2014 Porsche Cayman S PDK Sports Chrono

[MR_Y]

Diagnosis of rear vibration issue:
The gearbox is mainly to blame and needs to be replaced.
Another cause of the vibration is a component on the rear axle, close to the right wheel. This also needs to be replaced.
Parts above will take 3 weeks to arrive.
Costs will be covered by maintenance plan.
Awaiting courtesy car next week.

I still feel that Porsche Umhlanga should have picked up this issue, if they properly tested the car before selling it to me.

I was informed that no courtesy cars are currently available. I have been put on a waiting list for a courtesy car. I am not too phased by this, given that I work from home mostly and I have my Swedish wagon on hand. However, if this was my family car (say, I had a Macan instead of a Cayman), I can imagine how frustrating waiting for a courtesy car would be.

A Google search reveals the long wait for parts and lack of courtesy vehicles as being common issues on Porsche's aftersales service. Also, you can wait up to 2-3weeks to get a booking slot at the workshop. This is understandable, to a degree, given the relatively small dealer footprint. However, I will never buy a Porsche for family purposes, without having a backup family car at home.

Anyway, let's see how things pan out over the next 3 weeks.

 

[MR_Y]

Update on my earlier post (a bit of a mild rant, but worth capturing here for anyone who may be keen on pursuing a Zuffenhausen product):

- The dealer workshop submitted their findings to head office for maintenance plan authorisation last week. Today, it seems that authorisation is pending further investigation - head office want more tests done. So, the car has been at the workshop for almost a week now and the parts have not yet been ordered. This means that once they have authorisation, then it will be an additional 3 weeks before the parts arrive and then a few days to perform the job.

- I received a courtesy car from the dealership today. It is 2013 Cayenne 3.0 Diesel with 100,000km on the clock. I don't mind the age of this car, but the condition is pretty shocking - broken driver door handle (but still locks), broken window switch (I cannot open the driver window), rear doors are painted different shades of blue, leather is torn on driver seat, washer fluid bottle (lucky not coolant) is cracked and leaking. I told them that I would be happy with a Polo Vivo or Corolla Quest instead, but their policy is to provide cars that they have in their fleet. I am not going to use this car much, since I am afraid that more stuff will break or fall off if I drive it often. Also, worth noting that their insurance excess payable by the customer is minimum R10,000, up to 10% of the value of the car (so, I guess having a beaten-up 2013 Cayenne is actually better for me than a 2021 Cayenne GTS )

- Seeing that my car will be spending a month at the workshop, I asked them to sort out some minor issues on the car (the interior door panels are warping a bit and need to be re-glued).

Even though the delay on the repair and the condition of the courtesy car are minor irritants, I am happy with the attitude and professionalism of the service advisor. I guess, if you buy a low volume, niche car, you will have these issues.

 

[individj]

 

[PsyCLown]

Sho, that 2013 Cayenne sounds... Umm, where did they get it from? Some dodge auction or something?

Surely it wouldn't hurt to at least fix some of the items people may use, like the driver window. Going to a shopping mall and trying to get a ticket with the driver window not working isn't fun, even worse if its raining.

Hopefully you get your car back soon.

 

[TurboLlew]

Update on my earlier post (a bit of a mild rant, but worth capturing here for anyone who may be keen on pursuing a Zuffenhausen product):

- The dealer workshop submitted their findings to head office for maintenance plan authorisation last week. Today, it seems that authorisation is pending further investigation - head office want more tests done. So, the car has been at the workshop for almost a week now and the parts have not yet been ordered. This means that once they have authorisation, then it will be an additional 3 weeks before the parts arrive and then a few days to perform the job.

