An honest review after 6 weeks of ownership...

[WarryBhite]

It has been almost 6 weeks since I was able to pick up my Taycan 4S CT in Gentian Blue.
Probably not a lot of time to know all the perks and ins and outs but I do would like to share my first experience with the car and the Porsche ecosystem in general.

As many the wait was not pleasant but in comparison with some still bearable (8 months between signing and delivery).
It was with mixed emotions I picked up my car as I have been reading so many problems on this forum both software and hardware. I kept telling myself that only the negative reactions were posted but still a little voice in the back of my head always came louder asking myself whether I made the right choice...



A bit of car history. I drove 3 volvo's (V50 / V70 / XC90) and 3 BMW's (5 series, X5 hybrid and new X5 hybrid) before taking the plunge to pursue a dream of driving a Porsche. Due to taxation in Belgium an ICE Porsche was out of the question and then... The Taycan Saloon came along. Awesome! But so unpractical... Not wanting to go down the Tesla route I waited and BAM along came the Taycan Cross Turismo! Perfect fit for my family of 4 and a dog.

A detailed review:

The good

* The ride: Is just excellent. It's so awesome to feel the punch of the 4S and a constant glance on the speedometer will make you keep your license because it is almost impossible not to enjoy the acceleration. The different driving modes make it possible to tailor the car to my needs and driving experience. I end up most of the time in mode Normal but with suspension on sport plus.
* The Bose sound system: Plenty for what I use it for. I was a bit scared reading all of the reviews but am happy I speced it. Would spec it again in a heartbeat.
* The interior: The build quality and material used is just way up there. So much nicer than any other car I've owned. Still curious how it will hold up being my first "non black" interior.
* The appearance: It is taste but it is just an awesome balanced appearance. Just stunning with the prolonged roofline compared to the Saloon. But again taste...
* Space: The Cross Turismo is just spacious enough to carry everyone (even the dog + crate) for a nice weekend out. A lot of people are amazed how versatile and specious the care and boot are.
* Sport sound: I really like the vibe and the way it emulates the shift of the back motor. I always put it on in rural areas as it just makes the surrounding aware you are there. The first couple of days I did not turn it on and had already some close encounters with pedestrians, toddlers and most importantly: pigeons.
* Gentian Blue: It's just an awesome color. It's taste of course but it just pops but is not in your face.

The Could be better
* The PCM software: Did not have a major PCM crash as some did but coming out of a 7 year BMW software ecosystem some things just feel darn out of place. For example to activate the seat massage (which is awesome but is not staying on long enough) I have to click at least 4 times through different menu's on the main screen. Just a simple button near the seat or whatever would have been sufficient to easily turn it of or on... It just doesn't make sense in my believe.
* Auto regenerate keeps turning off: This is a bit annoying but got into my "cockpit pre flight check routine" (more on that below)
* Charged my phone wireless twice and twice it came out so hot it had to cool down before I could do anything... Cable it is!
* Navigating with Porsche range manager: OK I would love to get to my destination with 25% charge but if I navigate to a supercharger I'm not going to stop by a slow charger 4km away to charge for 1m to arrive at the supercharger with 25% battery. Did not find a way to turn this off yet...

The "hey Porsche come on really?"
* The complexity of the charging profiles: I just can't get my head around how complex the charging profiles and timers has been made. Every time I've tried it it always charged in full or did not charge. I know there are some neat guidelines on the forum but I just gave up on them.
* The rearview camera: Mentioned already all over the forum but witnessing it in person. I had a genuine "oooooh come on really" moment. So much better implementation in my previous X5.
* Porsche Advanced security services: As it was obliged by my insurance I had to purchase the Porsche tracking software with security call center to obtain a theft protection. Well on a very hot day the dashcam in the front decided to go bungie jumping causing the alarm to go off. Turned it off and thought that was the end of it... but no. Got in the car an hour later and was able to operate the car with no messages on the dash or whatever. Later that night tried to look if my car was locked and found out the app locks you out of the car if a theft attempt was detected. Had to call the security call center to remove the status. Another "ooooh come on really" moment occurred. I would rather like the car to go in limp mode or whatever and still have the app to track the car than vice versa. Bit of bad implementation....
* Manipulating the cruise control: A special lever that's manipulated in 4 different ways to control the cruise control and which in the beginning I always mistakenly hit while trying to signal is just a bit far fetched. For now I was able to engage cruise control twice but still prefer to drive without it... A bit of a very strange implementation compared to my previous car.

The pre-flight check cockpit routine:
I have developed a couple of pre-flight check cockpit routines when I start my journey.

• Audio starts playing => apple carplay comes up => navigate back to audio => select DAB => reselect apple carplay to use waze
• Check the auto regeneration => put it in auto

How people react:

In my experience it comes down to two categories:
* Those who respect the car and the fact you probably like to keep it clean and damage free. They respect you (as they did in my X5) and give thumbs up and just carry on with their business
* The total opposite: The ricers who want to pull away at the stop light, the people who are pushing you when you are already over speed limit... The back bumper got already hit by a driver during being parked but just a dent behind the license plate... I know it's there but it could have been far worse.

