Used Porsche Cayenne and Macan: what the federal record says

The federal record on the Porsche Cayenne is small and lumpy: 516 complaints across fourteen scored model years, most of them concentrated in five. The years to avoid are 2019, with 67 complaints and a score of 40, and 2020, with 69 and a score of 42; the years to treat with caution are 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2021; and the years to buy are 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018, which score between 92 and 95 on 28 complaints or fewer, and 2022 to 2024. The Porsche Macan has one year to avoid, 2017, with 122 complaints and a score of 36, a CAUTION in 2018, and BUY verdicts everywhere else. The Porsche Cayenne S, which the site tracks separately, is BUY in all eight of its scored years. None of these records is deep, and I will say where the evidence is thin as I go.

The 2019 and 2020 Cayenne

The Cayenne was new for 2019, and the record turns on that year. The 2018 car has 13 complaints, 1.6 per year on the road, and one recall campaign; the 2019 car has 67 complaints, 9.6 per year, and seven campaigns, four of them safety-critical, the most in the table. Electrical System leads the 2019 complaints with 19, followed by Unknown Or Other with 13, Air Bags with 11, and Power Train and Service Brakes with 9 each. Two of the seven campaigns are for the instrument cluster, 19V115000, issued 20 February 2019, and 19V735000, issued 16 October 2019, both safety-critical, which sit squarely under the electrical figure. The others are 18V751000, issued 24 October 2018, for a passenger-side rear seat belt buckle that may break under load; 19V111000 for a rear-view camera image that may be delayed; 20V270000 for a fuel line quick connector in the engine compartment that may leak on 2019 and 2020 Turbo models; 25V896000, issued 19 December 2025, for a rear-view camera that may not display in reverse on 2019 to 2024 cars; and 19V112000, which covers a single vehicle.

The 2020 car is no better: 69 complaints, 11.5 per year on the road, the highest rate in the Cayenne table, and five campaigns. Unknown Or Other leads with 21, then Engine with 18, and Electrical System and Service Brakes with 15 each. It shares the fuel line campaign and the camera campaign with 2019, and adds 20V271000, issued 13 May 2020, for an insufficient weld on a transmission oil pipe that may leak fluid, and 21V318000 for a passenger seat heating element that was not installed. The 2021 car has 42 complaints and scores 59, CAUTION on low evidence; Electrical System and Unknown Or Other lead with 12 each, and its campaigns include 21V493000, issued 30 June 2021, for a screw connection between the steering column and steering box that may fail, with a detached steering column the stated result, plus 21V271000 for a rear axle trailing arm lock nut and 22V040000 for the alignment check that followed it. From 2022 the counts drop to 3, 10 and 5.

The earlier Cayenne, and the Cayenne S

The first-year pattern shows at the other end of the table too. The 2011 Cayenne has 106 complaints, the most of any year, and scores 59; Engine leads with 54 and Power Train with 33. Campaign 17V368000, issued 7 June 2017, covers camshaft controllers on 2011 Cayenne S and Turbo models, and 12V065000 covers headlamps that may come loose and detach from the wing on 2011 and 2012 cars. The 2013 car has 77 complaints, Power Train first at 32, and a safety-critical instrument cluster campaign, 13V506000. The 2016 car has 72 complaints, of which 27 are filed as Unknown Or Other, 16 as Air Bags, 14 as Power Train and 12 as Exterior Lighting. Every Cayenne from 2011 to 2016 sits under 16V169000, issued 23 March 2016, for a brake pedal pivot pin that may be missing a circlip, and under 22V656000, a headlight campaign issued in 2022 that reaches back across the range.

Between those years the Cayenne is quiet: 28 complaints in 2012, none in 2014, 13 in 2015, 11 in 2017 and 13 in 2018, with scores of 92 to 95 and evidence marked low. The Cayenne S record is similar in shape and smaller: 186 complaints in total, 51 of them in 2011 with Engine at 24 and Power Train at 16, 66 in 2016, and 33 or fewer in every other scored year. Its lowest score is 71, for 2016, and seven of its fifteen model years are DATA PENDING. It is a BUY throughout, on thin evidence.

The 2017 Macan

The Macan's record runs from 2015, and the 2017 car is its problem. It has 122 complaints, 13.6 per year on the road, against 26 for the 2016 car and 34 for the 2018. Air Bags lead with 44, more than a third of the year's total, then Service Brakes with 20, Engine with 16, Steering with 12 and Fuel/Propulsion System with 10. The air bag figure has two campaigns behind it: 17V133000, issued 2 March 2017, for a front passenger occupant detection sensor mat that may fail and deactivate the passenger air bag, and 21V131000, issued 3 March 2021, for the same sensor mat degrading on 2015 to 2018 cars. Air Bags is also the top component on the 2016 car, at 12, and the 2018 car, at 10, which is what a recall spanning four model years looks like in the complaint record.

The 2017 car's other campaigns are 16V680000, for anti-roll bar connecting links that may move out of position and allow the car to oversteer; 17V289000, for a fuel pump flange that may crack and leak, on 2015 to 2017 S and Turbo models; 20V077000, issued 12 February 2020, for a fuel pump service cover that may crack the filter flange on 2015 to 2018 cars; and 23V443000 for a rear seat belt anchorage. The 2018 car scores 68, CAUTION, on 34 complaints and adds 18V318000, for a control unit that may fail and disable driver display alerts. From 2019 the Macan is clean on this record: 19, 25, 11, 5, 6 and 10 complaints a year through 2024, scores of 79 to 92, and no campaigns at all on 2022 to 2024 cars.

Ranking the three

The Macan has the best record of the three: one bad year, well explained by two campaigns, and six clean years after it. The Cayenne S is second, BUY throughout but with so few complaints that the scores are provisional. The Cayenne is third, because it has two AVOID years and four CAUTION years, and because its 2019 and 2020 cars carry a dozen campaigns between them. On fuel, the EPA rates the 2019 Macan and the 2019 Cayenne at 21 miles per gallon combined on premium; the 2015 Cayenne is rated at 17.

What to check before you buy

• On a 2019 to 2021 Cayenne, ask the dealer to close 19V115000, 19V735000, 25V896000 and, on a Turbo, 20V270000 against the VIN; on a 2020, 20V271000 for the transmission oil pipe; on a 2021, 21V493000 for the steering column.
• On any 2011 to 2016 Cayenne or Cayenne S, confirm 16V169000 for the brake pedal pivot pin and 22V656000 for the headlights.
• On a 2011 Cayenne S or Turbo, confirm 17V368000 and ask for engine service records; Engine is the year's top component at 54.
• On a 2015 to 2018 Macan, confirm both sensor mat campaigns, 17V133000 and 21V131000, and check that the passenger air bag indicator behaves correctly with an adult in the seat.
• On a 2015 to 2018 Macan, confirm 17V289000 and 20V077000 for the fuel pump and smell for petrol around the rear seat.
• On a 2017 Macan, confirm 16V680000 for the anti-roll bar links.

Summary

Avoid the 2019 and 2020 Cayenne (67 and 69 complaints, scores 40 and 42) and the 2017 Macan (122 complaints, score 36). Treat the 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2021 Cayenne and the 2018 Macan as CAUTION. Buy a 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 or 2018 Cayenne, any scored Cayenne S, or a 2019 or newer Macan, knowing that every one of those verdicts rests on a small record.