- I received a courtesy car from the dealership today. It is 2013 Cayenne 3.0 Diesel with 100,000km on the clock. I don't mind the age of this car, but the condition is pretty shocking - broken driver door handle (but still locks), broken window switch (I cannot open the driver window), rear doors are painted different shades of blue, leather is torn on driver seat, washer fluid bottle (lucky not coolant) is cracked and leaking. I told them that I would be happy with a Polo Vivo or Corolla Quest instead, but their policy is to provide cars that they have in their fleet. I am not going to use this car much, since I am afraid that more stuff will break or fall off if I drive it often. Also, worth noting that their insurance excess payable by the customer is minimum R10,000 or 10% of the value of the car (so, I guess having a beaten-up 2013 Cayenne is actually better for me than a 2021 Cayenne GTS )

- Seeing that my car will be spending a month at the workshop, I asked them to sort out some minor issues on the car (the interior door panels are warping a bit and need to be re-glued).

Even though the delay on the repair and the condition of the courtesy car are minor irritants, I am happy with the attitude and professionalism of the service advisor. I guess, if you buy a low volume, niche car, you will have these issues.

This sounds like such a horror story. Undisclosed issues, further investigations etc... The whole story is quite at odds with the experience I had. It also doesn't sound normal for the interior door panels to be warping. My guess is that they will uncover issues with the selling dealer. There is surely other undisclosed stuff that will be uncovered.

Either way giving you a Cayenne in that condition surely does more harm to the brand than good! I had an M6 courtesy car from JSN and they rented me cars before that didn't have that kind of excess structure... I would have been more upset than you.

Hopefully this is sorted out soon and thanks for sharing. It makes one wonder what happens after the excellent sales experience (though feedback I have had from other owners has been positive generally). This also highlights the need to buy one from Porsche themselves. I guess if you had gotten this car from any other dealer you would have been left with bills to pay and a fight on your hands with the selling dealer!

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[MR_Y]

I am happy to let them keep the car for a month (or more), if it means that all the issues are resolved.
If more issues get uncovered, I will need to weigh up keeping the car vs cutting my losses. I guess the key factor here is that I have maintenance coverage until year end, with an option to extend. While having a maintenance plan is all well and good, having the car spend weeks in the workshop is not ideal.

Update:

I called up the dealership to voice my concerns. It seems that Germany is holding up the process. All Porsche SA approvals are already gone through. Porsche Germany needs to approve the gearbox under the warranty claim. Based on candid feedback from the dealership, it seems that Germany does take time to respond to claims - especially for big ticket items like a full PDK gearbox. Given the rarity of such claims, the investigation process takes time, I am told.

The claim for the door panels has also gone through - apparently, this is a common factory fault on most 981 cars. Ironically, the issue that I am least concerned about is most likely to be fixed first.

I told the dealership about the faults on the Cayenne - more to protect myself from liability when I hand back the Cayenne. They offered to replace the car. I declined the offer, given that it is more of a schlep to drive from my home to Pretoria and back. Also, working from home means that I am less likely to use the Cayenne anyway.

 

[MR_Y]

Update on my vibration issue:

Feedback received today is that they investigated the rear side shafts and found that there was excessive play (I am not mechanically minded, so I am not entirely sure what this means and how it was caused in the first place). They are sending the side shafts to their engineers to refurbish to spec. This will take a few days. They are also going to road force balance the wheels on the car, as an added measure. By next week, they can then assess whether these measures stop the vibration issue entirely. If not successful, then they will consider other options - I assume then they will go the gearbox replacement route.

From the above, I assume that Porsche Germany halted the original request for the gearbox replacement (request made last week) and instead asked that the dealer eliminate all other potential causes. I guess this is Root Cause Analysis 101. Let's see if this resolves the issue.

 

[npower]

Are they replacing the interior door panels or repairing them?

 

[individj]

refurbishing the side shafts....geez...premium car brand with non premium solutions.

 

[MR_Y]

Are they replacing the interior door panels or repairing them?

That is a replacement, given that it is a known issue on the 981.

 

[MR_Y]

refurbishing the side shafts....geez...premium car brand with non premium solutions.

True

 

[GravityLee]

refurbishing the side shafts....geez...premium car brand with non premium solutions.

Crazy.

 

[TurboLlew]

Update on my vibration issue:

Feedback received today is that they investigated the rear side shafts and found that there was excessive play (I am not mechanically minded, so I am not entirely sure what this means and how it was caused in the first place). They are sending the side shafts to their engineers to refurbish to spec. This will take a few days. They are also going to road force balance the wheels on the car, as an added measure. By next week, they can then assess whether these measures stop the vibration issue entirely. If not successful, then they will consider other options - I assume then they will go the gearbox replacement route.

