Back in September, the internet’s collective jaw smashed through the floor and hit the water table. A 2014 Porsche Cayenne with the six-speed manual transmission sold on Cars & Bids for an unhinged $125,500. Not only was this a new record for a stick-shift second-generation Cayenne, it was a new record for a stick-shift Cayenne full stop.
The hammer price heard ’round the world left people wondering where the manual Cayenne market was really going. After all, this wasn’t a delivery mileage example, it wasn’t a paint-to-sample car, and it wasn’t even a first-generation GTS or Transsyberia with the V8. Well, it’s taken another three months, but we have an answer. Another manual 958 Cayenne just sold on Cars & Bids, and it’s quite comparable to the record-setting example.
The two Cayennes in question are both 2014 models, both painted Jet Green Metallic, and both have spent some time in cold climates. The latest stick-shift Cayenne to go under the hammer does have an extra 17,400 miles on the clock compared to the record-setting example, and it isn’t as well-equipped. No panoramic sunroof, no 14-way ventilated front seats, no adaptive dampers, no power rear sunshades, you know the drill.
The photos of this latest example aren’t exactly great, and there’s a phone mount stuck to the leather dashboard, so I had a pretty good feeling it wouldn’t come anywhere near the price of the record-setting example. The delta might even be big enough to buy a lot of 911, and you won’t be worrying about creature comforts for rear seat passengers when something like a 996 Turbo is plastering your face into an Aphex Twin grin.
Indeed, the $125,500 stick-shift Cayenne from earlier this year was a fluke. No other stick-shift 958 has transacted anywhere near that price, and there are arguably more desirable row-your-own Porsche SUVs out there. For instance, Porsche only made three manual Cayenne S Transsyberia editions for the North American market, featuring a brace of off-road equipment and the GTS’ 405-horsepower 4.8-liter V8. The last stick-shift Transsyberia sold for $70,500 on Bring A Trailer back in 2022, just after the peak of the COVID bull rush. Granted, Cayennes have seen more widespread appreciation over the past few years, but that’s the yardstick. The rarest North American-market stick-shift Cayenne.
In a similar vein, the 957 Cayenne GTS with the six-speed manual is also a more desirable car than a manual V6 958. With 405 horsepower, a raucous exhaust, sport suspension, unique seats, and a brace of cosmetic touches, it’s a more road-focused Cayenne with plenty of power and a wicked soundtrack. The record for a 957 GTS was set in 2021 by a 30,000-mile example that sold for $91,500 on Bring A Trailer, but several well-kept low-mileage examples have transacted in the $60,000 range. Average-mileage manual Cayenne GTS models generally go for between $30,000 and $40,000, and given their desirability over a later 958 V6 model, that’s about where the ceiling for a low-mileage manual 958 Cayenne should be.
Indeed, if we take a look back at the record-setting 958, it was clearly a two-party bidding war from roughly $60,000 onward, with neither party willing to back down until things got truly extreme. Sure, this could be one of the nicest examples on the planet, but never discount the human factor when looking at auction values. It only takes two to tango all night long.
A 958 Cayenne with the 3.6-liter VR6 is a good family car, provided you’re willing to put up with fragile exhaust flex joints and keep an eye on the transfer case, but a stick-shift example isn’t a six-figure experience relative to other family SUVs. For the sort of money commanded by the record-setting car, you could get a Dodge Durango Hellcat or a gently used Alpina XB7 or a gently used Cayenne Turbo S or a Lucid Gravity, all of which offer more performance than a decade-plus-old family hauler with a Volkswagen engine.
However, at somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000, a stick-shift second-generation Cayenne becomes a tempting alternative to a new RAV4. Sure, you’re sacrificing fuel economy and a warranty, but you’re getting something engaging, unique, and comfortable. At the end of the day, isn’t the ultimate reason to buy a car not potential appreciation or social climbing, but simply because you like it?
