2021ish Taycan Turbo (..in green)
Discussion
okenemem said:
intresting, cant believe you have all that car and no assited cruise control
Indeed.My 13 year old £5k Toyota has adaptive cruise as standard (for clarity that's £5k for the whole car not just the cruise option).
It looks way less sexy than your Taycan but hasn't required a flatbed truck.
Thanks for all the comments and support - I am at least getting some enjoyment from writing about the car even if I don't get to actually drive it at the moment! On the plus side, this does give me time to drop the motor out of the e39 and actually make progress on that project rather than wasting time enjoying myself in something new :P
I see the dealer are open today so will give them a quick chaser for a status update if I don't hear soon - they're not strong on being proactive with the communication so far.
The first was an (Audi) A6 Avant (supplied in pretty disgusting condition) which seemed perfectly capable if not the most exciting. Unfortunately that had to go back and in it's place, until something bigger is available, is a 1000 mile old A3 saloon. I didn't even realise they made an A3 saloon, this one is fairly anonymous unfortunately. I'd like to describe the 115hp 1.0 3 cylinder engine as characterful, but it feels like it's been completely neutered performance wise.
Having the systems working properly, the braking feels far better tuned to the car and it helps hide the weight better. A couple of times on the first trip I almost overshot when needing to do a proper stop.
I think your experience may have been the 'auto' setting which (apparently) adapts to the road conditions as you say. Not something I've felt like I needed, and it's probably going to stay in the cupboard under the stairs of never being activated along with the lane keeping assistance.
I'm glad your car is proving more reliable than mine! Have to say that this is probably the most faults (by functional area of the vehicle) I think I've ever had, buying used by comparison has been faultless!
I see the dealer are open today so will give them a quick chaser for a status update if I don't hear soon - they're not strong on being proactive with the communication so far.
alfabeat said:
Have they given you a courtesy car?
My understanding is when Porsche have a firm ETA for the fix I'll get a courtesy car from the dealer, but at the moment Porsche Assist have supplied rentals.The first was an (Audi) A6 Avant (supplied in pretty disgusting condition) which seemed perfectly capable if not the most exciting. Unfortunately that had to go back and in it's place, until something bigger is available, is a 1000 mile old A3 saloon. I didn't even realise they made an A3 saloon, this one is fairly anonymous unfortunately. I'd like to describe the 115hp 1.0 3 cylinder engine as characterful, but it feels like it's been completely neutered performance wise.
seefarr said:
First scratch on a car is a liberating experience - you no longer have to worry that it's perfect! Sorry to hear about the battery though, hopefully it'll be quick to ship over.
Hah, you're right - after the initial rage had passed I did feel like a huge weight had been lifted! okenemem said:
intresting, cant believe you have all that car and no assited cruise control
I had to draw the line somewhere on the options, and I may very well chosen the wrong place, and not used a ruler. For my usage though, it's OK - the next owner might think differently! samoht said:
I feel like regen braking is quite significant in a big heavy EV like this, in terms of range, it also (to me) contributes to the ease of use because you can glide smoothly to a halt with it. So I'd definitely want it working 100% of the time.
Agree completely, it was really obvious on the first trip that it wasn't regenerating because of the no green on the power meter, and I could actually hear the disks working.Having the systems working properly, the braking feels far better tuned to the car and it helps hide the weight better. A couple of times on the first trip I almost overshot when needing to do a proper stop.
Richard-G said:
great write up OP, ive had a test drive in one Turbo and a passenger ride in a 4S, Porsche have a strange regen braking system, it seemed to be adaptive depending on where you are on the roads, not ideal from a sports car when you want consitancy.
My preference so far is to have the regeneration setting set to 'on' - when you lift off the gas it provides some moderate deceleration which feels (to me) like engine braking and (again for me) makes it easier to make smooth progress. The default is 'off' where it just coasts, it feels amazingly frictionless but somewhat disconcerting as I found myself arriving faster places than I wanted to. I think your experience may have been the 'auto' setting which (apparently) adapts to the road conditions as you say. Not something I've felt like I needed, and it's probably going to stay in the cupboard under the stairs of never being activated along with the lane keeping assistance.
