Taycan owner experiences?

[finmac]

I am pondering a Deposit for Macan EV but not sure if it’s going to be a car for me or not, so I’d really appreciated some advice from current Taycan owners as I suspect many things will apply to both…..

By way of background, For daily I run a fully loaded BMW 340D touring on all weather tyres and it’s brilliant in terms of all round ability, performance, economy, snow (I live in the sticks and drive in Scottish highlands regularly) plus has en electric tow bar so can tow my Caterham in trailer without missing a beat. So, the EV will have to be really good to better it!

Interested in the usual stuff like:
Running cost (v my 40MPG diesel)
Range
Use ability

Also any general info/comments most welcome!

[finmac]

BorkBorkBork said:

Lexington59 said:

Who here has bought their Taycan because they love it vs the massive tax advantages?

Just curious…

The tax advantages just made it a much easier decision. By far the best daily I’ve driven, and I find myself increasingly taking it out just to drive it. And given the dailies I’ve had in recent years, now I know how it well it goes round corners, I’d buy one without the tax advantages over any equivalent ICE such as an RS4, if I had to.

If I was the op I’d probably go with a Taycan CT or ST over a Macan. I suspect the driving dynamics will be better.

Real world range is approx 200m on a full charge, I haven’t had any issues as yet in terms of range anxiety. And the charging network continues to grow.

Even if you exclusively use the charging network, it’s approx less than half the cost of a car that does 30mpg. It costs approx 17p a mile in my Taycan CT at 40p per kWh using the public charging network. In my previous RS4 it was over double that at 1.50 a litre. And petrol prices are only going in one direction. Granted, charging prices will increase too, but Osprey, the charging network i predominantly use, haven’t increased their prices so far. Of course, the tariff charging it at home will be much less anyway.

Edited by BorkBorkBork on Saturday 26th February 18:44

Thanks guys. Taycan doesn’t have towbar option - so doesn’t work for me. I do a 15K plus miles a year so gave up on gas guzzling petrol cars years ago - M5/RS Audis etc. suspect the low 20s MPG makes the delta with Taycan much simpler to justify than the one for myself between big power 40MPG diesel and EV.

Tax wise, I work for a company so have a car allowance as such the EV offers little saving other than road tax I suspect?

[finmac]

Curledge said:

Government is already increasing the tax on EVs and they will become the next Betamax video.

Good luck with your white good purchase though

I have heard a few express such a view. What’s your rationale?

[finmac]

Grantstown said:

I’ve recently taken our Taycan 4S from Cheshire to Banff in Scotland. Overall not a bad experience as I charged at Ionity in Gretna and then Perth so there was no need to hypermile the car. There were chargers in Banff and my charge Scotland card worked perfectly for this purpose. The charge Scotland app shows are pretty decent overall network. It was snowing up there and the car copes well. I’ve had a 435d before, so fairly similar to your car. The Taycan has more traction and corners flatter. It’s not so great on tight hairpins if you’re on a blast, but then I didn’t option RWS which probably would help with this.

Whether the Macan will be a good bet I’m not sure. I doubt SUVs will make the most of the EV experience and range may be an issue if towing, so I guess that depends on where you want to take the Caterham. There are loads of deposits down for the Macan electric I understand, so you’ve probably missed the boat on being an early customer. If you could have taken one of these slots, then you might have been able to take an extended test drive on delivery and then if you didn’t like it, offload for a small profit.

Probably the best bet is to enjoy the tax advantages of the EV and also keep an old diesel 4x4 for towing purposes.

Good write up thanks. I am near the front of the Macan EV queue at my dealer plus a repeat customer so suspect that may help get me an early car, who knows. Given the likely volume of customers I was tempted to buy, try and if I don’t like it then simply offload it fairly quickly with little cost. Maybe that works, maybe that’s naive - not sure!

[finmac]

Interesting comments thanks. For those who have been in and out of Taycan ownership, I wonder, was it a break even type situation or did it cost a bit for the privilege?

[finmac]

S600BSB said:

DJMC said:

One observation I have made of the many many Teslas I encounter is how very slowly they are driven. Is this to do with type of buyer or fear of running out of electric? Might it also apply to the Taycan?

Perhaps I just notice far fewer other EVs but they too exhibit the same behaviour and they're all pootling around like snails.

On cruise eeking out the range.

I have often noticed this phenomenon. Worries me if I bought an EV I’d start driving like Miss Daisy all the time due to range anxiety!

[finmac]

037 said:

Sorry I wasn't clear. The Macan EV

Some dealers will take a £3K deposit some (mine included) won’t as the cars not yet been released. At my dealer they have a pile of “letters of intent”. I suspect the regular customers will get priority and there will be a massive waiting list when the car is eventually released.

[finmac]

Wilmslowboy said:

I’m a Taycan owner - Already racked up close to 2k miles in less than 6 weeks.

I’m going to end up echoing much of what has been said in earlier.

- I bought used (10 months old), as a private buyer, slightly over new list price, but got the full dealership experience.
- I expect it to cost me £20k a year in deprecation (when and if used cars prices return to normal), eye watering yes - but similar to what a used S-class, 7 series. or A8, used to cost.
- I went for the lowest in the model range (2WD), in part as I figured it was never going to be a performance car so why sacrifice range for power.


- Economy, I get 2.5 miles per kWh, I’m doing 90 miles a day of fast motorway driving, mostly with lights on, heated seat and wipers, in 1 to 8 degree temps.
- The car came with 14k miles and the previous owner managed an amazing 3 miles per Kwh over his ownership.
- Full charged (100% although the recommendation is only to charge to 85% most of the time), I’ve seen 240 mile range displayed.
- I pay 20p (at the moment) per Kwh of electricity (at home), therefore the equivalent to approx 95 mpg (at current diesel prices).

- The car is a joy to drive, piping hot when I get in, very quiet, super tech (mine just works), comfortable, for me the perfect fast commute car.
- It’s heavy, combined with no ‘regenerative braking’ (I.e on lifting the accelerator it simply coast & very effectively) , hoping between an ICE and the Taycan I need to make a conscious effort to brake (and firmly).
- The weight and wide stance, means it’s very stable, even through standing water at speed.
- Motorway driving is very easy and simple, no more need to kick down 3 gears to get back up to speed (after been forced to slow down).

I find it quite useful to think of charging in terms of miles added per hour.
—— home 7kw - 16 miles per hour (160 overnight)
—— std service station charger 22kw - 50 miles per hour
—— fast charger 50 to 60kw - 120 to 140 miles per hour

The two things that I don’t like
1- It’s size,I’m not a fan of saloons, especially massive ones.
2- My understanding is it has two gears, coming from 70mph, to near stopping for a roundabout but then speeding back up, can result in a clunk, I’m assuming this is it changing down the gear.

Great write up - thanks for taking the time. Picking up on one of your most important points, I think the EV thing is working for a lot of folks at the moment because the tax position is very good if your self employed/own a business plus the depreciation is very low/non existent. If your right and the cars start to drop big chunks of value then it all doesn’t look so smart. Crystal ball time, wonder how long before the market is saturated/supply starts to overcome demand etc?