Cayenne woes

The Porsche Cayenne has been on sale for over ten years.Prices of used Cayennes ,particularly early ones ,are looking very tempting.But these are very expensive vehicles to maintain and when there is a problem it can be big dollars.Cripplingly big dollars.
Up at the local Porsche specialist currently there are two older Cayennes which have suffered major engine failures.One dropped a valve which did catastrophic damage to the engine, the other blew a head gasket.The dropped valve vehicle was getting a transplanted engine from a crashed Cayenne.The other engine was being repaired.Both big dollar jobs.
I would never consider buying a used recent model Porsche.They are too complex and too prone to major problems and Porsche's parts pricing is ridiculous.
Seeing the engines out of the cars made me realise how massive and complex the V8 Porsche motors are.The amount of ancillariy equipment hanging on them and the complexity of the fuel injection and related systems overwhelms the engine blocks which are not small anyway. What a contrast to the Coventry Climax F1 motor in the previous story.

That disc jammed in the seat in the LH port is what is left of the valve disc .The rest of the valve has gone elsewhere to cause more damage.Result one cactus V8 motor and one big hole in the owner's bank balance.I bet he wished he'd bought a new Range Rover Evoque for the same money as he paid for the used Cayenne.