Richard-G said:
Wierdly i love the HVAC vents, i, like a child whent to move one with my hands and resorted to brute force just before the salesman corrected me and i ended up with a loads of snapped plastic in my hands!
Agree on the vents! Being slightly broken about these things I always seem to be tweaking vents in my cars to be parallel anyway, and tend to set them one and never touch them again. I've not yet found a need to adjust where the air goes in the Taycan. cheddar said:
Indeed.
My 13 year old £5k Toyota has adaptive cruise as standard (for clarity that's £5k for the whole car not just the cruise option).
It looks way less sexy than your Taycan but hasn't required a flatbed truck.
It is a bit mad - Porsche claim that owners want to individualise each car, but surely they could just put this sort of thing on there standard and get an economy of scale to not impact the base price too much?My 13 year old £5k Toyota has adaptive cruise as standard (for clarity that's £5k for the whole car not just the cruise option).
It looks way less sexy than your Taycan but hasn't required a flatbed truck.
I'm glad your car is proving more reliable than mine! Have to say that this is probably the most faults (by functional area of the vehicle) I think I've ever had, buying used by comparison has been faultless!
Edited by puttything on Tuesday 29th December 14:09
Interesting thread and thanks for posting.
Out of interest, how did you get onto the Taycan and buying new? Did you see a finance offer published somewhere or did you take the thing by the scruff of the neck and just ask a dealer to quote? I'm looking for a new family wagon (currently in a MacanS) and I'm a master at man maths, so reckon I could get the numbers to stack up!
Out of interest, how did you get onto the Taycan and buying new? Did you see a finance offer published somewhere or did you take the thing by the scruff of the neck and just ask a dealer to quote? I'm looking for a new family wagon (currently in a MacanS) and I'm a master at man maths, so reckon I could get the numbers to stack up!
samoht said:
Thanks for sharing the highs and the lows, very interesting.
I feel like regen braking is quite significant in a big heavy EV like this, in terms of range, it also (to me) contributes to the ease of use because you can glide smoothly to a halt with it. So I'd definitely want it working 100% of the time.
It sounds like Porsche need you to be a test driver to help them debug their brand new electric tech. Given that's the situation, I think it would be better for all parties if they were a lot more responsive to the issues you're finding, but perhaps that's the problem with franchised dealerships. Still, it's a cool car and as long as they handle the issues properly I can see it's worth it.
Good luck and let us know how Porsche get on with the battery issue.
These are my initial thoughts too, though more realistically it is a symptom of early adopter technology 'ownership'. Porsche have developed this product too long and hard to simply concede a Tesla-style approach to their (Tesla's) evangelist customers.I feel like regen braking is quite significant in a big heavy EV like this, in terms of range, it also (to me) contributes to the ease of use because you can glide smoothly to a halt with it. So I'd definitely want it working 100% of the time.
It sounds like Porsche need you to be a test driver to help them debug their brand new electric tech. Given that's the situation, I think it would be better for all parties if they were a lot more responsive to the issues you're finding, but perhaps that's the problem with franchised dealerships. Still, it's a cool car and as long as they handle the issues properly I can see it's worth it.
Good luck and let us know how Porsche get on with the battery issue.
Update!
After Porsche having the car for 24 days (that's 12 more than I've had it) some progress has been made.
Having been issued with Audi A3 loaner (after 2 days with an A6) from Porsche Assist since the car went up to Reading on the flatbed, the dealer yesterday swapped the Audi for one of their Macan S courtesy cars.