From the above, I assume that Porsche Germany halted the original request for the gearbox replacement (request made last week) and instead asked that the dealer eliminate all other potential causes. I guess this is Root Cause Analysis 101. Let's see if this resolves the issue.

This worried me when I read it: I quickly googled what the sideshaft looks like.

I would love to know how they plan to refurb what I assume is a worn item (at the splines or that bit of shaft sticking beyond) without adding material. If they are adding material, I would wonder how long that would last and the process used to do it. As an owner, out of plan, I would replace that part if it was indeed worn (or replace it with a stronger option)... not have it refurbed. That is akin to having someone skim your brake discs while your car is under plan. I am also assuming it is not the boot/grease that will need to be refurbed or else they would have done it at the dealer itself rather than sending it out to engineers.

 

[MR_Y]

This worried me when I read it: I quickly googled what the sideshaft looks like.

I would love to know how they plan to refurb what I assume is a worn item (at the splines or that bit of shaft sticking beyond) without adding material. If they are adding material, I would wonder how long that would last and the process used to do it. As an owner, out of plan, I would replace that part if it was indeed worn (or replace it with a stronger option)... not have it refurbed. That is akin to having someone skim your brake discs while your car is under plan. I am also assuming it is not the boot/grease that will need to be refurbed or else they would have done it at the dealer itself rather than sending it out to engineers.

I have a call with the service manager next week to discuss the implications of this.
If something smells funny, I will have a battle on my hands.

Update:
The Ts and Cs of the Maintenance Plan include "refurbished and/or reconditioned parts installed during any repair or maintenance work". However, all recon/refurbed parts are deemed to carry the same warranty as new parts.

 

[MR_Y]

Update on vibration at high speed issue:
- The dealership workshop sent the side drive shafts for refurbishment and fitted them back today. According to the technician, this improves the issue (less vibration), but there is still some vibration over 130 kph.
- All 4 wheels were road force balanced.
- By a process of elimination, they deduce that the gearbox and/or rear diff (both parts seem to come in a set) need to be replaced. A claim needs to be made to Porsche Germany. After the claim is approved, the parts can take 3 weeks to arrive.

Something I did not know is that SA falls under the Middle Eastern region in the Porsche world, so all claims need to go to Abu Dhabi first, then they submit that to Germany. This is a long process - not helped by the fact that the Abu Dhabi office is closed for business on Fridays.

As you can imagine, I am a bit frustrated by this process. I had a long discussion with the workshop manager, who is a friendly and understanding guy. Some points noted:
- Porsche Umhlanga could have picked up this issue, if they performed high speed testing as part of their PDI procedure. He will call his counterpart at that dealership to enquire.
- The car was not involved in any accident (I asked them to inspect the car, noting the front wheel that was repaired). They checked all the suspension components and chassis, etc.
- Besides the gearbox and diff, there is nothing else that he can guess as being a cause of the vibration at speed.
- He told me to deal directly with him on the status of my car and he will personally give me an update on Monday. I feel that this works better than having a service advisor play middle-man and risk miscommunication.

Since all work will be performed under warranty, I have no costs to worry about. The Cayenne (with its minor issues) is still in my possession as a courtesy car.

Where I stand now:
- I thought about taking this matter up with Porsche Umhlanga, but I do not feel that I will get any different outcome from what is already being done by Pretoria. My understanding of the CPA is that I cannot demand a replacement car (or a refund of purchase price, less wear and tear mileage), if it is a specific component (or components) on the car that needs replacement. I could use the argument that they were negligent in not performing the required checks on the car, but the burden of proof would lie with me and that seems like an uphill battle.
- Since the car is drivable at sensible speeds, I thought of selling it to the trade. However, this would be (a) immoral (if I did not disclose the defect) or (b) get me lowballed on price (if I did disclose the defect).
- I am going to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks. The warranty (and maintenance plan) is still effective until Jan 2022. On the plus side, there is not much mileage being added to the car (still at +/-32,000km), so depreciation is not a major concern.
- Best case scenario, I get a brand new gearbox and diff and the issue goes away. Worst case scenario, I get the new gearbox and diff and the issue persists - then, I guess they will end up re-building this car piece-by-piece, until the warranty expires.