Well, a couple of bidders ended up liking this manual Cayenne a whole lot. With less than an hour to go, the high bid stood at $36,250. This Cayenne was definitely crossing the $40,000 mark, but even I didn’t expect what happened next. The $45,000 mark fell. Then the $50,000 mark. Then the $60,000 mark. After some intense trash-talking by one bidder, the thing ended up selling for $70,000. Yeah, $70,000 for a decade-old V6 family SUV. From where I’m sitting, it’s not a $70,000 driving experience, but it might be to someone.
That hammer price of $70,000 is simultaneously an insane amount of money and $55,500 less than the record, but here’s the interesting part: The two bidders in it until the very end didn’t bid on the record-setting Cayenne from September. There’s a real market for these things that’s willing to pay serious money for them. But you know what they say: One’s a fluke, two’s a coincidence, three’s a pattern. If a third comparable stick-shift Cayenne sells for mad money, the rulebook will have been rewritten, and I’ll be telling you all about it when the next hammer drops.
Top graphic image: Cars & Bids
No, no you are not. The buyers here are smoking the purest form of crack you can find in the world. Ford $70,000 dollars I’d buy a 1976 or 1977 V8 Vantage with a stick.
I don’t get it. I’ve driven a manual first gen GTS for close to 100 miles, and once I got past the novelty of it, it wasn’t all that fun. It’s big, it’s heavy, and it wasn’t all that quick (granted, I drove a modified 04 STi at the time that was raw and nimble)
I’m a diehard manual guy, but this is just silly at these prices. The second-gen chassis with the meager power of the VR6 just doesn’t seem like that much fun to drive daily for 100 grand.
I’d take my mom’s diesel Touareg over a manual Cayenne base any day of the week. That thing tows like a beast, and is extremely lovely with the automatic.
granted, the kind of buyer that can drop that much coin isn’t going to worry much about this next part, but for those of us who’ve owned or know someone who’s owned a unicorn, all of those model specific parts (clutches, throwout bearings, linkages, sensors) are going to be unicorns, too.
I can 100% relate to this exact sentiment because I once owned a ‘unicorn’ V6 SUV:
A 2002 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4WD with the 3.5VQ and a 5 speed manual.
It was… not a joy to drive.
The 3.5VQ was flat out underpowered in a 4,880 pound body on frame SUV, it got atrocious fuel economy, but it was very capable in the snow and on trails. I bought it with 172k miles in December 2016. I thought the clutch felt a bit stiff but didn’t pay much mind to it (I had totaled my beloved 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander LS being hit by a drunk driver in Colorado when I was visiting my family for the holidays, they cut me a $4,970 check for it at the Progressive service center, and I for whatever dumbass reason decided I *needed* a manual SUV for my tow pig/winter rig and this Pathfinder was available at a dealership about 50 miles from my parents and was $3,995… so I made an impulse purchase).
I had it 5 weeks and the clutch suddenly and spectacularly failed right after I moved to Cedar Rapids, IA in January 2017.
It was $1,285.00 to replace the fuggin clutch because it was so rare, there were only FIVE factory clutch kits in the entire US at that time. They had to source one from Michigan for my truck.
I was able to bully the dealership into paying for the clutch kit itself since they offered a three month, 6,000 mile limited warranty on their vehicles (I had already put about 4,000 miles on it, they tried to wiggle their way out and I tartly informed them that I would slap them with breach of contract suit and collect 4x what I paid for the vehicle, or they could send me a check for $680 for the clutch, they wisely chose the latter) but I was still out of pocket over $600 for the labors.
That soured me on the rig thoroughly, and I decided that maybe having a gas guzzling unicorn wasn’t so ideal after all.
I sold it on to a car buddy of mine for $4k that lived in CR and was a tech at a Nissan dealership to use as his winter beater.
He had it for six weeks, and a Yukon slid into him at speed at a red light on an icy day and smashed in the tailgate, bent the bumper under the truck and crinkled the frame. It was written off and he got a check for what he paid for it ; I had sent him the copy of the receipt of my clutch job and they gave him a $1000 allowance for that alone.