I've think I've managed to unintentionally drive about 1/3 of the Porsche range now, which while not the plan, is still really enticing for a person of my disposition (I imagine it's a shared affliction around here) and makes the best of a bad situation. I've got to admit that the Macan isn't really for me, I don't really get the SUV thing but from the very limited amount of driving I've done with it due to the current circumstances it seems like a competent machine, the twin turbo V6 makes a decent enough sound too when pushing on.
Sorry, not a very good picture, the wide angle on my phone seems to make the wheels look ridiculously huge while making the car look like it's got a squashed wheelbase:
In more exciting news, the second service person assigned to oversee fixing my car (the first having left without any handover) has been really proactive with updates (including sorting that loaner Macan) and today called to say that the entire replacement battery pack hadn't only arrived but was fitted to the car. Just the underfloor to re-attach apparently, should be done early next week.
I mentioned previously the battery pack was 600KG, the chap informed it also has to be shipped specially because of the fire risk and let slip the quite impressive price tag - I don't think there is a forum sweepstake function so I'll just leave it below to people can have a chance to guess first:
£30k
After Porsche having the car for 24 days (that's 12 more than I've had it) some progress has been made.
Having been issued with Audi A3 loaner (after 2 days with an A6) from Porsche Assist since the car went up to Reading on the flatbed, the dealer yesterday swapped the Audi for one of their Macan S courtesy cars.
I've think I've managed to unintentionally drive about 1/3 of the Porsche range now, which while not the plan, is still really enticing for a person of my disposition (I imagine it's a shared affliction around here) and makes the best of a bad situation. I've got to admit that the Macan isn't really for me, I don't really get the SUV thing but from the very limited amount of driving I've done with it due to the current circumstances it seems like a competent machine, the twin turbo V6 makes a decent enough sound too when pushing on.
Sorry, not a very good picture, the wide angle on my phone seems to make the wheels look ridiculously huge while making the car look like it's got a squashed wheelbase:
In more exciting news, the second service person assigned to oversee fixing my car (the first having left without any handover) has been really proactive with updates (including sorting that loaner Macan) and today called to say that the entire replacement battery pack hadn't only arrived but was fitted to the car. Just the underfloor to re-attach apparently, should be done early next week.
I mentioned previously the battery pack was 600KG, the chap informed it also has to be shipped specially because of the fire risk and let slip the quite impressive price tag - I don't think there is a forum sweepstake function so I'll just leave it below to people can have a chance to guess first:
£30k
Spuffington said:
Out of interest, how did you get onto the Taycan and buying new? Did you see a finance offer published somewhere or did you take the thing by the scruff of the neck and just ask a dealer to quote? I'm looking for a new family wagon (currently in a MacanS) and I'm a master at man maths, so reckon I could get the numbers to stack up!
Was an offer via work which fully realises the tax benefits, really lucky as I'd never be able to do it otherwise. As you say, with a bit of man maths it was the same monthly cost as the loan on my F10 M5, so pulled the trigger. I'd heard about these newfangled 'subscription services' where you pay a monthly fee and get to drive all different cars from the manufacturer's range, I didn't realise Porsche were doing it now ? ;-)
Joking aside thanks for the update, interesting to hear about how these sort of fairly major issues are resolved. I guess Porsche probably won't share precisely what went wrong with the original battery, beyond what we already know.
I was guessing £10-15k for the battery, so out by a factor of 2-3. Ends up being similar to the price for a new engine for something like a Panamera I guess.
Nice colour choice and I'm glad you like the car, but reading this all makes me even more convinced I'm not ready (nor really is the UK charging infrastructure) ready for an EV car.
I couldn't be doing with the hassle of planning a relatively simple route all based around charging points or the range anxiety it would give me.
Would it all have gone so smoothly were it not for COVID? Less cars on the road surely means less chance your target chargers would have been already taken by another EV.
Do EV owners ever find themselves queuing for a charger adding even more time to their journey or can the charging point be broken on arrival?
As I said nice looking car but sounds like a right faff to own, and that's before the £30k battery fails after 1000miles.
I couldn't be doing with the hassle of planning a relatively simple route all based around charging points or the range anxiety it would give me.
