Car Model Guide/ Porsche/ Cayenne/ 955/957/ 3.2 V6

3.2 V6 M02-2Y

The Volkswagen VR6 in the entry Cayenne, and the cheapest engine in the range to buy. It's slow for the weight and thirsty with it, so it makes sense only if the rest of the car is right.

Overview

The 3.2 V6 is the M02-2Y petrol version of the Porsche Cayenne SUV (955/957), sold 2003–2007 with 250 PS and manual or automatic. High risk at level 4. Cheap to buy and expensive in every other respect, and neglected examples carry compounding bills. 2 failure modes are recorded against its engine, gearbox, chassis and shared components. Prices on this page are illustrative placeholders rather than a sourced market sample. See the methodology for how the bands are derived.

Porsche Cayenne SUV (955/957) · photo Porsche Cayenne (955) Washington DC Metro Area, USA by OWS Photography · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Power250 PS

Torque310 Nm

Years2003–2007

Fuelpetrol

Drive4x4

EnginesM02-2Y

Biggest risks

Ranked by probability × repair cost. 2 recorded in total.

43Fragile

Air suspension strut and compressor failure€700–€3,500checkable
Propshaft centre bearing and coupling wear€600–€1,600checkable

Risk level −33 · Likely spend vs price −24 · all issues →

System by system9 systems reviewed · 7 with no recurring fault reported

Engine✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Fuel system✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Intake & air✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Cooling✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Emissions✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Transmission⚠ attentionPropshaft centre bearing and coupling wear, €600–€1,600.

Electrics✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Suspension & brakes⚠ attentionAir suspension strut and compressor failure, €700–€3,500.

Body & interior✓ clearNo recurring fault reported for this system on this engine.

Pre-facelift or facelift, this engine spans both

The same badge either side of the changeover. Bands are split at the facelift year from the generation record.

Phase	Years	Low	Average	High	Good buy	What differs
pre Pre-facelift	2003–2006	€5,500	€9,000	€14,000	€7,250	The specification the car launched with.
LCI Facelift (LCI)	2007	€6,000	€9,800	€15,250	€7,900	957 update with direct injection on petrol; 3.0 V6 diesel added in 2009; New nose, lights and interior

Known issues, ranked by expected cost

Faults recorded against this engine, its components and its chassis, ranked by likelihood × repair cost. Costs are indicative ranges with a stated labour basis.

Air suspension strut and compressor failure955/957 body€700–€3,500

The car sitting low overnight, a suspension warning on start-up, a compressor that runs for a long time, or one corner that won't lift. The air struts perish with age and leak, which makes the compressor work harder until it fails as well. Cars that have stood are worse, because the bags crack where they've been folded.

Check: Look at the car before it's been started, since one that's sunk overnight has told you already. Then cycle through every ride height and confirm all four corners respond at the same rate.

SuspensioncommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented90–180k km

Propshaft centre bearing and coupling wear955/957 body€600–€1,600

A vibration through the floor from about 80 km/h, a clunk when taking up drive, and a droning noise that grows with speed. The centre bearing and its rubber coupling carry a lot of weight and torque, and both perish. The shaft is usually supplied as a complete assembly, which is what makes an otherwise ordinary part expensive.

Check: Drive at motorway speed on a smooth road and feel for vibration through the floor rather than the wheel. A clunk as you move off from rest points the same way.

DrivetraincommonDetectable at viewingevidence: documented100–190k km

Ranked by probability × repair cost, not by how loudly a failure is discussed. Inherited from the engine, gearbox, chassis and shared components, each written once.

Pre-purchase inspection

The same issue records, reordered into the sequence you can actually check them in: cold start, static, drive, paperwork.

2 checks · saved in this browser ·

1Static checksEngine off, ideally on a lift.

Air suspension strut and compressor failureLook at the car before it's been started, since one that's sunk overnight has told you already. Then cycle through every ride height and confirm all four corners respond at the same rate.

2On the driveInclude low-speed manoeuvring, not just an open road.

Propshaft centre bearing and coupling wearDrive at motorway speed on a smooth road and feel for vibration through the floor rather than the wheel. A clunk as you move off from rest points the same way.

Mileage and servicing

What the odometer does and doesn't tell you here, plus the service items whose neglect causes the expensive failures above.

Mileage is close to irrelevant next to the folder on one of these. A 90,000 km car with no history is a far worse buy than a 200,000 km one that's been maintained by a specialist.

Service item	Interval	Cost
Engine oil and filter Chain and bearing wear track oil condition on a heavy engine.	15,000 km or annually	€180–280
Air suspension inspection Struts and the compressor are the largest predictable bill on the car.	annually	€0–120 to inspect

What to pay

What this engine sells for, against the median of every engine in the chassis. All figures are illustrative placeholders. See the basis chips.

median €9.4k

€5.5k€7.3k€15.3k

Cheapfind the reasonGood buyif it checks outFairnormal moneyOverpricedneeds justifying

Asking price (€)Mileage (km)

Enter an asking price to get a verdict against this variant's band: cheap, fair, good buy or overpriced.

United States vs Europe

1 EUR = 1.08 USD · 2026-07

🇪🇺 Europe · EUR€7,250band €5,500–€15,250

🇺🇸 United StatesNot sold3.2 V6 M02-2Y was never a US-market car

What that meansNo US band exists to compare. Any car you find there's a private import, parts and specialist knowledge are thinner, and the price says more about import cost than about the market.

US figures are the EU band converted at a stated rate. No US market differential is modelled: we hold no sourced US asking prices, and inventing one would be worse than saying so. What the comparison does show for real is availability. Most of this range was never sold in the US.

ModelPorsche Cayenne 3.2 V6
Chassis955/957
EngineM02-2Y
Years2003–2007
MarketCentral EU
Windowrolling 12 months to 2026-07

Good buy at or under the marker · Median asking price · bar spans the 10th to 90th percentile · dashed line is the 955/957 median, all 2 engines

Good buy isn't the same as cheapest. The good-buy figure assumes the known failure items are either done with receipts or verifiably not yet due. Full breakdown by facelift phase →

Buyer notes

Our judgement, kept separate from the records it's built on.

Our read, not a record

This is the Volkswagen VR6 in the entry Cayenne, and it's slow for the weight and very thirsty with it. What makes it worth listing is that these are now cheap, which is exactly the trap, because the running costs never came down with the purchase price. Check the air suspension at every height if the car has one, since the compressor and struts are among the dearest items here. So read the folder before you drive it, and treat a car without documented maintenance as a liability rather than a bargain.

Everything above this line comes from the issue and specification records. This paragraph is our judgement on top of them. See how we reach it.

Full specification

Manufacturer figures for this engine and body, as recorded in the variant and engine data.

Engine code	M02.2Y 3.2 VR6
Configuration	VR6, naturally aspirated · 3189 cc
Fuel / injection	petrol · port
Model years	2003–2007
Facelift phase	Sold either side of the 2007 facelift, 2003–2006 pre, 2007 LCI
Power / torque	250 PS · 310 Nm
Transmissions	6-speed manual · 6-speed tiptronic
Gearbox families	Aisin TR-60SN six-speed tiptronic
Drivetrain	4x4
Economy (real-world)	13–16 l/100 km mixed
Markets	EU