All in all, it taught me that owning a unicorn isn’t always as desirable or enjoyable as one might think it would be… and if you want a unicorn, it would be wise to pre-source rare parts first before purchase.
If it’s any consolation, my ’92 Toyota V6 Xtracab 4×4 5M bought new was an absolute dog. And I don’t mean this man’s best friend. It tipped the scales at a little over 3800 pounds and the engine’s 150 HP output was overwhelmed. Going up even minor grades required a downshift and sometimes two on the steeper ones.
But… It did hold its value well. I sold it three years later, with 60,000 miles on it, for only about $3,000 less than I paid for it. And those miles were trouble-free.
Funny I had a 2001 Pathfinder with a 5speed and the lesser engine, I found it fast enough, and towed my jetski just fine. However I only kept it a little over a year (bought it brand new), cause I moved to Manhattan and I didn’t need a car anymore.
Can these people frickin’ not?! I still need to get a second-gen Cayenne in Mahogany Metallic with the tow package, specifically.
Go buy a frickin’ Yukon or something and leave Cayenne prices alone.
They are nice cars. I got a 957 V6 auto for daily and race car towing duties and other than fuel economy it’s a pretty nice car overall. Dynamics that should not be possible on an SUV that can tow. However the one I got was closer to 10k while manuals were going for 30k+ and I couldn’t justify 20k just for a different transmission. I didn’t even want to go up to the 20k window to get a 958 diesel which would definitely be a better tow vehicle.
Specs are one thing but after driving a Cayenne it really does make an impression. They are very good SUVs
It’s the cayenne gnomes.
1. Buy all green V6 cayennes.
2. ???
3. Profit
Didn’t read because I know the answer: it’s the last V6+manual SUV in the USDM that’s not a Wrangler.
The last V8+manual SUV? 1st Gen Cayenne GTS.
I know this because I want both.
The other last mainstream V6+manual midsized SUV options was the ’07-09 Santa Fe (2.7l).
A manual was available on a few other SUV/CUV models but only attached to a base 4 cylinder : Santa Fe post 2010, Sorento, 2nd Gen Liberty, Forester, Outback, Tiguan(fwd)… probably a couple others.
You can install a manual in almost anything that is rear drive.
Don’t care for the rear suspension?
One of the independent performance suspensions can fix that, or a simpler watts link, multi link solid axle is better than you’d think.
Cummins engines can connect to transmissions stronger than it is.
They are in the retrofit business.
You are completely correct, but glossing over the amount of work necessary to accomplish that goal. If you can’t do the work yourself, you’re talking well into the 5 figure range for just the mechanical side. That doesn’t get you working gauges and likely means all sorts of electrical module work arounds will be necessary to get you remotely close to factory function.
That’s assuming whatever shop you hire actually does a decent job on the conversion, which isn’t guaranteed.
Sounds accurate, but I assume anyone shopping bougie slower Porsches can afford the cheaper, more powerful option.
Cummins engine out mods and swaps are quite common because the payoff of such a long duration engine long term.
My truck is an engine and transmission swap, with mild power upgrades and a Goerend transmission with manual lockup in each gear or only overdrive.
Never dynoed but probably 600 lbs torque.
Expected lifetime? The heat death of the solar system.
The 5.9 guy at turbodiesel register has an engine out upgrade with a cam and internal work, and the most rugged parts from various years combined to his block, like the gear timing.
Custom tuned p pump adapted to his block.
I’ve seen multiple 5.9 pickups with heavier grade transmissions up to 8 speed Eatons, Rockwells, Allisons, etc.
Some work fleets are paying to upgrade to older 5.9s because downtime is so costly with newer trucks.
Because of all this there is massive technical support for whatever hoodoo you want to unleash on your transport.
My truck uses a common interface to keep the computer happy, but my engine is mechanical.
It’s one way signal for the gauges and electrical.