Would it all have gone so smoothly were it not for COVID? Less cars on the road surely means less chance your target chargers would have been already taken by another EV.
Do EV owners ever find themselves queuing for a charger adding even more time to their journey or can the charging point be broken on arrival?
As I said nice looking car but sounds like a right faff to own, and that's before the £30k battery fails after 1000miles.
MiltonBaines said:
Nice colour choice and I'm glad you like the car, but reading this all makes me even more convinced I'm not ready (nor really is the UK charging infrastructure) ready for an EV car.
I couldn't be doing with the hassle of planning a relatively simple route all based around charging points or the range anxiety it would give me.
Would it all have gone so smoothly were it not for COVID? Less cars on the road surely means less chance your target chargers would have been already taken by another EV.
Do EV owners ever find themselves queuing for a charger adding even more time to their journey or can the charging point be broken on arrival?
As I said nice looking car but sounds like a right faff to own, and that's before the £30k battery fails after 1000miles.
Totally fair points. The EV readiness thing will always be a question I guess - for me I expect the thing to work like a car, but I accept that there are different considerations to driving something with a different powertrain. I couldn't be doing with the hassle of planning a relatively simple route all based around charging points or the range anxiety it would give me.
Would it all have gone so smoothly were it not for COVID? Less cars on the road surely means less chance your target chargers would have been already taken by another EV.
Do EV owners ever find themselves queuing for a charger adding even more time to their journey or can the charging point be broken on arrival?
As I said nice looking car but sounds like a right faff to own, and that's before the £30k battery fails after 1000miles.
Yes, you need to plan charging if you're doing a long trip, but on the flip side you never have to make that initial run to the petrol station before embarking on a trip. For the record I've never seen more than one charger in use in the admittedly short amount of time I had the car - I wasn't traveling at peak times though.
The range thing makes a current EV less ideal for continent crushing (though I still intend to do that), but I'm used to touring on sportbikes, and on those you stop every 120 miles because you run out of petrol.
I think it's a matter of matching the mindset to the intended form of travel - you make compromises and plan accordingly if you take a plane, train, ferry - it's just another flavour of that (imo). Some won't be willing to do that and it's each to their own.
Edited by puttything on Saturday 9th January 11:03
Good story so far, highs and low. That peak speed is impressive but like you articulate it’s the area under the curve that matters.
You’re bonkers for sticking to just 10A home charging IMO
The idea of stopping for fuel is an inconvenience in my head now, long trips and stopping in EV is no big problem, I only tend to do those with the family and even the dogs. So stopping to eat/energy up/walk dogs is 30mins anyway. Guess will have to see how the experience ties up if we ever get back to something more normal.
You’re bonkers for sticking to just 10A home charging IMO
The idea of stopping for fuel is an inconvenience in my head now, long trips and stopping in EV is no big problem, I only tend to do those with the family and even the dogs. So stopping to eat/energy up/walk dogs is 30mins anyway. Guess will have to see how the experience ties up if we ever get back to something more normal.
Edited by JonnyVTEC on Saturday 9th January 11:49
puttything said:
Totally fair points. The EV readiness thing will always be a question I guess - for me I expect the thing to work like a car, but I accept that there are different considerations to driving something with a different powertrain.
Yes, you need to plan charging if you're doing a long trip, but on the flip side you never have to make that initial run to the petrol station before embarking on a trip. For the record I've never seen more than one charger in use in the admittedly short amount of time I had the car - I wasn't traveling at peak times though.
The range thing makes a current EV less ideal for continent crushing (though I still intend to do that), but I'm used to touring on sportbikes, and on those you stop every 120 miles because you run out of petrol.
I think it's a matter of matching the mindset to the intended form of travel - you make compromises and plan accordingly if you take a plane, train, ferry - it's just another flavour of that (imo). Some won't be willing to do that and it's each to their own.