Finally:

I did not come across any major issues yet so probably lucky me. I just want to point this out to any other Taycan owners to be who had the same feeling in their gut reading all the horror stories on this forum. I'm a happy trooper so far.
Would I spec something more or less? Nope. I still feel my spec is perfect for my needs and am at this point not regretting getting or having an option.

Hope this helps some out there

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[dflohr]

" Just a simple button near the seat or whatever would have been sufficient to easily turn it of or on... It just doesn't make sense in my believe."

The Massage ON button is there on the side of the seat. It's in the center of the seat adjustment control.

You can also just "Hey Porsche, massage me"

 

[WarryBhite]

" Just a simple button near the seat or whatever would have been sufficient to easily turn it of or on... It just doesn't make sense in my believe."

The Massage ON button is there on the side of the seat. It's in the center of the seat adjustment control.

You can also just "Hey Porsche, massage me"

I genuinly did not know that! Will check it out. Thanks!

 

[DCYL725]

Ditto on the pre flight cockpit routine.
Electric sport sound, check.

regen, check.

Waiting on the car play…..come on you bugger skkdidenrnd…&;;;$;

…….


zzzxz

check.

but on limited reception due to underground parking.

OK, let’s go.

 

[evn00b]

The regen from brake pedal is always on (you cannot turn it off) and Porsche already has much stronger regen than any other EV. The “auto regen” you are referring to only turns on/off the regen that takes place when you lift your foot off the accelerator. Unless you prefer one-foot driving like a Tesla, you don’t need to keep turning that regen option on every time you start the car.

 

[DCYL725]

What's the other regen, w/o the A?

 

[WarryBhite]

Ditto on the pre flight cockpit routine.
Electric sport sound, check.

regen, check.

Waiting on the car play…..come on you bugger skkdidenrnd…&;;;$;

…….


zzzxz

check.

but on limited reception due to underground parking.

OK, let’s go.

I have the same skkdidenrnd reaction

 

[WarryBhite]

The regen from brake pedal is always on (you cannot turn it off) and Porsche already has much stronger regen than any other EV. The “auto regen” you are referring to only turns on/off the regen that takes place when you lift your foot off the accelerator. Unless you prefer one-foot driving like a Tesla, you don’t need to keep turning that regen option on every time you start the car.

Makes sense but it is no where compared to regen in our IX3 so it's a bit of a strange thing that you always have to turn it on although you clearly set it in the driving profiles. It never retains the setting...

 

[evn00b]

What's the other regen, w/o the A?

the other regen is the main regen (always on) and kicks in when you use the brake pedal. Porsche designed it such that regen is blended in with conventional braking when using the brake pedal, for a more natural driving experience.

 

[evn00b]

Makes sense but it is no where compared to regen in our IX3 so it's a bit of a strange thing that you always have to turn it on although you clearly set it in the driving profiles. It never retains the setting...

Haven’t driven the iX3 but it may have regen like Tesla (activated when lifting foot off the accelerator). Porsche on the other hand blends in regen during brake pedal use for a more natural driving experience (and that regen is powerful). You cannot turn off that regen and it’s always on. Funny thing is even my own Porsche advisor didn’t know the difference between the two till I showed him the relevant section in the Good to Know app. Plenty of threads on this forum where this has been discussed previously.

 

[mcr21]

Ditto on the pre flight cockpit routine.
Electric sport sound, check.

regen, check.

Waiting on the car play…..come on you bugger skkdidenrnd…&;;;$;

…….


zzzxz

check.

but on limited reception due to underground parking.

OK, let’s go.

I'd say waiting for CarPlay to connect each time is the only annoying aspect of the PCM. This should happen instantly.

 

[WarryBhite]

Haven’t driven the iX3 but it may have regen like Tesla (activated when lifting foot off the accelerator). Porsche on the other hand blends in regen during brake pedal use for a more natural driving experience (and that regen is powerful). You cannot turn off that regen and it’s always on. Funny thing is even my own Porsche advisor didn’t know the difference between the two till I showed him the relevant section in the Good to Know app. Plenty of threads on this forum where this has been discussed previously.

Thanks for the explanation! Will see whether I still activate regen as it does quite little.

 

[JAGMAN]

The “regen” button is actually called the “coast mode button”. This is relevant because as others have stated, regen is always on. This button changes the behavior of coasting, and therein lies the confusion.

There are three modes 1) normal (full coasting) 2) gradual (approximates engine braking like an ICE drivetrain, useful in traffic unless you like to ride the brakes a lot) 3) Auto coast (which varies coasting from zero drag to abrupt declaration depending on traffic)

 

[evn00b]

Thanks for the explanation! Will see whether I still activate regen as it does quite little.

Oh and regen only kicks in for real once your newly purchased Taycan’s brakes settle (around the 1000 mile mark I am told).

 

[Palyndrome]

Thanks for your review Always great to be able to read that kind of post when you are still waiting for your car ... (Expected in May ... Should be there in September)
Good taste on the color by the way ?

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