I think you missed the part where they are built that way…from the factory not put together in your garage. I mean, you could contrive practically anything with your logic and bottomless pockets financially, but it doesn’t make it OEM and that was my entire point.
Nice to have everything in a factory package, but once you’re into fantasy numbers for used cars, your options expand considerably.
8000 pounds towing isn’t bad for a small car, but doesn’t feel adequate to me.
Well that’s indeed a lot of green.
It’s absolutely not worth it but people with too much money don’t care.
Nailed it. The internet has changed how things are valued. Before we were all connected through the webz, these types of things didn’t happen nearly as often. People with too much money had to congregate in one place (auction, etc) and spend in front of each other. You had to make an effort to find the auction and go to the auction. With online auctions that pool is so much larger because there’s no travel involved- anyone with too much money can bid from their couch. The result is rising values of cars that cater to that group of people.
That’s true, and the webz have also supercharged this whole “holy grail” thing. It’s happening for other collectible things too, like guitars. It’s all a bit silly, IMHO.
DT supercharged the Holy Grail thing
Literally
There’s about four group chats that have been actively ruining everything over the past couple years or so, and ain’t none of us are on them.
Agreed. I’ve bought cars online and in person and have gone to live auctions of all varieties since I was a kid. Online auctions have made it so much easier to just push a button and put a minimum of thought and maximize the thrill into it.
Don’t forget the FED increasing their balance sheets about 10-fold between 2008 and 2022… And you know what the basic inflation tenet is: if you double the money supply with fixed supply of goods, the goods will double in price. That gives you a general idea of what happens when the money supply increases many times over…
I quit paying much attention to auctions long ago because they’re divorced from reality. It’s a great place to sell if you have a car that fits, I guess, but that’s about it. Take your check from some sucker and laugh all the way to the bank.
The real pain comes when these stupid auction listings start raising the prices of less pristine examples elsewhere. That’s why I don’t like giving absurd auction sales any oxygen. We get it by now, someone is a mark with more money than brains. Bless their hearts. Let their poor life choices remain in the Dumb Auction Containment Zone where I don’t have to think about them.
the really good thing about this is if enough of these instances occur, the power that be at VAG will take notice and probably offer in limited quantities new versions with a proper trans like this.
Manuals are fun and increasingly rare. And my god, did you see the number of buttons inside that puppy? REAL, PHYSICAL, TACTILE BUTTONS. *drools*
A button for everything – and in some cases, multiple buttons for the same thing (door locks for instance). I love them – it’s why I own a Cayenne from this generation. Journalists at the time scoffed at the quantity of buttons and I partially blame them for the lack of buttons now.
Those journalists were stupid and a stain upon this profession. Buttons are great, not to mention safer to use than the cursed slick-panels and onscreen commands we’re seeing now. Bring back buttons.
YUP. Aaaaaand this is why I want a second-gen. I rented a third-gen off Turo to fart around the Lemons Rally last weekend, and the number of “this should’ve been a button” commands is infuriating. I still hate that slick panel of buttons-but-not on the center console, too.
Porsche, why have you forsaken us?! Give us our damn buttons back.
Basically, the Jet Green Manual Cayenne base became a meme car on Cars and Bids. There were two 6-speed manual base Cayennes on Bring a Trailer that closed last week, both just under the $30k mark. According to one commentor on this auction you mentioned, they are listing a Jet Green Manual 6-speed Cayenne like today on Cars and Bids. I’m going to guess it’ll be in below the $70k this one fetched. The trash-talking high bidder on this auction was clearly drunk on something.
I mean if you have the means and really want a manual Cayenne, then you do a search, and find none for sale except these two, then the price is likely what you will end up paying.
though it is probably cheaper to pay someone to upgrade a GTS with the tiptronic in the end.
Thank goodness. As a 958-needer, “drunks bid this up” needs to be made fun of as much as possible so as not to skew the market off of these cursed auction sites, too.