The point about not filling up before a run is a good one. We all have to plan our drives around the method of fueling the car - my car is sitting outside the flat right now and at the back of my mind is that its got 1/8th of a tank in it and I need to go fill it up before if head off anywhere. Is that a form of range anxiety? Wouldn't happen with an electric car...Yes, you need to plan charging if you're doing a long trip, but on the flip side you never have to make that initial run to the petrol station before embarking on a trip. For the record I've never seen more than one charger in use in the admittedly short amount of time I had the car - I wasn't traveling at peak times though.
The range thing makes a current EV less ideal for continent crushing (though I still intend to do that), but I'm used to touring on sportbikes, and on those you stop every 120 miles because you run out of petrol.
I think it's a matter of matching the mindset to the intended form of travel - you make compromises and plan accordingly if you take a plane, train, ferry - it's just another flavour of that (imo). Some won't be willing to do that and it's each to their own.
Edited by puttything on Saturday 9th January 11:03
Hope the car comes back and you can start enjoying or again OP!
JonnyVTEC said:
You’re bonkers for sticking to just 10A home charging IMO
I've got a pot set aside to cover the install / parts, but decided I'll probably spend it on ceramic coating instead, or at least first.. When I get to use the car for more than a couple of weeks my ideas on the necessity of high speed charging may change! shalmaneser said:
puttything said:
Totally fair points. The EV readiness thing will always be a question I guess - for me I expect the thing to work like a car, but I accept that there are different considerations to driving something with a different powertrain.
Yes, you need to plan charging if you're doing a long trip, but on the flip side you never have to make that initial run to the petrol station before embarking on a trip. For the record I've never seen more than one charger in use in the admittedly short amount of time I had the car - I wasn't traveling at peak times though.
The range thing makes a current EV less ideal for continent crushing (though I still intend to do that), but I'm used to touring on sportbikes, and on those you stop every 120 miles because you run out of petrol.
I think it's a matter of matching the mindset to the intended form of travel - you make compromises and plan accordingly if you take a plane, train, ferry - it's just another flavour of that (imo). Some won't be willing to do that and it's each to their own.
The point about not filling up before a run is a good one. We all have to plan our drives around the method of fueling the car - my car is sitting outside the flat right now and at the back of my mind is that its got 1/8th of a tank in it and I need to go fill it up before if head off anywhere. Is that a form of range anxiety? Wouldn't happen with an electric car...Yes, you need to plan charging if you're doing a long trip, but on the flip side you never have to make that initial run to the petrol station before embarking on a trip. For the record I've never seen more than one charger in use in the admittedly short amount of time I had the car - I wasn't traveling at peak times though.
The range thing makes a current EV less ideal for continent crushing (though I still intend to do that), but I'm used to touring on sportbikes, and on those you stop every 120 miles because you run out of petrol.
I think it's a matter of matching the mindset to the intended form of travel - you make compromises and plan accordingly if you take a plane, train, ferry - it's just another flavour of that (imo). Some won't be willing to do that and it's each to their own.
Edited by puttything on Saturday 9th January 11:03
Hope the car comes back and you can start enjoying or again OP!
No range anxiety with petrol, just a minor inconvenience.
MiltonBaines said:
But if you wake up in the morning having forgotten to fill up it's a 5 minute detour to sort it. With an EV you are screwed. How many hours to get a full charge?
I guess drive to a fast charger and it takes 20 minutes?Update! The new battery back is installed as of the end of last week, all that had to be done was the under-trays reattached.
Shortly after, someone in the workshop had a positive coronavirus test and 3 others have needed to isolate as a result, including the tech who was making good progress on the car. I guess I'll be waiting some more then!
And for content sake, here is a better picture of the loan Macan - it's done about 5 miles since I got it back here..
Edited by puttything on Friday 15th January 10:45
I think you’ve just had rotten luck so far. It MUST get better!
I know a senior finance boffin at Porsche, and his current company car is a Taycan Turbo S. He and his family love it, but of course it’s very easy when you live in Stuttgart and Zuffenhausen is your workplace!