 

[npower]

Update on vibration at high speed issue:
- The dealership workshop sent the side drive shafts for refurbishment and fitted them back today. According to the technician, this improves the issue (less vibration), but there is still some vibration over 130 kph.
- All 4 wheels were road force balanced.
- By a process of elimination, they deduce that the gearbox and/or rear diff (both parts seem to come in a set) need to be replaced. A claim needs to be made to Porsche Germany. After the claim is approved, the parts can take 3 weeks to arrive.

Something I did not know is that SA falls under the Middle Eastern region in the Porsche world, so all claims need to go to Abu Dhabi first, then they submit that to Germany. This is a long process - not helped by the fact that the Abu Dhabi office is closed for business on Fridays.

As you can imagine, I am a bit frustrated by this process. I had a long discussion with the workshop manager, who is a friendly and understanding guy. Some points noted:
- Porsche Umhlanga could have picked up this issue, if they performed high speed testing as part of their PDI procedure. He will call his counterpart at that dealership to enquire.
- The car was not involved in any accident (I asked them to inspect the car, noting the front wheel that was repaired). They checked all the suspension components and chassis, etc.
- Besides the gearbox and diff, there is nothing else that he can guess as being a cause of the vibration at speed.
- He told me to deal directly with him on the status of my car and he will personally give me an update on Monday. I feel that this works better than having a service advisor play middle-man and risk miscommunication.

Since all work will be performed under warranty, I have no costs to worry about. The Cayenne (with its minor issues) is still in my possession as a courtesy car.

Where I stand now:
- I thought about taking this matter up with Porsche Umhlanga, but I do not feel that I will get any different outcome from what is already being done by Pretoria. My understanding of the CPA is that I cannot demand a replacement car (or a refund of purchase price, less wear and tear mileage), if it is a specific component (or components) on the car that needs replacement. I could use the argument that they were negligent in not performing the required checks on the car, but the burden of proof would lie with me and that seems like an uphill battle.
- Since the car is drivable at sensible speeds, I thought of selling it to the trade. However, this would be (a) immoral (if I did not disclose the defect) or (b) get me lowballed on price (if I did disclose the defect).
- I am going to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks. The warranty (and maintenance plan) is still effective until Jan 2022. On the plus side, there is not much mileage being added to the car (still at +/-32,000km), so depreciation is not a major concern.
- Best case scenario, I get a brand new gearbox and diff and the issue goes away. Worst case scenario, I get the new gearbox and diff and the issue persists - then, I guess they will end up re-building this car piece-by-piece, until the warranty expires.

Sorry to hear of your issues. Just unlucky I guess! Hopefully you get a new transaxle.

 

[MR_Y]

Sorry to hear of your issues. Just unlucky I guess! Hopefully you get a new transaxle.

I am glad that I don't have to pay anything.
I see a few used car dealers selling cars like mine (but with no maintenance plan) for R750k+ (more than what I paid). Imagine paying R750k for a 2014 Cayman S from XYZ Motors and then sitting with an expensive issue.

 

[individj]

I have a call with the service manager next week to discuss the implications of this.
If something smells funny, I will have a battle on my hands.

Update:
The Ts and Cs of the Maintenance Plan include "refurbished and/or reconditioned parts installed during any repair or maintenance work". However, all recon/refurbed parts are deemed to carry the same warranty as new parts.

damnnnnnn for the Ts & Cs! this has to be a South African thing though

 

[Spanky]

Quite the arduous journey

I hope there is a satisfactory resolution at the end of it all.

 

[MR_Y]

Update

I received confirmation today that the gearbox will be ordered today.
ETA is about 3 weeks to a month from now.
Holding thumbs that this solves the vibration issue.