Because I have dad brain, which is 80% song lyrics:
Here we stand or here we fall
History won’t care at all
Make the bed, light the light, yeah
Lady Mercy won’t be home tonight, yeah
You don’t waste no time at all
Don’t hear the bell, but you answer the call
It comes to you, as to us all
Yeah, we’re just waiting
For the hammer to fall, yeah
–Queen
Today I Learned (TIL) that you could still purchase a manual transmission Cayenne as late as 2014!
I know VW stopped offering Manual Touaregs in the US much earlier and thought Porsche would have as well.
Thanks Autopian for teaching me something new!
VW never sold manual Touaregs in the US. You could only get base cayennes and cayenne GTSs with the manual.
I think I like a good manual transmission and clutch as much as most readers here but I don’t really get this.
There are quantifiable reasons that a stick will enhance driving enjoyment but in a vehicle like the Cayenne I can only see it being an improvement if you’re actually taking it off road. I doubt anyone is doing this with a Cayenne in any significant numbers. And that number likely goes way way down if you’re dropping six figures on it.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe these things are a blast to drive. I hope the owners really appreciate them and aren’t just hoping these will be collectors. It’s annoying to see these things starting to be out of reach for many people but I am glad someone is appreciating something unique and novel. Maybe someone will make more fun things if these get enough attention. Not that I’m holding my breath for it.
I don’t think you are missing anything here. The base 6-speed was arguably the worst spec of the Cayenne because its towing rating was lower than the automatics (which is actually 7700 lbs). I think the trans on the 6-speed was rated for something like 5500 in manual form. The GTS from the 957 generation was offered with a 6-speed, and that’s a genuinely cool car – 400 HP naturally aspirated V8 with a manual.
I would love to have a manual weekend car and if I ever get to the point where I can afford to buy a dedicated sports car for myself of course I’ll prioritize getting a manual. I also see why it’s appealing in econoboxes, because they’re literally only fun to drive if they’re manual.
But for pretty much everything else? I don’t care. Probably 80% of my driving is a miserable slog through DC traffic and operating a clutch pedal isn’t going to make that more enjoyable for me personally. As a result, the random “normal nice car that just so happens to be a rare manual” just doesn’t appeal to me that much.
For under $40k they can buy a Cayenne Turbo with fewer miles and better specs, so I really don’t understand the desire to buy a manual SUV when the guys with this sort of cash can clearly afford a real sports car that comes in manual.
I think a manual is more fun, or at least more interesting in almost every scenario. Even for trucks and such. Sitting in traffic with a manual only sucks if you have a heavy clutch or traffic is moving at a constant speed of less than 1st gear.
I don’t think these are collectors vehicles. I think they’re just being bought by really rich people who want a manual SUV and don’t care how much they pay for it.
The whole point of the manual in this case is that it’s more interesting to drive, so they had better be driving it!
IMO cayenne off road is a pretty crap application for a manual. Doesn’t have enough gear reduction to do slow speed stuff smoothly. IMO outside of mud/sand and smooth rocks like the less gnarly popular Moab trails the auto Cayenne is probably a better off road experience.
Plus with the lack of articulation you have to fight the off road traction control unless you have lockers.
A gen 2 probably has off road capability similar to a Subaru, but with more torque. People who actually off road them buy gen 1s
I really want a 1st gen GTS manual but 30k is a lot when I paid less than 3k for my Touareg with air suspension and all of the off road goodies. My Touareg is my only auto vehicle and I pretty much only drive it to go off road or tow stuff, so only a few thousand miles a year.
Fools and their money. <shrug>
But these days, it just isn’t that unusual for rare manual versions of desirable cars to cost near double what the common automatic does. True for both my RWD stick 328i wagon and my stickshift Disco I. Both of which had less than 500 examples sold in the US. This feels more like triple what the thing should be worth though – but auction fever is for real, and there are still plenty of people with lots and lots and lots of money out there.
Personally, I find these about as desirable as a raging case of the clap regardless of what transmission is in them.
What’s resale of a CTS-V wagon with a manual these days?
If you have to ask….