I know he drove it twice to Austria last year to visit his Mum, and knowing where the fast chargers are located made the journey much less stressful.
Good luck with getting your car back quickly.
I know a senior finance boffin at Porsche, and his current company car is a Taycan Turbo S. He and his family love it, but of course it’s very easy when you live in Stuttgart and Zuffenhausen is your workplace!
I know he drove it twice to Austria last year to visit his Mum, and knowing where the fast chargers are located made the journey much less stressful.
Good luck with getting your car back quickly.
Update!
The car sprang into life over the weekend - given the news I'd had previously that the battery had been installed this seemed like a good indication despite the outbreak at the OPC.
Range looks more promising now:
This was followed by a number of enthusiastic communication attempts by the person in charge of aftersales at the dealer. It confused me slightly that the service team wasn't getting in touch any more, but I figured someone more senior picking it up could only be a good thing, right?
Well, not so much as it turned out. After playing phone call battleships most of Friday and scoring a lot of misses I tried again this (Monday) morning which was also wide of the mark. Apparently senior people spend a lot of time in meetings.
Got a phone call back mid morning (and managed to step out from the meeting I was in at the time to take it). After a brief introduction and assurance about the level of detail which would be gone into quality checking the car before it was handed back (it seems they want to deliver it as new again) the result of the escalation became clear.
The battery is the wrong one.
Apparently the battery, an item in the parts list which took several weeks to assemble, is a 2019 spec item. This only became apparently after installation while they coded the various battery related things to my car and couldn't get everything to talk. The upshot is that they're back at the beginning of the process, only just talking to Germany again to order the right part in.
So, back to waiting again. Like most I suspect, I don't have a great deal to use a car for at the moment, but still not brilliant progress. So far Porsche have had the car 33 days to my 10.
On the plus I guess the techs at the OPC should be getting pretty nifty at swapping battery modules in and out.
The car sprang into life over the weekend - given the news I'd had previously that the battery had been installed this seemed like a good indication despite the outbreak at the OPC.
Range looks more promising now:
This was followed by a number of enthusiastic communication attempts by the person in charge of aftersales at the dealer. It confused me slightly that the service team wasn't getting in touch any more, but I figured someone more senior picking it up could only be a good thing, right?
Well, not so much as it turned out. After playing phone call battleships most of Friday and scoring a lot of misses I tried again this (Monday) morning which was also wide of the mark. Apparently senior people spend a lot of time in meetings.
Got a phone call back mid morning (and managed to step out from the meeting I was in at the time to take it). After a brief introduction and assurance about the level of detail which would be gone into quality checking the car before it was handed back (it seems they want to deliver it as new again) the result of the escalation became clear.
The battery is the wrong one.
Apparently the battery, an item in the parts list which took several weeks to assemble, is a 2019 spec item. This only became apparently after installation while they coded the various battery related things to my car and couldn't get everything to talk. The upshot is that they're back at the beginning of the process, only just talking to Germany again to order the right part in.
So, back to waiting again. Like most I suspect, I don't have a great deal to use a car for at the moment, but still not brilliant progress. So far Porsche have had the car 33 days to my 10.
On the plus I guess the techs at the OPC should be getting pretty nifty at swapping battery modules in and out.
I also absolutely love the colour. I have one arriving March but I bottled the green and stuck with Gentian Blue, I did however go with the same Exclusive Design wheels the same as the OP, I really don't like the 'Mission-E' wheels as per his demo.
Really looking forward to getting to grips with it as I ticked almost every single option available which is nearly £40k in options!
Did I mention, I'm really envious of the colour? I just prefer to blend in a bit more. Beautiful car OP.
Really looking forward to getting to grips with it as I ticked almost every single option available which is nearly £40k in options!
Did I mention, I'm really envious of the colour? I just prefer to blend in a bit more. Beautiful car OP.
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