matters. We try to boil down it to the most important bits about things that actually help you with your car problem. Interested in getting these stories in an email? Signup for free email alerts over at CarComplaints.com.

  1. Porsche appears to have sent out a software update to their infotainment systems that causes them to constantly reboot.

    That's annoying enough on its own, but according to a new lawsuit the never-ending reboots also do fun things like drain the car's battery and spin the infotainment's harddrive into a death spiral. Oh and just for good measure each reboot produces a loud static POP to drive home the point that failure is inevtiable.…

    keep reading article "Sirius Infotainment Update is Causing Constant Porsche Infotainment Reboots"