In today’s day and age there’s an excess of people with more money than sense. Cayennes are cool! They always have been, and I understand why some of the truly weird first and second generation ones are so sought after. For a while it looked like the diesel ones could be headed in this direction but the fact that they’re an absolute nightmare to own quelled that storm pretty quickly.
But paying $70,000+ for a decade old boutique luxury SUV that’s probably going to cost you 5 figures a year to keep on the road because it has a stick is just astronomically stupid and the perfect example of why we can’t have nice things. We all know the 1% will not be close to content until they own every single thing in the goddamn world and even then will still be miserable…but what’s always bugged me about BAT and Cars and Bids is they’re making relatively normal cars way less attainable for actual enthusiasts.
5 years ago depreciation still existed and something like a 5-7 year old manual Cayenne was totally attainable for the average bloke. Unfortunately it isn’t anymore. Hell until Porsche completely collapses (which seems like it may happen) none of this stuff is attainable anymore because rich assholes simply must have manual Cayennes as their 7th cars…I’ve lamented several times that a barebones Porsche used to be an attainable dream car for the working class but that those days are gone forever.
Anyway I’m a proud card carrying non-member of Manual Gang so idiots driving the price of relatively normal cars with stick shifts through the roof doesn’t bother me one bit. Fight all you want because I’ll happily take a PDK.
I’ve been fortunate that our Touareg TDI hasn’t had any emissions-related issues as they are somewhat common. There are few behavioral changes an owner can make to minimize them, but I think most owners wouldn’t be knowledgeable enough to know:
Thankfully I’m still under Dieselgate warranty until 2028 so I shouldn’t have any unexpected out-of-pocket costs but I hear there are often long waits for parts if an issue does happen. My wife loves the car and will be very sad when I make us get rid of it when the warranty expires.
One reason the Touareg / Cayenne Diesels may be desirable is they are amazing tow vehicles, especially for their size. These cars are only 186-inches long, about the size of a modern CR-V, but have a tow rating over 7000 pounds. Usually you need something the size of a Tahoe or Expedition (or a pickup) to get that kind of tow rating. With the torquey diesel, 8-speed trans, and rear-wheel-drive based AWD system they do very well towing.
Oh I’m a diesel apologist and 100% understood the appeal even without knowing how good they are at towing.
I own a 2012 Treg TDI and agree that it is an AWESOME towing vehicle. Plus endless torque at any highway cruising speed. My dieselgate warranty expired earlier this year, but I haven’t had any issues (yet) so I’m hoping to ride it for a while longer and see how it holds up. I think owning it is probably what it would be like to date a famous movie star: awesome fun while it lasts, but destined to end poorly and expensively.
,Preheating any car, but esp a diesel makes a big difference for short trips.
There aren’t random “people.” It only take two to tango in an auction.
Just that the people who prefer manual cars don’t have as much to choose from.
(Wondering what my 23-year-old car would fetch….)
I mean if you read the comments of Shitbox Showdown lately, it seems at least most days, someone is complaining about the price of something. Maybe people are just that crazy anymore, especially when a manual is involved…
When I was New York several years ago there was a banana yellow gts parked on the curb with the flashers on. The license plate said “SIX SPEED”. Needless to say it was a rare manual gts. It sounded incredible.
Sounds like they never heard of the Touareg or the Q7 😛
Right after the beginning of Covid a Neighbor got a top trim Q7, however spent about 20-25 weeks of her 70 week ownership driving a loaner because it was always breaking down. Sick of the unreliability she traded it in for a Cayenne. It has been slightly more reliable, maybe 15 loaner weeks in the last 3 years, but she still loves it probably because of the badge and is completely oblivious it’s the same car she just had but with different makeup.
The Q7’s are on a stretched version of the Cayenne / Touareg platform, so they are quite a bit larger (and have 3-rows of seats).
I bet you are correct though, she probably loves the badge most of all 😉
I think VW stopped offering manual Touaregs after 2007 in the US. I don’t recall the Q7 ever offering a manual in the US.