Porsche Cayenne: Years to Avoid and Best Years to Buy
Porsche Cayenne: 15 model years scored from 522 NHTSA owner complaints and 38 recall campaigns. Worst year 2019, best year 2024.
Porsche Cayenne: which years to avoid
Across 14 scored model years the Porsche Cayenne ranges from 40/100 in 2019 to 95/100 in 2017 — a 55-point spread, so which year you buy matters more than whether you buy a Cayenne at all. The weakest year’s complaints concentrate in Electrical System (19 of them).
Avoid: 2019, 2020 — scored below 45 on the complaint and recall record.
Safest years: 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024 — scored 70 or better.
Scored from NHTSA complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. How the score works · every car’s years to avoid.
Editor's note
Avoid the 2019 Cayenne, which has 67 owner complaints and a score of 40, and the 2020 car, with 69 complaints and a score of 42. Buy a 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 or 2018 car, which score 92 to 95 on 28 complaints or fewer, or a 2022 to 2024 car. The 2019 car was the first of a new generation and carries seven recall campaigns, the most in the table, two of them for the instrument cluster, 19V115000 and 19V735000, which sit under Electrical System at 19, the year's top component; 18V751000 covers a rear seat belt buckle that may break and 20V270000 a fuel line connector that may leak on Turbo models. The 2020 car adds 20V271000 for a transmission oil pipe weld, and the 2021 car, CAUTION at 59, has 21V493000 for a steering column connection that may fail. The 2011 car, CAUTION at 59 on 106 complaints, has Engine at 54 and 17V368000 for camshaft controllers on S and Turbo models.
Read the guide
Used Porsche Cayenne and Macan: what the federal record says — written and signed by Adir Trabelsi, 2026-09-16.
How the Cayenne changed, run by run
The federal record falls into 3 stretches of years that behave alike. A redesign shows up here as a step in the complaint rate that then holds.
2011–2018
Mean score 82/100, about 4 complaints per year on the road. Owners of these years complain about Power Train more than anything else (97 complaints). 4 recall campaign(s) in this run touch fire, crash or stall risk.
2019–2021
Mean score 46/100, about 10 complaints per year on the road. Owners of these years complain about Unknown Or Other more than anything else (47 complaints). The record falls 36 points against the years before it. 7 recall campaign(s) in this run touch fire, crash or stall risk.
2022–2024
Mean score 88/100, about 2 complaints per year on the road. Owners of these years complain about Unknown Or Other more than anything else (8 complaints). The record improves by 42 points against the years before it. 1 recall campaign(s) in this run touch fire, crash or stall risk.
Year-by-year data table
Best year in our data: 2024 (score 84). Worst: 2019 (score 40, AVOID).
| Year | Score | Verdict | Running cost / yr | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | DATA PENDING | $4,530 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 84 | BUY | $4,718 | 5 | 4 |
| 2023 | 88 | BUY | $4,873 | 10 | 1 |
| 2022 | 91 | BUY | $4,964 | 3 | 2 |
| 2021 | 55 | CAUTION | $5,361 | 45 | 5 |
| 2020 | 42 | AVOID | $5,358 | 72 | 5 |
| 2019 | 40 | AVOID | $5,151 | 67 | 7 |
| 2018 | 93 | BUY | $5,340 | 13 | 1 |
| 2017 | 95 | BUY | $5,472 | 11 | 0 |
| 2016 | 63 | CAUTION | $5,726 | 72 | 2 |
| 2015 | 94 | BUY | $6,402 | 13 | 1 |
| 2014 | 92 | BUY | $6,070 | 0 | 1 |
| 2013 | 67 | CAUTION | $6,522 | 77 | 3 |
| 2012 | 93 | BUY | $6,388 | 28 | 2 |
| 2011 | 59 | CAUTION | $6,624 | 106 | 4 |
Running cost is fuel or energy plus the maintenance band midpoint for that car at its age today, re-priced to your country. Purchase price, insurance and depreciation are not included.
Photographs and every generation of the Cayenne, through the years →
Cayenne sub-models & family
Variants & trims on record
Body, powertrain and trim variants of the Cayenne on the federal record. Variants folded into this nameplate are counted in this page's data; the rest have too thin a record for a page of their own yet.
What goes wrong on the Porsche Cayenne
Across every Cayenne model year in our index, owners report these component groups most often. The cost beside each one is the representative repair for that group at a US independent shop, re-priced to your country.
- Unknown Or Other126 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Diagnosis and mixed repair$360–$940
- Power Train122 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Transmission service or clutch-pack repair$1,290–$4,040
- Engine122 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Cooling-system or timing-drive repair$1,040–$2,220
- Air Bags67 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Airbag module, clockspring or sensor replacement$600–$1,700
- Electrical System66 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Alternator, battery-drain or body-module diagnosis and replacement$540–$1,310
- Service Brakes33 complaints across all Cayenne years · typical job: Pads, rotors and caliper service, both axles$580–$1,140
Flat-rate labour hours x local shop rate plus a parts band. An estimate of what this class of failure costs, not a quote. Formula.
FAQ
Which Porsche Cayenne years should I avoid?
On the NHTSA record the years to avoid are 2019, 2020 — each scores below 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. The 2019 is the weakest at 40/100, with its complaints concentrated in Electrical System.
What are the best Porsche Cayenne years to buy?
2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024 all score 70 or better. The strongest is the 2017 at 95/100, on 11 complaints and 0 recall campaigns.
What is the most common Porsche Cayenne problem?
126 of the complaints filed against the Cayenne across all its model years sit in the Unknown Or Other group — more than any other component.
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Sources: NHTSA, EPA · Methodology · Updated 2026-10-04